Fill the Void with Affixed Products
The National Do Not Call Registry has opened the direct mail door for affixed products.
Thanks to the recent implementation of the National Do Not Call Registry by the federal government, telemarketing is out, and direct mail is in a prime position to pick up its slack. "Now that the no-call telemarketing laws are in effect, direct mail is going to just bloom," said Richard Burgdorf, distributor accounts manager at FormStore, Fenton, Mo.
Ed Brandt, owner of Brandt Affixing, Carrollton, Texas, agreed. "As consumer backlash against telemarketing has intensified, culminating in the National Do Not Call Registry, advertising companies are going back to tried-and-true direct mail as a less intrusive means of reaching consumers," he said.
But, in order to be non-intrusive, direct mail has to offer something more to differentiate itself from junk mail. That's where affixing comes in. "Unless you can entice the recipient to open that deluge of direct mail, it's going to go right in the trash can," said Burgdorf. "Affixing something to it gives it a tactile feel, which makes the recipient inquisitive enough to open the item and hopefully generate a reaction, and even a reply."
When it comes to direct mail, this tactile attribute is what separates affixed from integrated products. "Direct marketers often prefer an affixed card over an integrated card because the recipient of an affixed card can feel the thicker, more rigid card in an envelope and is more likely to open the envelope as a result," explained Brandt. "Similarly, it is easier to spot a card affixed to a form than an integrated card, which can easily 'get lost' on the document."
The applications for affixed products these days are endless. Brandt named a few, such as a sample packet of toothpaste affixed to a direct mail advertising sheet, a saddle-stitched booklet describing the latest cholesterol medicine with a pharmaceutical fold sheet attached to the back cover, a gift card attached to a hang tag for display at a grocery store and a packet of seeds with "To help you grow your business" affixed to a postcard.
To be able to offer distributors these extremely creative and drastically diverse affixed products, Brandt Affixing has acquired new cut-sheet affixing equipment. "We see that the traditional business forms professional has evolved into a document management professional who is just as likely to sell commercial printing, promotional products and direct mail applications as custom continuous forms," explained Brandt. "By offering cut-sheet affixing services, we fulfill all three of those product areas."
Brandt pointed out that the ability to affix items to a commercial print piece that gets mailed out puts one product into three different categories—commercial printing, direct mail and promotional printing. "As a company, we need to find products that distributors are interested in and are excited about selling," he said. "Adding this equipment has rounded out our product offerings and opened up new markets for us to sell to commercial sheet-fed printers."
Health Matters
"The health-care industry is a huge market for affixed products," said Brandt, who noted that although some label/form combinations have been converted from piggyback to integrated, affixed labels remain a strong contender in the health-care industry because of their wide selection of face stocks and adhesives.
"Latex impregnated face stocks for wrapping around test tubes, tamper-evident label stocks for sealing specimen bottles, freezer-grade adhesives, blood bag-compatible adhesives and latex glove-compatible adhesives are available only as affixed labels," he explained.
The card/form application is another popular product in this industry. "All insurance companies want to give their members a card," said FormStore's Dave Tobiak. "And, when you go to the doctor's office, you have to show your insurance card to ensure that you are covered."
The Evolution of Affixed Products
Twenty-five years ago in the business forms industry, integrated labels and cards did not exist, and affixed (piggyback) labels and clean-release cards were just getting off the ground. At that time, Brandt Affixing's biggest-selling products were stencils affixed to forms. Although Brandt Affixing still provides them, the product currently comprises less than 3 percent of its total sales.
"Any successful company must evolve and adapt if it is to succeed," said Brandt. "No one can predict what lies ahead, but we must constantly be on the lookout for new opportunities."
And, according to Brandt, current affixing opportunities lie with clean-release and integrated card/form products in the commercial printing arena. "Consumers are discovering how easy it is to image (personalize) the cards themselves," he noted. "Also, advertising agencies and direct marketers are rediscovering cards and other affixed products."
With its Laser Clean card, Brandt Affixing is in prime position to capture this market. This new laser-compatible ID card can be printed in up to eight colors, including a four-color process with a glossy UV varnish finish, and it can be delivered in both cut-sheet and continuous formats, for both sheet-fed and continuous laser printers.
"Distributors who take the time to learn about laser-compatible ID cards find that these are very lucrative orders, with steady repeat business and minimal competition," noted Brandt. "Once you design an application and are successful at implementing it, your customer is unlikely to make changes on price alone."
At FormStore, the patented LaserWell membership ID card is its most popular affixed product. "I think it's popular because of its print-to-mail simplicity and its high-color offset printing," said Burgdorf. "Plus, its excellent imaging quality makes it the ultimate card solution."
In fact, the LaserWell Plus ID card prompted a partnership between FormStore and Océ Digital Document Systems, a division of Océ North America, Chicago. Océ has recently certified the LaserWell Plus ID Card to run on its high-speed digital printing systems. This partnership enables both companies to rapidly meet an increasing demand for more personalized products—a direction that Brandt predicts the industry is heading toward.
"There is a lot of interest in digital, on-demand printing for one-to-one marketing," said Brandt. "The next logical step is to create shell documents with blank integrated or affixed cards, which will then be digitally imaged and personalized at the same time. These shell documents can ultimately be converted into a fully customized booklet, with variable data on every page and a personalized card on the back cover."
Another recent evolution in affixed cards is the ability to incorporate them into pressure-seal mailer forms. "Until recently, most folder-sealers were not robust enough to seal the pressure-seal form with the added thickness of an affixed card," explained Brandt. "Now, several folder-sealer manufacturers offer a high-end unit that can fold and seal a pressure-seal form with an affixed product. As distributors become aware of these new capabilities, the market for affixed products will likely increase."
By Jennifer Hans
- Companies:
- Brandt Affixing
- FormStore
- People:
- Ed Brandt
- Richard Burgdorf
- Places:
- Carrollton, Texas
- Fenton, Mo.