Archives
Outdoor Play Equipment
INCREASE SALES
MPS’ creative marketing campaigns and approach redefines the client’s story and engages their key audiences. Generating new leads and deepening existing relationships is the goal.
Situation
A distributor of children’s outdoor play equipment wanted to increase sales for all of their locations. Each location contained a showroom of the most popular equipment for children to play on before making a purchase.
Task
The equipment’s tactile appeal provided the greatest motivation for the parents to purchase. Therefore, MPS recommended an experiential marketing campaign to maximize the children’s physical interaction with the equipment.
Action
The marketing campaign used a standard real estate tactic for direct mail by selecting 5 addresses on either side of an existing customer and 10 addresses across the street. The strategy behind this tactic was to create awareness of the children playing on the equipment among the adjacent households. This increased the perceived value of the equipment as a positive experience for the children.
The direct mail campaign included another experiential opportunity by announcing Friday and Saturday play dates at each of the locations. The party-like atmosphere created by the scores of children playing together strengthened the purchasing decision for the parents because they saw the positive value of the social interaction for their child’s development.
Result
Friday mornings at the location near our office looks like game day at college football game as scores of children run laughing and skipping into the showroom.
Philadelphia University
BOOST ENGAGEMENT
MPS develops customized communication materials that our clients use to promote health & wellness behaviors. The result of more relevant communication is a more actively engaged employee.
Situation
A Philadelphia university with undergraduate and medical campuses wanted to transform their paper-based benefits communication to a digital format. The dual campuses required two separately branded communications with messaging that created greater awareness of and participation in the voluntary benefits.
Task
MPS compiled a list of the current paper-based benefits communication and the presentation of these materials to the employees. To minimize the impact of the format change, MPS maintained the same groupings and organized them into a sitemap. The navigation of the digital format followed the existing order to create a more familiar presentation to the employees.
Additionally, MPS examined the de-identified benefits elections of the entire employee population. The analysis identified five voluntary benefits with low participation rates. Also, MPS recommended dividing the employee population into four life-stage segments to create more relevant examples in the messaging.
Action
The first thing MPS created was a mascot-like character as a spokesperson for the benefits plan. We gave the character a professorial voice (South African English) to complement the educational nature of the workplace.
The sitemap formed the basis of the interactive CD’s navigation which emulated a website with menu bars and links to the benefits providers’ websites. The initial launch of the CD featured an option for the mascot to describe the purpose of the CD as well as other features such as the life-stage audios for some of the voluntary benefits. Different voice actors were used to strengthen the connection to each of the life-stage groups. Mascot themed envelopes and CD sleeves were used to mail the benefits communication to each employee’s home.
Results
Greater awareness was achieved with one of the voluntary benefits’ participation rate increasing by 33%. The following year, MPS produced a web-based version of the CD to provide more flexible access for the employees.
IQVIA Clinical Group
BUILD RECOGNITION
To increase brand awareness across the solutions, MPS developed a clean, crisp, polished look and feel that paired beautifully with the new brand and marketing assets.
Situation
Planning a successful conference is a big job. IQVIA Clinical group needed a project manager and event specialist to assist them with their upcoming conferences. IQVIA contacted MPS because their marketing department needed a company with experience, knowledge and expertise in strategic event planning and execution.
Task
The MPS creative team collaborated with the project manager to create a booth concept and all printed marketing and sales materials with a consistent brand. Quintiles and IMS Health recently merged and all of their conference and marketing materials did not have the combined logo and new company branding. MPS was able to easily assist with the new branding of the company and create the materials needed for a successful conference.
Action
MPS developed a comprehensive project plan that included communicating timelines and priorities to all team members. MPS was able to handle the tight deadlines and maintain a high standard of work.
The project manager attended the event to manage on-site vendors, ensure that all materials arrived on time and provide support to the client. Support was needed when it was time to break down the booth. With the project manager being on-site, she was able to track down the appropriate show manager to assist with break-down and shipping of materials.
Results
It was vital for IQVIA to exert a strong presence to introduce their new corporate entity and showcase their enhanced products and services at these must-attend conferences, which bring together key stakeholders from the clinical industry for learning what’s new and exciting in their field. MPS met the challenging deadline for both the rebranding efforts and the creation of new materials. But not only did MPS meet the deadline, the excellent quality of our creative and production services; the caliber of our customer services also far exceeded IQVIA’s project expectations! VISIT: IQVIA on the web.
