PRESIDENT'S CORNER Right behind The Republic of Tea, for the second year in a row, was Action Bag with a silver award in the Small Catalog category. "I’m motivated to try that much harder to bring home the gold next year!" wrote Jaimey Alumbaugh, Marketing Manager of Action Bag. Another LENSER client, New Pig, again took the gold in the Business Specialty Products category. Patagonia, also a former client, took multiple silver awards. What is characteristic of these businesses is that even though they are the "best of the best," their management continues to strive for excellence. For example, The Republic of Tea, Action Bag, and New Pig have had multiple creative critiques by our creative partner, Carol Worthington-Levy, in an effort to improve their efforts just that much more. What has dumbfounded me over the years is that so few direct marketers emulate these winners. For example, when we get a new B-to-B client, I have always recommended that they take a long look at the best of breed catalogs like the New Pig "pigalog"—a consistent top catalog winner at the ACCM for years. This catalog contains almost every smart marketing "bell and whistle" that exists—and then presents it all with humor and a distinctive, unforgettable brand image. If New Pig can do this with a catalog selling industrial clean-up supplies, how much easier it should be for the rest of us! I challenge each of you to get a copy of The Republic of Tea, New Pig, Action Bag, Patagonia and other consistent ACCM winners and industry top performers. Go through them page by page. Make a list of all of the great marketing and creative features of each. Do the same with the consistently innovative, award-winning websites like eBags.com. Then take a hard look at your own catalog and website. Check off those features you have and where you come up short. Then sit down with your creative and marketing staff and challenge them to go for the gold! INDUSTRY UPDATE FEATURE ARTICLE CASE STUDY CIRCULATION TIP CREATIVE TIP MULTICHANNEL TIPS CLIENT HIGHLIGHT—IMPALA BOB'S EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT—TRACY BLAKE AFFILIATE FOCUS—ANDY COHEN That was 20+ years ago—and even that early in his career, Andy Cohen was a star. Andy was a stand-out direct marketing TV specialist, taking award after award, including being named the nation’s youngest recipient of the Irving Wunderman Award for lifetime achievement. But unlike many who have a brief moment in the sun and then fade away, Andy has parlayed his success and strengths from one area of marketing into many others... More about Andy Cohen and the LENSER Summit NEWS BRIEF
PRESIDENT'S CORNER Wow! I was really proud this year that LENSER’s clients shined so brightly at the ACCM awards. Foremost was The Republic of Tea winning not only gold in the Small Catalog category, but taking home the most prestigious award in the catalog industry: Catalog of the Year! LENSER has worked with Republic of Tea for almost six years and has witnessed first-hand their creative and marketing savvy continually improving. We're also delighted that eBags.com, a former client, not only won the gold for Consumer Specialty Products, Web Channel, but was awarded the much-deserved top honors for Website of the Year! Right behind The Republic of Tea, for the second year in a row, was Action Bag with a silver award in the Small Catalog category. "I'm motivated to try that much harder to bring home the gold next year!" wrote Jaimey Alumbaugh, Marketing Manager of Action Bag. Another LENSER client, New Pig, again took the gold in the Business Specialty Products category. Patagonia, also a former client, took multiple silver awards. What is characteristic of these businesses is that even though they are the "best of the best," their management continues to strive for excellence. For example, The Republic of Tea, Action Bag, and New Pig have had multiple creative critiques by our creative partner, Carol Worthington-Levy, in an effort to improve their efforts just that much more. What has dumbfounded me over the years is that so few direct marketers emulate these winners. For example, when we get a new B-to-B client, I have always recommended that they take a long look at the best of breed catalogs like the New Pig "pigalog"—a consistent top catalog winner at the ACCM for years. This catalog contains almost every smart marketing "bell and whistle" that exists—and then presents it all with humor and a distinctive, unforgettable brand image. If New Pig can do this with a catalog selling industrial clean-up supplies, how much easier it should be for the rest of us! I challenge each of you to get a copy of The Republic of Tea, New Pig, Action Bag, Patagonia and other consistent ACCM winners and industry top performers. Go through them page by page. Make a list of all of the great marketing and creative features of each. Do the same with the consistently innovative, award-winning websites like eBags.com. Then take a hard look at your own catalog and website. Check off those features you have and where you come up short. Then sit down with your creative and marketing staff and challenge them to go for the gold! INDUSTRY UPDATE In April, New York State rewrote its tax rules to establish a position on what creates a requirement for sales tax collection for internet retailers based out-of-state that use affiliates. The new guidelines require an out-of-state retailer to collect and remit state and local sales tax on sales to