Nex Media Magazine driving the Personalised message home

Personalisation is not a new concept but it is still considered quite innovative and the impact is further enhanced when it is unexpected. Consider attending an event where, at the end, you walk away with a gift and a printed personalised card. It creates a good impression and draws you to the host. Now consider receiving a magazine which you regularly receive and seeing your name printed on the cover, the effect is amplified.

This was precisely the effect Sentient Publishing was aiming for when it personalised the cover of the latest issue of Nex Media magazine in association with Zinto Marketing and with the assistance of Bowens – The Printer. Personalisation is all about the database. Once the database is sorted and the correct printing partner is selected, amazing things can be done with personalisation. The body of the magazine was printed by Typo Colour Printing Specialists.

Personalisation offers a number of advantages including enhanced reception of the printed item, greater retention of the message and improved chances of interaction with the subject of the personalisation. All of this translates to greater return on investment.

Sentient Publishing opted to do a personalised cover of Nex Media and, the Zinto Marketing cover offered the perfect opportunity. However, personalisation does not have to be limited to a single position on the printed sheet, nor is it limited to one element. This cover of Nex Media features six positions for personalisation on four pages and three different elements.

The front cover features the name and surname of the recipient appearing as a street name. The advert on the inside front cover features the same first name and the name of the company the recipient works for. The next element is the first name on the inside back cover done as road-markings. The outside back cover features two positions, the company name and address details for postage purposes and the recipient’s name as part of the final advert. All of these elements are created directly from the database without intervention.

Said Vikesh Roopchand, managing director of Sentient Publishing, ‘Personalisation allowed us to do something different with our covers. It also offered us the opportunity to show our readers the effects which can be achieved with personalisation. As a magazine serving the media and marketing sectors, Nex Media has the obligation to introduce its readers to new opportunities. This issue of the magazine has been very well received and has become something of a talking point amongst readers.’

Commenting on the response to the cover, Michelle Combrink, founder of Zinto Marketing said, ‘The Nex Media cover has grown further brand awareness, whilst increasing our brand credibility as Main Market specialists in South Africa. This has aided in our main objective of increasing our brand recognition and brand recall amongst our target market. The importance of this objective cannot be emphasised enough as without recognition and recall a brand is lost in the clutter of everyday, ineffective marketing.

‘Through our proactive Immersion Tour set up on www.zinto.co.za, we implore marketers and decision makers in companies to join us in unveiling the true wants and needs of the main market. Enjoy a journey of discovery with us as we provide you with all the knowledge you need to start understanding how main market consumers think, and why they act upon certain stimuli while ignoring others.’

Said Shaun Bowen, managing director at Bowens – The Printer, ‘The cover of Nex Media was relatively simple for us to achieve. With a strong database we are able to achieve almost any level of personalisation. The names and other written elements can be done in a number of different ways, everything from flower petals to noodles in a bowl of soup. The creative aspect is to work out the best way of doing the writing in such a way that it ties in with the design and content of the other elements on the page.

‘The Nex Media cover has obviously attracted a great deal of attention as we have already had a number of companies contacting us to find out how they can incorporate personalisation into their future marketing campaigns.’

It is this response which makes personalisation so attractive as an extension to printing as a marketing medium. Nex Media addresses the latest trends and developments in the media and marketing industries and as such attempts to present new and different methods of making campaigns and communication media exciting and interesting for its readers.

A generic version of the Nex Media cover can be seen on the website www.nexmedia.co.za. You can contact Sentient Publishing on 011 475 5095. For more information on personalised printing visit the Bowens website www.bowens.co.za