Pennsylvania Power Company
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
MPS creates digital guides with audios and videos that provide relevant communication to your targeted audience. They help your employees make more informed decisions for their benefits elections while providing a media rich user experience.
Situation
A major Pennsylvania utility wanted to move from a paper-based employee benefits communication program to a digital format that offered video and audio capabilities. Also, the digital format needed to be compatible with their benefits provider’s Open Enrollment platform.
Task
MPS analyzed the current benefits package including voluntary insurance products to determine candidates for audio and video treatments. The client reviewed the recommendations and made selections for audio and video production. Also, MPS suggested a redesign of the benefits guide to provide the employees easier reading and navigation of the digital Flipbook application.
Action
MPS provided an updated look for the benefits guide that used a cleaner, simpler approach to paragraph styles with complementary design elements. The audio and video treatments added relevant life-stage explanations of specific benefits chosen by the client. During the Open Enrollment process, the employee accessed the digital benefits guide in real-time to make more informed decisions for their benefits elections.
Results
The employees accessed the digital benefits guide while making benefits elections on the Open Enrollment platform. The digital Flipbook application used html5 for compatibility with the Open Enrollment platform and provided a consistent viewing experience across multiple browsers and operating systems.
The client chose MPS for the project based on the different media options available within the application and the ability to add features in successive years. This tiered product model allowed the project to stay within the annual budget and still provide a media rich user experience.
Delaware Health Network
IMPLEMENT CHANGE
MPS successfully implemented a workplace health program to help improve the health of the workforce. Consistent communication is a vital component of the overall program and fosters an organizational commitment to employee health.
Situation
A large Delaware health network wanted to create a culture of wellness in support of their employees. They needed to engage a communications partner to develop messaging that promoted participation in their wellness programs.
Task
MPS started by analyzing aggregated benefits usage with an overlay of research-tested intervention programs data. The combination of the two data sources identified several preventable morbidities as candidates for the launch of the wellness campaign.
Action
To develop messaging that resonated with large segments of the employee population required a multi-channel delivery system. Part of the messaging included a 6-panel brochure with a wellness calendar that highlighted events throughout the year. The brochure featured a motivational letter from the CEO that introduced the theme of a culture of wellness. Other articles in the brochure addressed practical ways for the employees to make healthier choices for diet and exercise. The brochure was mailed to each employee’s household to engage the entire family in support of the wellness programs.
In addition to the brochure and wellness calendar, MPS created customized videos using 2D animation applications. The format displayed on a series of large monitors that bisected the hospital cafeterias. The videos were constructed to communicate a complementary message for the current wellness events with animated text and graphics since the use of audio wasn’t a practical option for these locations.
Result
The branding of the wellness programs under a consistent theme helped to establish the culture of wellness throughout the health network.
A subsequent addition to the program included a branded Wellness Website for all of the employees. The website serves as a single resource for each employee to log their wellness activities, sign up for events and monitor their overall wellness score.
Supplemental Education Service
DRIVE RESULTS
MPS developed a promotional campaign to provide an increase in response rate. The on-going campaign afforded the proper call to action for highly targeted mailings and simultaneously reduced mailing costs.
Situation
Franchisees from a Supplemental Education Service Provider needed an SAT/ACT promotional campaign. The objective of the campaign was to attract SAT/ACT aged students to enroll in their classes.
Task
MPS researched the SAT/ACT program for a representative sampling of the franchisees. The due diligence paid off because MPS learned that the number of weeks to complete the prep program varied by franchisee. Therefore, the call to action needed to use variable enroll-by dates to ensure that the students completed the coursework prior to taking the SAT/ACT.
Action
Each of the franchisees received a marketing kit from MPS that included a sample postcard. The variable data portion of the postcard used two separate calls to action. The first call to action announced the date of the SAT/ACT while the second “Enroll-By Date” accounted for the length of the prep course.
To reduce mailing costs and provide greater targeting of the postcard campaign, MPS recommended using a Special Select when acquiring the mail list. The Special Select cost a little more but provided households with SAT/ACT age children. The typical 5,000 household mailing quantity for these mailings didn’t make sense for a large percentage of the franchisees. Many of the franchisee’s Special Select lists produced far less than 5,000 households.
Lastly, the participating franchisees could pool the printing of their postcards to reduce the unit cost for each card.
Result
The overall campaign offered reduced mailing costs for each franchisee by using the Special Select mail list and volume print pricing. The highly targeted postcard with the proper call to action provided the best chance for an improved response rate. After receiving their marketing kit, one franchisee from Texas responded with “Now this is marketing!”
