High impact with effect mailings

Relief embossing by Bächler-Sidler AG, Lucerne.The question of the best marketing method should really only be asked once the marketing goals have been defined. It may well be that a campaign with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies will generate a higher ROI than a campaign with hundreds of thousands of copies. Therefore, the definition of the sales targets and, consequently, the definition of the target group is crucial.How the SCL Tigers find new backersThe Business Club of the SCL Tigers was founded in August 2001. With almost 70 members, it is one of the most important sponsors of the ice hockey team from Langnau. Around five million Swiss francs have been sponsored over the years for the success of the Langnau team. To keep the money flowing, Club 76 sent out a mailing to potential new members with the aim of inviting them to a meeting.The campaign included a personalized letter and a personalized 3D mailing. A SCL Tigers puck was delivered in premium packaging as an eye-catcher with the invitation, "Return the Steep Pass!" The return pass came from 1.5 percent of letter recipients and from a remarkable8.7 percent of "puck receivers."All recipients contacted (letter and 3D mailing) received a PURL in the letter, which led to the personalized landing page with registration option. Two days before the get-to-know-event, the registered participants received an SMS with the latest information. On the day of the event, the guests were presented with name tags that had been produced at short notice based on the current registration status. As a conclusion of the campaign, the guests received a thank-you e-mail after the event with the invitation to become a member of the SCL Tigers' Business Club. 16 percent of all attendees agreed to join Club 76. According to the feedback, the mailing was well received. The entire campaign was designed by clicdesign ag, a small, innovative agency in Bern. The "Puckmailing" and personalized letter were produced by Druckerei Vögeli, Marketingproduktion & Druck in Langnau im Emmental, the home of the SCL Tigers.

The numbers speak for themselves - but it's the overall success of the SCL Tigers campaign that counts.The quantity also brings responseEven though you can order normal commercial jobs in short runs at the Kyburz print shop in Dielsdorf, the core competence of Koni Kyburz and his team lies in the production of sophisticated, creative mailing and print products in long runs with complex personalization.The Kyburz AG print shop employs 150 people in Dielsdorf and processes over 15,000 tons of paper into individual, high-quality, personalized mailings every year. State-of-the-art technology and 40 years of experience are at the ready at Kyburz for high-volume mailing production.Personalized mass products with a difference!Self-mailers, pop-up products or trading cards for Coop are printed on rotary presses and then further processed on the finishing lines. Cards, labels or product samples can be dispensed on the complex equipment. Varnish, scratch-off ink or a rubber coating can also be applied. Personalization can take place either before or after finishing.For the production of winning tickets, the preprinted forms are personalized, the message covered with a varnish and then overprinted with scratch-off ink. In this way, the personalized winning message cannot be altered and the inkjet imprint remains protected. The varnish application makes it easier to rub off the ink and thus reveal the advertising message.The personal approach helps to achieve a higher response rateIn the past, people just wanted to make sure that the mailing reached the intended recipient. The right address on the product was enough. Today, it's all about addressing recipients with the right product based on their customer data and preferences. The end customer should be addressed with a high-quality, exciting printed matter that shows an offer that is attractive to him. This avoids boredom in the mailbox and disgruntled mailing recipients.Forms printers produce creative mailingsThe former core business of forms printers, the printing and processing of paper into forms for use in industry and commerce, is tending towards zero. Carbonless copy sets are now only used in exceptional cases, and airline and train tickets are printed out by consumers at home, so there is no longer much room for traditional forms printing. Switzerland's leading forms printers, such as Baumer AG in Islikon, Bächler-Sidler AG in Lucerne and Lerchmüller AG in Schinznach-Dorf, had to look for new market segments years ago.In addition to the production of intelligent forms as preprints for laser personalization (integrated self-adhesive labels, integrated plastic cards) and label production, forms printers have increasingly excelled in the direct mail business.The modern forms printing presses can be equipped with offset, flexo and screen printing units. The combination of printing processes makes it possible to carry out the actual four-color printing in offset and finishing in flexographic or screen printing. The application of rub-off ink in particular requires a high layer thickness, which can only be achieved in screen printing. In flexographic printing, the personalization applied inline is covered with varnish as protection against counterfeiting and to make it easier to rub on and thus separate the rub-off ink from the varnish.As a variant, a rub-off label can be affixed to the finished printed and personalized print products, which is characterized by uniform ink application and can be applied very easily.Standing out brings response!To ensure that advertising material in the mailbox attracts attention, it is imperative that as many of the recipient's senses as possible are addressed. A colorful picture of a beach landscape won't get the flooded recipient to start an action. The first impression is decisive, just like in real life. Different from everyone else, applies today more than ever! Standing out in format, thickness or with the material used, that's important, that's how printed advertising stands out from the crowd.Once the first hurdle of attraction is cleared, it's a matter of making recipients curious about the content. Applications with scratch-off ink always work very well, as they satisfy natural curiosity and allow the play instinct to be acted out.Relief embossing, which can deform the material and reinforce a message, is used to convey visual and tactile stimuli. Special coatings for the application of gloss, fragrance and scratch coatings, the use of day- and night-active luminous colors make recipients curious and entice them to react. Integrated personalized response elements allow the recipient to react or order easily and quickly.The end justifies the meansWhether large print runs or elaborately designed short runs, the end justifies the means! Above all, there is the question of costs per order (CpO). Today, it is possible to achieve a high degree of personalization with the best effect with a short run thanks to cost-effective production using digital printing and digital finishing. If the target group cannot be clearly defined and the "watering can principle" is therefore required, then the specialists have exciting and affordable advertising materials ready for bulk mailing. Whether the "Zalando bombardment" or the steep pass with the SCL Tigers puck lands in the mailbox or on the screen, the decisive factor is the effect achieved.Author: Heinz Urben