residents of New York State if the retailer obtains sales from an affiliate that has a presence in the state. In effect, it seems to be lumping affiliates that are paid referral fees in with sales representatives who are paid referral fees or commissions. New York recently issued a Technical Services Bulletin that outlines the guidelines for interpreting the new law and provides several useful examples. You can find this bulletin at http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/memos/sales/m08_3s.pdf While LENSER is not qualified to render a legal opinion on tax law, we have reviewed the bulletin and articles written about the subject, and present the following information. We recommend, as always, when dealing with legal issues that you consult your attorney before taking any action. Original Announcement. The announcement by the state (New York) indicates that it considers the presence of a link on an affiliate’s website for which the affiliate would be paid a referral fee by the retailer for any sales that come from buyers coming through the link to be grounds for the state to collect sales tax on those sales that are made to New York State residents if the affiliate has a presence in New York. Retailers using one or more affiliates with a New York presence have to collect and remit state and local sales tax provided that the total annual sales made through New York-based affiliates amounts to more than $10,000 per year. Recent Information. On May 8, however, the state tax authority issued a Technical Services Bulletin, narrowing the interpretation of what type of affiliate relationship establishes a nexus. Tax counsel for the DMA reviewed the bulletin, as reported in Multichannel Merchant, and the article provided an interpretation of what this means. A key point in the article is that if the affiliate relationship is no more than a link to the retailer’s site, the retailer can rebut the presumption and is exempt from registering. In other words, it appears that if the affiliate does not use any other means to promote the link (such as emails, newsletters, or advertising), the retailer can claim that it is exempt. The key here is that the affiliate does not promote the link in any other way other than to provide a passive link. Recommendation. You should review the information that is available (see the links above) and determine whether you have obligations. If the total of all of your sales to New York State residents referred by affiliates that have a presence in New York is less than $10,000 in the last year (defined as the last four quarterly sales tax periods, which, in New York, end on the last day of February, May, August, and November), you may not be required to file. You should run sales affiliate reports to determine whether this is the case. Note that this is the total of all sales to New York residents made from all affiliates with a presence in the state. In addition, if you can show that affiliates, even if they have a presence in New York State, do nothing to market the links to your website other than post the link, you may be able to rebut the requirement. An example of this (example 6) is shown in the Technical Services Bulletin referred to above. However, you should note that the burden of proof is on you, the retailer. The registration deadline for those companies to whom the new sales tax ruling applies was June 1, 2008. As stated above, interpretation of law is best left to lawyers, so you should consult your legal counsel for guidance. FEATURE ARTICLE Simply planning a status quo marketing program and hoping for the best this year is not going to be enough in the current economic climate. With paper and postage costs rising, response rates falling and everyone being promotional every month, a very focused, coordinated convergent channel marketing program needs to be planned now. Marketing Strategy and Promotions. This is not the time to create a highly siloed or one-channel marketing plan. To drive the most sales and profits, a detailed convergent channel marketing strategy that includes all marketing media available must be put together. What is the incremental return on the last 25M catalogs mailed versus the last $12K in paid search spending? Should the marketing mix be changed from prior years and should you even change the original plan for the holiday season? Think about including media you may not be using today. Is there a killer new product with mass appeal at a great price that could be considered for a space ad in the Wall Street Journal or in a Daily Candy email, for instance? Don’t plan a reactive holiday promotional strategy—be proactive. Holiday is traditionally a very competitive, and hence promotional, time of the year. We have already seen the promotional engines starting to drive increased response rates. Instead of waiting until the last minute to plan promotions, outline the plan now and leverage all marketing media available, including catalog, print, website, email, space, affiliate marketing, etc. There is an unlimited number of promotions to consider. Your creativity and systems support are the only things that will hold you back. When calculating the success or failure of a promotional program, be sure to evaluate the contribution per book (sales minus COGS, catalog expense, and promotional expense), not simply the sales per book. The goal is to not only increase the top line, but also maintain or even increase the contribution margin. Here are just a few popular promotions:
