TFC provides a low risk entry into full marketing automation.

Multi-Channel Retailer Reaps Rewards of Automated One-to-One Marketing Solution - Costco Case Study

Industry:  Big Box Retail

Program:  Versioned Short Run Print & Fulfillment

Overview:  
Costco Wholesale’s corporate marketing team needed a solution for supporting local marketing efforts with short time to market and quality production services. They chose TFC’s DynamicDesign™ solution and expanded their marketing collateral to include short run, on-demand items that meet the changing competitive needs within store communities.

Marketing Challenge:

Incorporating the concepts of one-to-one marketing at the local level is a challenge for large retailers like Costco Wholesale. Corporate marketing departments tend to be brand focused on larger campaigns. Addressing an individual store’s marketing challenges and local events may be seen as an inefficient use of corporate resources and the quantities for these types of program may be considered low from a print perspective, the value of a highly relevant one-to-one marketing message could reap significant rewards for store traffic. Costco needed a solution for local marketers to create versioned programs on their own without the support of corporate creative resources, they also wanted to leverage marketing designs and print supplier relationships.

TFC Solution:

TFC provides a simple, highly cost-effective way to create more relevant one-to-one marketing materials on-demand. Through the use of TFC’s DynamicDesign™ Solution Costco’s corporate communication department creates customizable marketing templates that are accessible to the local warehouse through the internet.

Each template is designed according to corporate brand guidelines from creative to print standards. A series of variable fields determined by the template limit the amount of versioning allowed by users. Local marketers access the templates online; add the variable data to meet their store event and order short run quantities for fast delivery. DynamicDesign allows them to create quality marketing programs in days instead of the weeks it would take to develop a program from concept to development through the creative services department at headquarters. Corporate marketing is guaranteed the same quality and consistency of marketing materials is produced across all regions and allows them to extend the reach of each program. A versioned template can be leveraged by all warehouses without requiring the creative team to redesign for a different store location.  Approval cycles allow template designers to review orders of items as they see fit. Now local marketers enjoy a cost benefit from the shared purchasing power of producing their materials through the same supplier and reducing the management time of event-based projects. All parties benefit from brand consistency, resource management, cost control and a new level of personalization that improves the customer experience.

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Technology advances mail program - Delta Dental of California Case Study

Industry: Insurance

Program: Direct Mail

Challenge:

Delta Dental and Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company (KPIC) formed a marketing alliance which gives Kaiser members the option to participate in KPIC benefits programs administered by Delta Dental. The partnership has provided Delta Dental of California the opportunity to target all Kaiser customers with a dental solution that can be bundled with their current insurance policy. Once a member is enrolled in a Delta Dental plan, the Department of Insurance (DOI) requires that Delta Dental send plan information and verification plan coverage to members within 30 days. Enrollees and purchasers also need to be advised of any changes that either Kaiser or Delta make within the same benefit year of coverage. If communication to enrollees and purchasers fails to be released within a timely manner, both Kaiser and Delta Dental would fall out of compliance and be subject to fines from the DOI.

The new bundled program proved to be a success and Delta soon found that they could no longer handle the communications and fulfillment of materials themselves.. Delta needed a fulfillment partner to efficiently manage and streamline the enrollment process according to strict quality assurance guidelines. It is imperative that new enrollees receive their enrollment packets and plan information correctly and on time. The management of the alliance directly affects Kaiser's appraisal of Delta's ability to deliver solutions to their customer base. Delta Dental chose TFC as the Marketing Service Provider to manage the shared marketing collateral, print, fulfillment of kits to new enrollees, and to maintain current communication to changing accounts in a timely manner.

TFC Solution:

Insurance documents require constant updating to maintain government compliance and for Delta and Kaiser to maintain their competitive advantage. Due to the volatility of these documents TFC noticed a high rate of obsolescence on much of the program's collateral. We also determined that the new member welcome kits that came to TFC pre-assembled were in poor condition, much of the collateral inventory was basic photo copies of an original and were not set up to incorporate any variable data such as group name, policy number, or plan identification. TFC determined the program could benefit from migrating the majority of the printed collateral to a print-on-demand (POD) format. A POD program would help reduce obsolescence and upgrade the print quality altogether.

TFC also evaluated the workflow for managing the new enrollee fulfillment and changes or additions to enrollment plans. Delta Dental sends TFC 6 separate spreadsheets with varying data elements several times a month. The spreadsheets contain new enrollee information and changes to current plans that require a communication. In a manual process these documents were mail merged to generate personalized letters and photo copies of the spreadsheet were used as kitting instructions an administrator. Kits were sent in a box with the other required materials and shipped to each plan administrator who then passed them out to the individual enrollees with a sticker for them to adhere that provided the plan ID which "personalized" their documents. In order to improve the process and reduce management time, TFC's IT department designed a process to integrate the order requests from the spreadsheet with the TFC's digital Heidelberg Printer- achieving a 100% Print and Kit on Demand Solution. The new process allows TFC's Client Service Project Manager to upload the spreadsheets directly to the printer, and the system pulls the variable data out of the spreadsheets to merge it with the program collateral, creating customized plan materials on the fly, with kitting instructions, for fast efficient assembly. Not only did TFC redesign the printing process, but the personalized letters that go to each plan administrator now include a pop-out rolodex card that lists the group plan identification numbers and contact information.

