Automated Creative Support Bolsters Extensive Outreach Efforts | Financial

3/13/2023 RRD

RRD’s GO Creative team automates variable data programming and proofing process, reducing risk of inaccuracy and increasing speed to market

CHALLENGE

A leading credit card company faced inefficiencies creating and producing customer-facing direct mail pieces, marketing collateral, internet disclosures, and retail brochures for both existing and prospective customers. With both internal credit card products and retail and restaurant partner credit card products, managing the requirements and specifications of collateral creative became challenging.
 
Due to the customer-specific nature of APR offers and contact information — as well as the sensitive nature of printed disclosure pieces required by law — the company faced a high risk of error if incorrect information was sent to a prospective customer. Additionally, each unique piece of marketing collateral required brand-new, client-specific creative. The graphic design, proofing, data management, and fulfillment of these materials was time intensive and left room for error.
 
As it stood, the brand utilized a team of over 50 in-house proofers and graphic artists to manage data pairing and design. However, with unique pre-screened offers requiring to be mailed out within a certain number of days due to federal regulations, the company sought to outsource all graphic design and proofing, reducing the risk of error and relieving pressure on internal teams. 

SOLUTION

The company called on RRD’s GO Creative team to evaluate their current processes and provide a solution. RRD spent weeks onsite, working alongside the client’s internal teams to understand and evaluate their existing workflow. RRD then built an onsite team of account managers, graphic artists, and proofreaders embedded into the company’s direct mail operations team to take over critical components of the premedia workflow.
 
After a successful integration, the RRD team noticed they were largely performing the same tasks over and over, and making small changes based on unique customer data. As a consultative partner, they examined ways to mitigate risk and save time by automating several functions, including the company’s disclosure process. The team deployed RRD Avenue, a proprietary full-service module that blends automation and human expertise to offer end-to-end support in producing marketing communication assets quickly, and at scale. 

This centralized variable data programming, personalization, and composition to one entity — consolidating this function away from the previous, federated model. This resulted in a consistent source of print-ready file creation and distribution to a multi-direct mail supplier and fulfillment ecosystem.
 
Once the creative file has been approved by the client, it is run through automation. The tool then auto-populates personalization, product, offer, and response variables for that specific client’s data, and then produces proofs, reviews proofs, and ships out to vendors within three days.

RESULTS

In addition to the positive outcomes of increased speed to market and reduced risk for error, the workflow automation has provided the following benefits:

• Reduction in personnel hours with 50 individual performers replaced by the solution
• Reduced premedia process time to review, proof, and send creative to print supplier — from weeks to just three days
• 3,000 unique creative packages created and validated in 2022 alone
• Over 1B data records processed in 2022 alone
• Centralized automated composition and programming function across a diverse ecosystem of print vendors