Catalog Marketing. There are many components to the catalog marketing program—from the size of the catalog, merchandising mix, and pagination to creative design, mail dates, and circulation mix. Each of these is important in driving response rates and overall results. The size and merchandising mix of the holiday books should be fixed by now. However, there is still time to review the overall pagination within the book. Pay special attention to the hot spots and hot spreads (front cover, back cover, inside cover spreads, even the center of the book if you have an order form, as well as the bound-in order form itself, if one is used). These areas will drive two to four times as many sales as other spreads. Is the strongest, most important, new product featured in these areas? Does the photography make the items jump off the page? Are teasers utilized on the covers to drive consumers into the book? How strong are the headlines to communicate the story and message you desire? Now is the time to take another look at your mail dates, circulation mix, and contact strategy. With the elections, mail dates may need to be different from prior years. Mailing into the election is a sure way to severely suppress sales. Consumer focus will be on selecting the new president of the United States, not on buying from your catalog. Review the segmentation to see if refinements should be made to improve targeting and response rates. Focus on the low responders to establish refined selection (channel of origin, product purchase history, seasonality of purchase history, interaction with prospects, housefile optimization modeling, etc.) and eliminate least responding customers. Take a look at all of the non-buyer names owned (catalog requests, swatch requestors, internet-registered users, gift recipients, sweepstakes entries, prior buyer addresses/pre-move addresses). Which are included in the circulation plan? Is there opportunity to conduct further refinement and filters of these names to drive response? Finally, what is the mix of prospecting to buyers? What is the ratio of co-op models to outside lists? This ratio should typically be in the range of 60% to 80% co-op models versus 20% to 40% outside lists. If the outside list ratio is different, there may be opportunity to not only save on rental expense, but more importantly, drive increased results within the mailing. Internet Site and Marketing. By the end of 2007, 55% of direct-to-consumer sales were going through the internet. That does not mean that internet marketing was the driver of all of those sales, but it does mean that it is more important than ever for your internet site to be user-friendly, engage visitors, and drive conversion. The most important thing you can do on your website right now, in preparation for the holiday season, is to use a dynamic recommendation and behavioral targeting service. By creating relevant and personalized product recommendations for both customers and visitors to the site, top-line revenue will increase from 3 to 15%. Certona is able to accurately profile a visitor in real time and predict that visitor’s interest in products. This then automates the complex task of matching cross-sell/up-sell product recommendations across very large online catalogs, freeing valuable merchandising or web content managers’ time to focus on other revenue-generating activities. There are many online marketing media that can be utilized; however, time and focus should be placed on the top four that will drive results—SEM (paid search), SEO (natural search), email, and affiliate marketing. While all the others are great, they do not have the impact that these four will. Search is incredibly important since it typically represents 50% of a site’s sales. As the holiday catalog comes together, make sure keywords relating to the catalog headlines, product names, and copy are included on the website as soon as possible. This will improve the natural search results as well as site search results. SEM results can be doubled by focusing on the 60-character description for each keyword term. This should not be generic for an ad group. Review each keyword and make sure the resulting ad copy is as targeted, relevant, and specific as possible. Also review the landing pages. Are they linking to the best page, and more importantly, do they take you directly to the desired item? Does that page make it clear what the brand and—as importantly—the unique selling proposition is? Leveraging the site search terms in the SEM, SEO, and email programs is also highly beneficial. Email has been a strong driver of sales for companies, but most are still generic blasts and very promotional. Email response generally occurs in the first 30 to 60 days after sign-up. After that, less than 20% of the sales come from this group. Start segmenting the emails immediately. By conducting simple segmentation, results can easily be lifted 20%. Emails should be targeted and personalized. This can be done dynamically through personalized email landing pages or dynamically generated content developed through a behavioral model running on the website such as Certona, described above. In addition to campaign-based emails for new product introduction, general sale, last chance, etc., trigger- or event-based emails should be incorporated to drive increase response. For example, trigger-based would include emails like a welcome for first-time customers, shipping