This integrated POD solution required a few technology applications in order to implement the process. Our first step was migrating Delta and Kaiser's printed materials to Print-on-Demand and providing both clients with shared access to electronic versions of the materials so that they could update the materials as they needed in one location for all parties. TFC set up a web-enabled Data Asset Management Tool that would allow Delta Dental and Kaiser employees to upload and maintain the latest versions of their documentation without printing a single piece. The Data Asset Manager is now the central document repository for all Delta Dental and KPIC Marketing Managers to manage version control, an ongoing challenge in maintaining compliance in the insurance industry. When an order comes in for a new packet, the most recent version of an item is sent directly to TFC's and printed on demand. Not only does this guarantee the client is receiving the latest version of the document but it reduces Delta's ongoing struggle to manage inventory levels, 3rd party printers, and reduces their overall storage costs. The new process takes less than 24 hours from beginning to end and provides the end user with a greater brand experience.

Summary:

The TFC account team consists of a Client Services Project Manager who handle daily communications, quality control and details of each mailing, and a Client Relationship Manager who works with Delta Dental to strengthen the partnership commitment through increased communications and long-term strategic improvement plans. Quality control guidelines were implemented along with state-of-the-art technology that directly transmitted all new enrollee and purchaser information from Delta to TFC's print-on-demand (POD) equipment.

TFC established seamless coordination and follow-through of the Delta Dental and Kaiser Permanente enrollment program. Every stage of the information and mailing process is monitored and professionally and efficiently executed. Delta Dental and Kaiser Permanente stay in compliance, deliver a quality product to enrollees, and remain competitive in the marketplace. Successful project management and technology applications add value to the Delta/Kaiser alliance.

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Sales Channels Support - SouthCorp Case Study

Industry: Wine Retail

Program:   Fulfillment and Distribution

Overview:  
SouthCorp asked TFC for a closed loop system to manage the distribution of marketing materials from their commercial print suppliers to their national network of wine distribution partners. The system needed to include order capture, inventory management, and the ability to track deliver to their partner's warehouse locations.

Situation:

SouthCorp's previous vendor lacked technology and an understanding of the company's business objective and strategy, and were consequently unable to effectively manage the distribution of SouthCorp's promotional materials to their distribution partners nationwide. Before establishing a relationship with TFC, SouthCorp brand managers were managing manual buy sheets for their internal sales term and hampered by inefficiencies in process, costly and time-consuming vendor management, and routine overnight shipping requests.

Sales representatives were required to fill out marketing buy sheets in the form of a spreadsheet and send these orders via E-mail to brand managers, who compiled all of the spreadsheets into one large distribution matrix and forwarded them to their shipping vendor. Brand managers were spending a significant portion of their time just managing the internal order process. Numerous orders were inaccurately transferred or lost by the vendor, who lacked the technology and expertise to offer an enterprise-wide solution for managing a POS (Point-of-Sale) program.

The lack of accountability and tracking detail for missing orders caused brand managers to invest significant amounts of time communicating with their vendors and partners attempting to locate missing materials. Errors occurred in ship quantities (for example, a distributor might receive 25 pieces vs. 25 packages of an item), causing the distributor to come up short on promotional collateral. This type of error resulted in a loss of consumer incentive to purchase the product and directly affected sales for both the distributor and SouthCorp. Customer service and professionalism were also an issue with SouthCorp's previous vendor. The vendor did not promptly return calls, address problems and errors, or offer systematic upgrades to the process to guarantee the error would not occur again. As a result, sale representatives were requesting overnight delivery of orders, which contributed to excessive shipping charges. A lack of reporting capabilities did not disclose the source of expenses and brand managers were enable to effectively manage their budgets.

Challenge:

Distribution of the correct POS collateral to distributors by state was crucial, as many items looked the same but had critical differences based on state laws on rebates and promotional requirements.

SouthCorp needed an alternative to tedious and inefficient processes for managing promotional distributions, an automated order process, and communication about the availability of materials, contents of orders, and a delivery schedule from sales representative to distributor.

TFC Solution:

SouthCorp made the decision to partner with TFC on designing a comprehensive inventory management and fulfillment program that would grow with the changing needs of their organization from marketing to sales. TFC began by implementing processes to improve efficiency through technology and proven experience in the industry. Buy sheets were automated through TFC's customized website, CORe, providing sales representatives with 24-hour ordering capabilities and removing the burden of sending order requests through the marketing department. Automated e-mails were generated when inventory hit specific reorder levels, allowing brand managers to better manage their print vendors and reduce the amount of back ordered items requested. Automated order and ship confirmation e-mails decreased the number of follow-up calls by sales and marketing to check order status.

TFC addressed SouthCorp's requirement for insightful and experienced customer service with a dedicated account management team. The new service team includes a Client Relationship Manager who evaluates the program and offers new service suggestions, and a Client Service Project Manager, who manages day-to-day inventory details and researches last minute logistical changes to ensure successful promotions at the retail level.

Summary:

TFC quickly established a successful track record with SouthCorp of on time shipments. It automated SouthCorp's delivery programs via a customized website, reduced employee time managing distribution ordering and cut costs, saving the company over $250,000 on shipping cost in just one year.

SouthCorp's management team now has the ability to run over 10 different online reports that are customized to help brand managers obtain the data needed to make effective strategic business decisions. TFC's high level of response, quality of service and sincere desire to help SouthCorp succeed helped build trust with its client and has contributed to an evolving and successful on-going partnership.

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