HVDMA: Snow Date is a Unique Success
In a month of major snowstorms, it was tough to find a good date for the Hudson Valley DMA's February event. Luckily, Wednesday February 24th carved a swath between blizzards, and a crowd convened at Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, CT to learn about Unique Ways to Reach the Consumer: Insert Media, Infomercials, Partnering, Packaging and Beyond. The subject, exploring effective DM strategies using new combinations of traditional and innovative media, was a big draw. So was the panel, which included:
- Roger Baran, Sr. Marketing Director at Rodale Inc., a giant in publishing and insert media, with titles like Prevention, Men's Health, Runner's World, and other niche magazines and books.
- Ron Steblea, EVP at Allstar Marketing Group, the company behind the incredible Snuggie success story, a cultural phenomenon.
- Corin Lines, of AdPackUSA (parent company Itochu International Inc.), which is bringing exciting ideas from Japan -- like DM via tissue packs and new types of dimensional mailers -- to the American marketplace. Who says there's nothing new under the sun?!
From Corin: DM marketing on wet wipes, tissue packs and other (sustainable) paper products are a more than $1 billion industry in Japan. Innovative packaging designs incorporate pockets for coupons or sampling. The possibilities are truly creative - tissue packs have been handed out at the Olympics with Alka-Seltzer samples inside; have been used for promotions at book signings of tear-jerker novels; have been used for all kinds of health-related purposes, including distribution of H1N1 information. For cut-thru-the-clutter results, these new media are measurably effective.
From Roger: Rodale is deeply into multi-channel marketing via print, video and Internet. Some titles, like "Eat This, Not That" are translated into hugely popular mobile device apps; social networking sites like biggestloserclub.com enrich the customer relationship experience. But it's not just the high-tech stuff that works; so do old stand-bys like FSIs in the Sunday paper. Rodale misses no chance to market, whether it's the bang tail of an invoice carrying another offer, or a consistent CRM strategy which follows up every transaction and mailing with a service/sales phone call. From traditional print to webserts and online partnerships, Rodale is doing it all and reaping the rewards.
From Ron: Allstar looks at 5,000 products a year, tests 50 and hopes for seven strong sellers. Yet even they were surprised by the way Snuggie took off! In addition to strong DRTV, the economy offered a perfect storm of reasons for people to want to cuddle up at home inside an inexpensive Snuggie, while saving money on gas and heating. The product also got strong support from retail giants like Walmart and Walgreen's, who featured it in their special TV product sections. Incidentally, Allstar has other top sellers too including the Big Top Cupcake, the Perfect Brownie, and of course, the Emery Cat, a fun item for felines that trims their nails while they play!
Special thanks to Amy Altmann of Boardroom Inc. who moderated this super-animated session with finesse.
The HVDMA is a networking and educational club for direct marketing professionals in the Hudson Valley area. The next event is the Annual Round Table Session on April 14th. More information is available at www.hvdma.org.