confirmations with a special offer (a discount off your next purchase, for example), and abandoned cart emails. Affiliate marketing has been much debated in the industry. These programs can drive valid incremental results, but they can also cannibalize current sales. The cannibalization argument is typically around the use of coupon sites aggressively promoting offers that companies have included in print mailings, email, or even on the site. However, there is also the argument that if a consumer is considering the purchase of a black jacket, for instance, they may choose one company over another due to an offer they find. Do not stop an affiliate marketing program until you understand the customer acquisition rate. Affiliate marketing can be a key prospecting medium. Successful affiliate marketing programs do not simply run themselves. First and foremost, make sure that all the affiliate links are current and valid. In many cases, the links are no longer valid, causing you to miss valuable click-through and purchase opportunities. Specific offers and banners should also be created for each affiliate. Typically a consistent offer results in stronger performance than a rotating assortment of offers. Creating a tiered commission structure can also be helpful. By grouping affiliates into deciles, you can offer a higher commission rate to the best affiliates and a much lower level to weaker affiliates. This will provide more incentive and focus for your brand within the best sites. Affiliate promotions can also be created, giving them a growth target that will result in a bonus commission or higher rate for that time period. Partner with your affiliate provider to create a targeted program for this holiday season. Contingency Plans. Developing a comprehensive convergent channel marketing program now will ensure strong execution and a more successful holiday season. While you won’t be able to predict everything that will happen in the business, the industry, and the economy, contingency plans should be included in your strategy. By preparing early, the timing of additional marketing initiatives and promotions will better take advantage of the true sales opportunity. Does a special bind-in need to be ready to go in case sales are soft? What about a special direct mail piece for a friends & family offer? Should you plan specific emails highlighting product categories that may need to be moved through? These are just a few examples where prior planning will help you expedite the campaign when needed. Proper planning does prevent, or at least mitigate, poor performance. A coordinated, solid holiday marketing plan now will keep your team focused on the goal for the season and the execution required to have the best possible results. CASE STUDY We all know the traditional techniques used to improve breakeven, but it never hurts to repeat the most common opportunities:
What I didn’t hear in any session at ACCM that I attended, however, was something possibly more powerful than any of these tactics—reallocating marketing expense from higher ad cost channels to lower ad cost channels as a way of improving ROI. A little history of multichannel marketing will highlight the importance of this concept. In the print world, the standard of analysis has always been return on investment, and direct marketers have been really good about moving spending from one traditional channel to another to maximize their marketing ROI. Ten years ago, most catalogers were very adept at switching between using full catalogs, slim jims, postcards, and direct mail pieces, depending on the performance of housefile segments. This natural flow between the various marketing vehicles was part of what good direct marketers did every day. It is interesting to see, though, how this best practice isn’t used as seamlessly between print and e-marketing programs as it was when there were only print programs. At most companies, start-up e-marketing programs were given minimal marketing budgets. Because of the silo mentality between the print and internet marketing groups, the classic reprioritization of spend that drove the direct marketing business for years was never used. Each silo spent its budget with no consideration of the marginal cost or profitability of an order from the other programs. In today’s environment, effective reallocation of spend across all of our marketing channels may be the most effective way to mail smarter. If you look at the way most companies keep score, you’ll see how poor reporting tends to perpetuate the silo mentality in companies, thereby concealing great opportunities. Look at the P&L for the company below:
At first glance, you can’t detect any real issue with this financial performance—nice gross margin and a reasonable amount of marketing expense results in solid contribution. However, if we dissect this P&L into performance by channel, you’ll see an entirely different picture and a great opportunity is revealed:
The channel P&L reveals that this company has been overspending on its catalogs—mailing too much mail at less than profitable contribution levels—while under-investing in web programs. As will be shown below, a great way to mail smarter in today’s environment is to cut back on segments in your catalog selection where the marginal marketing cost of the segment is greater than the marginal marketing cost in any of the company’s web marketing channels. Those budgeted marketing dollars should be reallocated to the web, resulting in supercharged demand and contribution growth. E-commerce programs have wildly different advertising costs associated with them—from virtually nothing in natural search to what is perceived as a very high cost in paid search. However, the chart below shows that when you are comparing the marginal costs of these programs to marginal catalog segment cost, they are very reasonable:
The marginal expense in catalogs is more than double that of the next highest program—paid search. So even though paid search is perceived as a high cost program, it is a real bargain when you consider what you are paying in marginal catalog segments. A progressive company that really studies its marginal costs will find enormous opportunities. Here are a few ideas to consider:
In companies where resources are constrained, effective reallocation can also supercharge your results with the same use of cash due to the leverage you get from lower marginal cost programs. If you are spending $1 million in catalog costs at the highest marginal level—let’s say 45% in this example—that will generate $2.2 million in sales. If you can re-channel those same dollars to a lower cost program—let’s say paid search at a marginal cost of 25%—demand skyrockets to $4 million, an increase of over 80% in demand with the same out-of-pocket expense. If you rigorously study your marginal costs in each channel, opportunities to spend differently, and more profitably, should become apparent. Developing expertise in all e-marketing channels may be a challenge today for some multichannel merchants, but as you can see from this analysis, it is possibly the strongest weapon you have to offset the continued deterioration in catalog ROI performance that we are seeing. The LENSER team is very experienced in helping its clients analyze the marginal CPO in each of their channels and in developing alternatives to their current programs. If you’d like more information on how we can help your company manage its ROI better in this challenging environment contact your account team or any of the partners at LENSER. CIRCULATION TIP That’s where finder number technology comes in. Finder numbers are unique ID numbers that can be applied to prospects (and house names, if needed) and act like specific account numbers. A file of these records with their finder numbers can be uploaded into a cataloger’s operational system for access by call center reps, as well as to be available during e-commerce sessions. When the finder number is input during the order-taking process, the name, address, and source code of the prospect or customer will be served up and can be stored automatically and accurately into the customer database. An additional bonus to using a finder number is that usually the associated the name and address has been standardized to meet the USPS requirements, has been CASS certified, NCOA processed, and ZIP+4 coded. When it comes time to run a matchback to analyze a mailing, these more correct new customer records will enable a better match to the mail file for a more accurate read on results. CREATIVE TIP What makes a cover wrap different from a cover change? You can print it on uncoated paper, and in just two colors if you like. Use fluorescent ink as a second color for some real snap. You can personalize the piece front and back, then bind it on to a fresh catalog and use it both as the address driver and as the vehicle for a special offer for the market you’re targeting. You can also trim the front cover of your wrap short so it’s just halfway-up the front, as long as you use "booger glue" to attach it to the main cover. You can trim the right side short, too—again, attaching it temporarily to the main cover so it will get through the mail without damage or extra postage cost. Just be sure when you do this that you make it look VERY different in color scheme and design from the actual catalog cover so it doesn’t blend in and get left on the cover by the customer. When is a wrap effective? The key is knowing exactly why you are putting the wrap on, and then not letting any other idea creep in to interfere with that single-minded goal. A promotional wrap for your best customers is a natural. It may be tempting to send it to old customers, too, but keep in mind—they know they’re not a ‘best customer’ so you just end up looking a bit silly. But if you take those best customers and break down your list into segments by activity, you could have a few different categories of customers who would respond to very different offers. That’s right—an offer. And not just any offer. It’s time to think of something smarter than a 10% off—which for most customers these days is a big YAWN. Targeted offers are only possible if you know your markets well. Take, for example, a catalog with vitamins and supplements: the customer list includes both body-builders and folks who are working to stave off Father Time and increase their comfort as they get older. These two groups would respond to very different offers. For the young fitness buff, a pair of workout gloves with an order of $100 or more would be a nice gift. And, in fact, I have used this in the past with good success. For your older crowd who’s not body-building, a book on nutrition and health or a stretching-exercise band with instructions could be a better gift. Wraps work for B-to-B catalogs, too! If you have both sizes in your customer list, you could put different items on the cover specifically for those