MULTICHANNEL In April 2013, FO-Cyberfactory implemented a PURL campaign for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises together with the creative agency rabbit eMarketing. The aim of the campaign: To gain subscribers for a newsletter service in which exclusive offers are presented regularly via email. (more…)

BRANDING CPM celebrated its 30th birthday on Friday. The marketing agency invited Joeri Van den Bergh to the event. The marketing expert entertained the guests with tips on all aspects of branding - including what makes Generation X and Y tick. (more…)

Via QR code or personal Internet address on a mailing, the recipient is taken to a landing page with an order form where all contact details are predefined.The company Ceramics country headquartered in Huttwil BE, offers its customers designer products for bathroom and wellness worlds. This year, the company has joined forces with the Neidhart + Schön Group have come up with something special. Not only is a main catalog simply sent out by mail, but also letters and mailing cards where the end consumer can scan a QR code with their smartphone or enter a personal Internet address (PURL) in the browser. This takes them to a landing page with an online order form where all the contact details are already predefined, so the potential customer only has to submit the order. The company manager automatically receives an email with the order information and can see at any time on the dashboard (control screen) how many end consumers are interested or have ordered. A PDF with address labels and delivery bills for shipping is automatically created and sent by e-mail.Linking the printed and digital worldsThe example shows what a well-crafted cross-media solution can look like. "It's about experiencing communication and product marketing in the seamless connection between the printed and digital worlds," explains Joëlle Loos-Neidhart, Head of Marketing + Communication at the Neidhart and Schön Group. "At the customer interface, Keramikland combines the printed main catalog with a marketing campaign by linking the physical dispatch of a customer mailing with online and mobile response options. The quality of the customer approach is increased through consistent personalization. In addition, the makers of Keramikland open up an important control instrument with an online platform for real-time measurement of the response." According to Loos, the experience of the campaign shows that the initial customer approach is of elementary importance. If the offer is understood by the target person, a response occurs. If the target person's attention is not reached, nothing happens. In the Keramikland campaign, therefore, a two-stage approach was taken.Multi-level personalization thanks to digital printingDigital printing plays an important role in the implementation of such cross-media campaigns. Multi-level personalization can only be implemented in digital printing because it is a printing process that does not require a static printing form and can therefore put individual content on the paper page by page during printing. For such personalization to succeed, a clean database is needed. "The better the database is maintained, the fewer errors there are and the better the overall quality of the personalization," says Joëlle Loos. "The variety and the number of personalized elements are almost arbitrary with a good database. Personalization should be more or less automated. Of course, it also depends on the experience of the project manager, the software used, and how the process is set up starting with the database."Wide range of applicationsWith ns.connect, Neidhart + Schön offers its own product for QR code and print-to-web solutions. "There are many possible uses for cross-media campaigns: among other things, they can be used for event invitations including attendee management, print-on-demand applications, making appointments, and automating ordering processes," says Loos. The process is always structured similarly, he says: first a push element (mailing, letter, e-mail, newsletter), then the connecting link to the landing page online (PURL) or mobile (QR code), followed by the response offer and follow-up via e-mail or printed. "Each customer need must first be understood in terms of its objective, then the process design takes place," says Loos. "Only then is programming and implementation done. Cross-media campaigns enable a transaction to be carried out conveniently, they increase convenience in handling for the target person and thus offer high customer value."

Jeremy Waite's Like Cycle consists of five building blocks: Information, Content, Engagement, ROI and Media.FROM ANGELO BUSCEMI*In order to be successful, all marketing activities must be based on a solid strategy that draws on a sound understanding of data and information - actually a matter of course, but in the area of social media there is still considerable strategic catching up to do.On the Internet, a new volume of data of five exabytes is created every 48 hours, a significant proportion of which comes from Facebook, Twitter & Co. Companies can use this huge volume of data for marketing purposes, among other things. However, to avoid "information overkill" after data evaluation, companies should know which data is really relevant for them. This is precisely where the Like Cycle comes in, which is intended to encourage brands to adopt a more integrated approach.Strategic triad: diagnosis, tactics and action"Creating a good strategy is actually not that hard. It consists of three parts: diagnosis, tactics, and action," explains Adobe's Waite. The Like Cycle model addresses the critical social media challenges marketers face. It focuses first on the information available ("What 'likes' are we looking for?). Next, the model addresses the issue of content and the question "How do we handle 'Likes'?" After that, the topic is "What do we offer our fans and followers?" - here the focus is primarily on customer loyalty. The return-on-investment analysis examines in detail the value and cost of a 'Like'. "The key to successful social media activities is to focus attention on the fans who are actually of value to the company. In other words, the ones that ultimately bring in revenue," says social strategy expert Waite. "They need to be targeted with the right messages at the appropriate time." To answer the question, "Which Likes are we looking for?" the first step is to conduct a comprehensive audience analysis that answers the five W-questions:- Who are the people talking about your company the most?- What are they talking about?- Why are they talking about you?- When do the conversations take place?- Where do the conversations take place?Companies need to determine exactly how to handle their Likes. In addition to knowing what customers are talking about and what matters most to them, the where and when of the interaction are also critical success criteria: After all, what good is the best chess piece if it's on the wrong square? The right timing is also important. A perfect example of this is cookie manufacturer Oreo, which used the brief power outage at the last Super Bowl to draw attention to itself extremely successfully via Twitter.Engage customers with the like cycleA well-known marketing statistic says that retaining an existing customer is seven times cheaper than acquiring a new one. Therefore, customer retention is arguably the most important element of any business strategy and thus answering the question "What do we offer our fans and followers?" is a big challenge. Developing a precise plan for retaining customers is therefore also the third most important point in the like cycle.But what value does a 'like' have? This question should not only interest marketers, but also budget managers. The general calculation of the return on investment (ROI) of social media corresponds to the same determination as in other business areas: ROI = (revenue - investment) / investment * 100.To calculate social media activity, companies today have a number of tools at their disposal that allow them to link their marketing activities to their company's goals and sales figures.The final and fifth building block of the Like Cycle is media buying and answering the question, "What does a 'Like' cost?""A good media plan is at the heart of a strong campaign, fan acquisition strategy or viral success," Waite explains. "To do that, companies need to spend the right amount of money on the right channel at the right time to reach the right person. Once they understand the other four steps of the like cycle, they don't have to worry about the effectiveness of a media campaign. "The whitepaper Jeremy Waite, Head of Social Strategy Adobe EMEA, is available here. *Angelo Buscemi is Country Manager of Adobe Switzerland, www.adobe-solutions.ch

LIGHTSHOW The Federal Palace is transformed into a castle of legends. Projections bring Heidi, Helvetia, William Tell, Arnold von Winkelried and others to life. Starlight Events has made it possible and welcomes you to the Rendez-vous on Bundesplatz from October 18 to December 1. meg (more…)