Docustore’s Jose Manuel Anciso saw the possibilities in XMPie software
Providing omni-channel communications requires digital skills as well as print ones, but the result packs a punch in the right hands, as its proponents tell Michael Walker.
Multi-channel. One-to-one marketing. Cross-media. Omni-channel. We’ve had a few different names for the communications model where print and digital channels are combined to provide multiple touchpoints in marketing campaigns. Some of the phrases were understood in the print world but not by the people outside it who were supposed to be buying them; some were used by advertising and marketing agencies who didn’t necessarily think of print as a ‘channel’, or one that was relevant in an increasingly digital communications world.
Yet the studies continue to show that print adds authority, implies quality and gains trust. And since print is the odd one out in that it still requires relatively expensive kit, plus the ability to use it correctly, there’s a case why printers should be the ones to bring those benefits into the realm of digital campaigns.
‘Our understanding of digital print enabled us to move into omni-channel,’ confirms Andy Lydiatt, head of strategic accounts and projects at Sheffield-based ProCo. ‘Getting content and information onto a digitally printed page has more commonality with digital channels than with print.’
ProCo started life quarter of a century ago as a commercial sheet-fed printer that added a direct mail business and until the rise of digital print, was a “jobbing local printer”. The amalgamation of the initially separate print and direct mail operations was followed by the “death of print” at the hands of digital marketing channels, which prompted some investment in email marketing capability to build on the direct mail expertise.
The acquisition of an Indigo 5000 SRA3 digital press complemented the developing digital skills and its application was developed through participation in the HP Dscoop user community. The combination of digital print and personalisation capabilities meant that ProCo could see a way to keep print relevant through the digital boom, a strategy that is now paying off.
‘There’s a print renaissance now, driven by consumer distrust of online,’ says Mr Lydiatt. ‘Digital print is relevant, it’s up to date and it integrates with digital channels. For example, a campaign can warm up recipients with emails and follow-up with print.’
Pragmatic choice
ProCo had dabbled with omni-channel software as part of its email marketing strategy, buying DirectSmile software in its early days. ‘It was a niche part of the solution, but wasn’t used for variable data printing; we used GMC software for that, and still do,’ recalls Mr Lydiatt.
However, when ProCo bought a stake in Stansted, Essex-based Concept Communications Group whose approach and services were complementary, it turned out that the latter was a big user of DirectSmile. While GMC PrintNet (and subsequently Inspire) was still used for direct mail design, a “pragmatic” decision was made to keep on with DirectSmile rather than develop something in-house.
‘It’s the modern way of marketing, using email broadcast and social media, with trigger-based events’ says Mr Lydiatt, adding, ‘It’s quick and easy – if you can use InDesign you can do a campaign.’
He does stress that DirectSmile isn’t suitable for “heavy lifting” in direct mail production for tens or hundreds of thousands of pieces. ‘It’s used in small-scale, user-generated fast timing campaigns and is fantastic for that. GMC is more for production, but we have some cross-over,’ he adds.
Mr Lydiatt also points to the API and integration options that DirectSmile offers under EFI’s ownership, which enables greater interconnection. ‘Omni-channel could be used to describe a world of integrated touchpoints,’ he concludes.
Capturing the imagination
Another company that combines print with digital media is Docustore, a 360-degree direct marketing agency founded 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain. Director José Manuel Anciso explains, ‘We became involved with omni-channel the moment we saw the possibilities of XMPie software. We are always innovating and thinking of ways to provide new communications solutions for our customers.’
Docustore chose XMPie because it combined online and offline capabilities in the one applications. ‘The fact that you are supported in Adobe Creative Cloud was important, our design team knew it thoroughly,’ adds Mr Anciso, adding, ‘Another factor was the extraordinary professionalism of the XMPie team who trained and advised us.’
Part of Docostore’s personalised campaign for toy store Imaginarium’s loyalty club
One of Docustore’s client is the Spanish-owned children’s toy store chain Imaginarium, which has over 300 stores in 28 countries around the world. Imaginarium approached Docustore to design and produce a personalised multi-channel campaign for its loyalty card holders. Intended to encourage repeat purchases, the marketing campaign was built around the children’s birthdays by offering personalised discount, coupons, toys and games and artwork. The whole campaign was to be run world-wide and in multiple languages.
The campaign included a print piece, personalised for both text and image content according to age and gender, which was printed and finished in-house by Docustore using Xerox iGen presses and Baum folding equipment. The subsequent stage involved inviting 3000 children chosen from around the world to visit a personalised web page where a personalised video would be ready to view, to encourage them to visit a store and purchase a product.
The print and web components were produced using XMPie PersonalEffect Transmedia and uDirect Video. The video was an animation in which a train starts from a station that is numbered with the child’s current age, follows a route in which a personalised greeting and discount message appears on the rolling stock, and then arrives at another station numbered for the birthday age.
Mr Anciso isn’t permitted to reveal the numbers for the response to the campaign but confirms that ‘they are superior to those obtained previously through traditional post or email without this level of personalisation’.
Document processing and production with variable data and images, multi-channel loyalty campaigns and other marketing communications are regular services that Docustore provides every day, and give the compay an edge in attracting and retaining clients, as Mr Anciso explains: ‘Omni-channel campaigns are a regular part of our work and, most importantly, a value differentiator for our customers.’
Whether it’s personalised print, “relevant” print or just seen as the physical part of an omni-channel campaign that otherwise exists only on screens, it’s print and it still has the power to persuade.
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