two different markets, with a black plate change—and of course, change the teasers to appeal to these markets. Wraps are not advised for cold prospecting. But considering how much your existing customers are worth, and what we know about the increase in response due to personalization and well-targeted offers, a wrap can be a response-driving powerhouse if you play it right! MULTICHANNEL TIPS Improve housefile segmentation relative to channel of origin. If more than 10% of your orders come from customers who have never received your print marketing materials, it is time for you to isolate these buyers and contact them with a different strategy than those who did receive your mailed offers. LENSER has conducted numerous longitudinal contact strategy studies where internet-originating buyers were mailed, in comparison to buyers originating from print advertising campaigns, at equivalent or reduced levels. With rare exception, the measures of incremental sales suggest a reduced contact frequency is appropriate. Use common sense when qualifying internet buyers and inquiries for future print marketing campaigns. A toy and gift cataloger (average order value = $100, average line item count = 3) acquires thousands of new customers in the holiday season via a partnership with amazon.com (average order value = $40, average line item count = 1). Question: In a follow-up spring catalog campaign, should the company mail these amazon.com-originating buyers? A better question might even be: Are these just Amazon customers, or should they also be considered the toy and gift cataloger’s customers and treated as such in the mail? Answer: Not all of them. LENSER’s recommendation is to optimize these customers at one’s favorite co-op, and mail only those that have shown a propensity to buy similarly themed merchandise from multiple catalog offers in the off-season and not just in the 4th quarter. When the holiday season rolls around again, this company would be wise to re-optimize this same group of buyers, but this time removing the time band prerequisite. Require that all email correspondence with customers be relevant, not merely promotional. Contrary to popular belief, emails are not cheap. Sure, the direct costs of transmitting broad-brush email are minimal, but the indirect costs to one’s brand and company image mount quickly and incandescently with each and every instantaneously deleted or irrelevant email message your customers receive. You, by way of your marketing database, have the knowledge of your customer’s prior actions and product-level interests—so use it! The easiest way to stay out of your customer’s spam folder is to contact them—in every channel—with information and offers that show you are perceptive and keenly aware of their past purchasing behavior. Yes, this also means the responsibility for preparing and delivering emails needs to move out of IT and into the Marketing Department. Design a marketing database that captures promotional activity and transactions from all channels. "Oh, we already have a marketing database—it’s our enterprise system. We can input and pull all the necessary information, right?" Yeah, right—and I have a bridge that I want to sell you. Now, seriously—most enterprise systems (and, surprisingly, many expensive legacy marketing databases) focus on only one marketing channel, not the multi-dimensional world most of our readers find themselves working in today. LENSER is currently developing a cost-effective multichannel marketing database solution. Some of our readers who are participating in the Early Adoption stage of the project are already aware of it. If you think your company ought to have one sooner than later, contact your LENSER Partner, Marketing Manager—or me, as I am heading up this initiative at LENSER. Build a website with the customer’s desired holistic experience in mind. Too often, B-to-C and B-to-B websites serve the sole purpose of transactional functionality. "Get ‘em in, get ‘em out—and minimize the click-to-order ratio. That’s how we resolve this abandoned shopping cart issue, right?" Well, it’s not always that simple—in a lot of instances, shopping carts are abandoned because the customer was distracted or lost interest, or found the shipping too expensive, not merely because the checkout process was painstaking. Of equal importance, I contend, is a customer’s experience with the brand online beyond the shopping cart. However, creating, instilling, and enforcing the desire to order are difficult to achieve in a self-service advertising medium like the internet. LENSER has long preached the gospel of optimizing search, both paid and natural, as well as making all customer contacts relevant. For example, using product- and category-specific emails prompted by a customer’s actions and prior purchasing behavior, providing personalized landing pages, and making intelligent product recommendations driven by applications like Certona. Our next testament, and yours, too, will force the removal of "transaction-based blinders" and align our marketing efforts more closely with those of social networking sites. Does your company host a blog? For those that do not routinely read the blog, are entry compilations available via RSS feed? Are you using a blog application that facilitates search engine spider crawling? Have you considered an "Ask The Experts" or "Tech Tips" podcast? Have you created—or encouraged your best customers to create—videos depicting product uses