April 2009

Simply brilliant colour dimensional
mailer leaves competitors in the dust
Cross-media campaign, exciting Vespa contest drive leads for Xerox Canada By Kalan Vuksanovich

Since the advent of the Do Not Call registry, it’s been tougher for many Canadian organizations to create and maintain touch points with prospects. Not so for Al Varney, VP of Marketing at printing giant Xerox Canada. He finds that direct mail is the perfect marketing tool to help his company showcase its capabilities and printing solutions to businesses that use such technologies to meet their own clients’ marketing needs. At Xerox Canada, highly personalized direct mail serves not only as an attractive B2B touch point, but also as a concrete, highly relevant demonstration of the company’s product.

Client: Xerox Canada Campaign: “Simply Brilliant” Digital Production Colour DM Campaign Direct Marketing Agency: Brees Communications, Toronto Creative Director: Liz Falconer Copywriter: Chris Tait Account Executive: Sana Ali

 

 

We were targeting customers, some of whom were not already Xerox customers. What you want to communicate to them is that the returns will be quick and easy. There’s not a huge process to shifting over to Xerox. Falconer.

Established half a century ago, Xerox Canada is the Canadian subsidiary of the US organization Xerox Corporation, the world’s leading document management technology and services firm. The parent company boasts the industry’s largest portfolio of colour and black-and-white document processing systems, as well as a host of document management consulting and outsourcing services. In the early 1970s, the Canadian operation ceased being part of US operations. “We became a member of [Xerox] international group as a stand-alone country,” Varney explains. Currently, with approximately 3,800 employees, Xerox Canada accounts for some $1.2 billion of the worldwide organization’s business.

Business challenge
Given the specialized nature of the Canadian operation’s services, target clients are commercial printers, quick print shops and in-house central reproduction departments. “We’re trying to reach out to a certain audience,” emphasizes the Marketing VP. “Our goal is to try and demonstrate our capabilities and hence, drive leads in the graphic communications market.” Since Xerox Canada customers are themselves professionals within the field of commercial printing, they need to be instantaneously “wowed.” Accordingly, it’s up to the printing giant to communicate at levels above the clutter to illustrate the business benefits of its colour printing services. As Varney explains, breaking through is no easy feat.

“In our corporation, we talk a lot about delivery overload. Fifty percent of the daily mail that gets delivered is direct mail. And so, if you can’t cut through the clutter, your message just isn’t going to get through.”

Given its leadership position in printing, Xerox simply cannot afford to produce direct mail that lacks punch in the B2B sector. Its ability to gain clientele relies on its own ability to drive home meaning.
Last summer, Varney and his team enlisted the help of Liz Falconer, president of Brees Communications Inc. (BCI), to aid in the development of an integrated campaign that would turn heads. As she explains, “This particular campaign was designed to communicate the value of going with a Xerox four colour product—specifically production colour. The value translates for this particular target market to R.O.I., how much money this product will bring into their business.”
Although the campaign was first and foremost about generating leads, it was also a competitive attack strategy aimed at reminding the market of Xerox Canada’s dominance.

Targeting
The goal was to get the target audience’s attention using an attractive mail piece that urged them to drive more customers to their own businesses by utilizing Xerox Canada for any and all colour printing. “We were targeting customers, some of whom were not already Xerox customers,” clarifies Falconer. “What you want to communicate to them is that the returns will be quick and easy. There’s not a huge process to shifting over to Xerox.”

Composed of over 1,500 names, the list was derived internally from Xerox Canada’s database and included current clients and non-clients selected by the sales force for a one-time mailing.

For the first wave, a six panel dimensional mailer (measuring 10.75 in. w x 5.75 in. h) was devised using superior colour graphics and including a startling metric. The cover was personalized to the recipient’s name: “John, look simply brilliant as you drive your business—with returns as high as 456%.” This metric, extracted from Xerox Canada’s database, spoke right to the prospect’s interest in new business. The piece presented a concrete return that Xerox technology had already helped to generate. Alongside this message, a sleek looking image of a Vespa LX50 scooter appeared with text that familiarized prospects with the chance to win a scooter upon further inquiry. As if this were not enough, the mailer included a personalized trinket: a magnetic, life-sized license plate, die-cut with the target’s name printed on it. “JOHN, drive your business to real results.”

Falconer elaborates on the significance of the Vespa image. “You borrow a lot of brand attributes when you attach yourself to something like the Vespa,” she asserts. “A Vespa stands for modernity, being smart, and fuel efficiency. It’s relevant on a whole bunch of different levels if you actually use it as a metaphor for how you run your business.” With this icon, the message of driving one’s business through Xerox Canada was powerfully signified. The detachable license plate invited the client to participate in the message of driving leads while showcasing the capabilities of the company’s colour technologies.

From the initial mailer, the recipient was directed to a personalized URL (pURL), where he or she could enter to win the scooter, while requesting a meeting with a sales representative. After completing a short survey, the prospect was asked for his or her preferred scooter colour from a selection of black, red, or yellow. At the end of the online process, a thank you page notified the target that, within a few weeks, he or she would receive another personalized fulfillment piece displaying the Vespa in the requested colour (Wave Three). If targets didn’t initially go to the pURL, a follow-up mailer was sent out to remind them of the contest.

As a fourth and final wave, prospects who did not respond within four weeks of the reminder mail out were contacted through outbound telemarketing.

Brilliance achieved
The dimensional mailer was dropped in August 2008. Since then, the campaign has come to a close. In January, 2009, the sought-after Vespa was awarded to, as the agency guru puts it, “one very happy client.” Since then, Varney and his team at Xerox Canada have had time to reflect on the success of the initiative. “It was a very attractive looking piece done by Brees Marketing,” he admits, “and the license plate was something potential customers could put up in their office that would continue to attract their eye.” Ultimately, the response rate for this campaign went through the roof at a resounding ten percent.

“We more than doubled our expected lead rate for the campaign,” Falconer emphasizes. “When you get to lead rates the likes of this program, you’ve really got to ask yourself, ‘Should you be doing any programs that aren’t personalized?’ You see an amazing lift as soon as you start creating individual messaging and individual value,” she adds.