or alternative applications? If so, are those videos posted on YouTube? For too long now, traditional retailers have depended on the printed ad and, for more ubiquitous brands, radio and television, to create desire in a customer’s mind for one’s products and services. It is now required that your company website, as well as the advertising dollars earmarked for the internet, create desire, too. CLIENT HIGHLIGHT—IMPALA BOB'S One morning in 1989, Bob’s younger brother, Francois, borrowed Bob’s 1968 Impala Convertible to drive to high school. It had rained on that fall Connecticut morning, and there were wet leaves on the road. Blame it on slick road conditions, plus a sharp curve, but despite Francois’ supposedly extraordinary driving skills, it equaled one 1968 Impala Convertible crashed into a stone wall. Luckily, the only injury was a bruised ego. Bob was not too pleased about the condition of his car when returned to him, but the damage was quickly forgiven. With his brother’s help, Bob decided that he was up to the challenge of restoring the ragtop to its original glory. The biggest challenge was finding the needed replacement parts: a fender, a bumper, a grille, moldings, and various trim pieces. The parts manager at the local Chevy dealer just laughed. 1968? They didn’t have anything that old. The hunt for a parts car began. A suitable organ donor was found about 50 miles away in the "Bargain News" classifieds, and dragged home. The front end of Bob’s car was disassembled, and the needed parts removed from the donor car and installed. It was decided that the entire car would get a repaint. With a new paint job, the car would need all new rubber weather strips. In that case, why not put in a new interior? One thing led to another, and before long, Bob’s project evolved into a full restoration. To pay for all of the needed materials, Bob promptly put a new ad in the paper: "Parting out 1968 Impala Convertible." The response to the ad for leftover parts was tremendous. There were plenty of other Chevy lovers looking for parts for their rides, too! It wasn’t long before Bob had a dozen parts donor cars in his driveway, the phone ringing off the hook, and the neighbors wondering what the heck Bob was doing. His hobby was getting out of hand! He became known as "Impala Bob," decided to devote his full attention into developing his hobby into a full-time business, and quit his job.
In 1994, he moved to Arizona, the Nirvana of rust-free classic cars, to re-establish his business there. He bought a small house in the hot desert on three acres of land. His brother, Francois, transferred to college in Arizona and moved in with him. They worked days, nights, and weekends. Before long, the "yard" had a couple of hundred rust-free Arizona Impala parts donor cars in inventory. The brothers answered the phones and took orders during the day. They used the living room as their office. They pulled parts and packed boxes at night when it was cool enough to go outside. The garage served as their shipping department. They shipped many tons of rust-free fenders, doors, quarter panels, hoods, and nice clean trim pieces, mostly back east to the "rust belt" states. From a headlight switch to a complete car, no part was too small or too large to ship. Around that time, Bob also developed his first Impala Bob's catalog of new restoration parts available for Impalas. After going through many, many phone calls and scouring the country to find the parts he needed to finish his own car, Bob decided to try to offer "one stop shopping" for his fellow Impala restorers, and stock all the new parts that were available for these cars. Over time, the enterprise grew. Bob hired a staff of other Chevy enthusiasts to join him and help operate and grow the business. Bob focused more and more on developing the catalog business and eventually phased out most of the salvage yard operation. Ultimately, he sold his land to a home builder, and in 1998 moved his entire operation indoors to its current location in a large warehouse facility at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, AZ. Now in its 18th year, Bob’s is a multi-million dollar business. Besides covering Impalas, Bob's has branched out over the years to become a leading supplier for other models of classic Chevy cars and trucks, with other vehicle-specific catalogs and websites. All of the catalogs are free. Parts and catalogs can be ordered by phone by calling 1-800-IMPALAS, through their website at www.impalas.com, or picked up from their retail store. Impala Bob’s hosts two annual charity car shows in their local community—one in April and one in October. They also participate in numerous regional and national shows. Complete show information is available on their website. To order up your Chevy parts or to just enjoy a little blast from the past, cruise through their site at www.impalas.com. EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT—TRACY BLAKE While attending college at San Francisco State University, Tracy Blake decided she wanted a career in marketing. She jokingly told us, "I’m old enough to have answered a Sunday ad and thought my dream job was working in an ad agency, just like Darrin Stephens from ‘Bewitched’." With a little nose-twitch, her dream of landing her first marketing job came true with a local marketing agency called 360 Group. At 360 Group Tracy started at the ground level as an Account Coordinator working with various companies like Wells Fargo, Peet's Coffee & Tea, and University of Phoenix. A few years and one recession later, she moved on to round out her direct marketing expertise at various agencies—ending up most recently at McCann Worldgroup, the largest advertising agency in San Francisco, where she headed the Target Strategy department. At McCann, she was responsible for building and overseeing contact and list strategies for all CRM programs for Microsoft. The grind of working at a large advertising agency was beginning to take its toll and Tracy was looking for a change. She turned to her friend and long-time LENSER employee, Trish Iribarne, Manager of List Services, who in turn highly recommended her to LENSER. "Tracy fell into our laps at the perfect time during our significant growth period," notes Michelle Houston, Vice President, LENSER. "Her account management skills were honed at top-notch companies and when you combine her 9+ years of direct marketing experience with exceptional analytical skills, we knew we had the perfect employee right from the start." Now in her second year at LENSER, Tracy couldn’t be any happier. She says, "The challenge with this trade is that things are ever changing. Just when you think you know it all, new innovations come at you. But I guess that's what makes it exciting." It also helps that she enjoys the collegial atmosphere. "The people are all wonderful. It's a fun group and feels like extended family. You can debate multichannel matchbacks and old episodes of Seinfeld—all in the same conversation!" While Tracy enjoys cooking, hiking, camping, reading, and watching baseball, she really has very little time for any of those things anymore. Instead she stays blissfully busy with her 9-month-old twin girls and her 5-year-old son. To learn more about Tracy Blake, please visit her bio. AFFILIATE FOCUS—ANDY COHEN He’d worked with Andy in New York. That was 20+ years ago—and even that early in his career, Andy Cohen was a star. A native New Yorker, Andy was a standout direct marketing TV specialist, taking award after award, including being named the nation’s youngest recipient of the Irving Wunderman Award for lifetime achievement. But unlike many who have a brief moment in the sun and then fade away, Andy has parlayed his success and strengths from one area of marketing into many others. This is much to the delight of his clients, his friends, his family, and a nationwide audience of readers who have enjoyed his book, "Follow the Other Hand." The Brand/Direct Connection Since then, his outrageously successful work led to his receiving countless awards: EFFIE, Clio, ECHO, Telly, and more. His innovative ideas have led him to writing countless articles and speaking about marketing and brand at podiums all over the U.S. and the world. Some articles have received national press coverage in The New York Times, Adweek, and AdAge, and many of his articles have been translated into foreign languages. In short, the entire marketing world finds his work intriguing and educational. But his most recent claim to fame is rooted in a lifelong passion of Andy’s—magic. Andy has practiced magic for years and is highly proficient at a professional level. Using Magic to Teach Andy’s teaching credentials include the Stern School of Business at NYU, The Bauer College of Business at University of Houston, and many more. He’s the only keynote speaker who was selected to present at two consecutive DMA Annual Conferences. Cohen’s client list is blue chip, and he is frequently invited by American Express, AOL, Club Med, L’Oreal, Clorox, Time Warner, the NBC Network, Nestle, and Charles Schwab to speak on forward-thinking marketing topics, including how to boost sales and revenue while strengthening brand identity. Our LENSER Summit Keynote Speaker In his engaging presentation, The Magic of Innovation, Andy reveals how businesses generate new ideas and business innovations from insights gained through magic. The breakthroughs companies get from implementing this practice can be seen in communications, problem-solving, leadership, and management—with long-term sustainable results. Andy’s presentation shows how great leaders set goals and challenge assumptions. Making it even more relevant to a wide range of companies, his presentation also tells us how and why, despite being a small or mid-size company, any company can and should aim high. This is a one-of-a-kind presentation that audience members will leave with a clear understanding of what makes a great leader tick—and how to become one themselves. In addition to his role as our keynote speaker, Cohen will be available at the LENSER Summit to provide one-on-one consultations and he’ll be doing a book-signing. His book, Follow the Other Hand, was nominated by The New York Times to be on their list of best-selling business books. This winning book includes business-magic lessons and even a set punch-out cards for your own use and enjoyment! Committed to providing all his readers and clients, and in particular our LENSER Summit attendees, with ideas to take back to the office and use for immediate results, Andy Cohen delivers first-rate innovation, as has been his career-long practice. We’re proud to present Andy Cohen as our Keynote Speaker at the LENSER Summit this year. To learn more about Andy Cohen and for information about the LENSER Summit, please contact Michele Salmon at 415-446-2511 or e-mail . NEWS BRIEF
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