Marco Rosso, Managing Director of DM Group

The company
Marco Rosso, Managing Director of DM Group, describes the core business of his company as follows.

 

"An essential pre-requisite for direct marketing is the existence of a target set of customers, in other words a list, a database, a file of names. Our core business is the management, at information level, of marketing databases for and on behalf of our clients, together with an extremely wide range of related activities. These activities are necessary to enable us to formulate a structured message in bit & byte form, in other words to compose effective communi-cations for transmission to customers through various channels. These may consist of mail shots or telemarketing or messages via traditional media, coupons in magazines or journals, prime advertising spots... On the basis of this database we offer a comprehensive service, from conception of a direct marketing campaign to material execution of the same."

 

The personalisation of messages comprises an important part of this work:

 

"Working within the framework of the communication itself, it is essential that we place great emphasis on the quality of the message, because in direct marketing the image, as well as the content, plays a fundamental role. For a mail shot it is essential that, as soon as it reaches the hands of a recipient, that person feels compelled to open it within the first two or three seconds. Once the shot is opened, the recipient will take no more than 15 to 20 seconds to read it. And, of course, if there is nothing striking from the point of view of quality, there is little chance he will read the mail shot anyway."

 

In its work, therefore, DM Group needs instruments that will guarantee quality and flexibility.

 

The challenges
"By its very nature our work necessitates extreme variability and this is a distinguishing factor of the service we provide, since we have to manage communications that are born and expire within the space of a single transmission. Consequently we need instruments that offer us the necessary dynamism and flexibility, both in terms of information technology (setting up of files, mailing lists, printing spools) and in terms of the physical execution of the work. It is at all times necessary to find the exact balance, the precise adjustments, the optimum course for printing jobs that have to be completed in a few hours. And then you have to go back and start all over again, right from the beginning."

The solution
This is why the printing machines on which the whole of DM Group's work is based have to satisfy very precise characteristics. "Over and above productivity alone", explains Dr. Rosso, "when choosing a printer I have to carefully assess flexibility and quality characteristics—characteristics that enable us to carry out jobs to the nth degree of personalisation. We don't just print the classic personalised letter: we insert the addressee's full details, the logo of the point of sale, the details of the product purchased and we differentiate messages according to whether the addressee is a new or established customer. In this way we manage well over 200 variables."

 

"To give added value we have also succeeded in applying the same concept to envelopes; we print the required personalised letter and design and make up the envelope. For this we have an intelligent envelope-filling line that is unique on the Italian market. Video camera software reads an alphanumerical string (e.g. a surname) and fills the envelope in intelli-gent mode with no need to print a barcode or anything similar. All these operations are based on product quality. Thanks to this system it is possible to print both items-letter and envelope-using the same techno-logy. All this with absolutely identical quality and colour intensity."
 
All the requirements of DM Group are perfectly reflected in the presentation forms offered by the Océ Pagestream® 500 Web: quality, thanks to resolution as high as 300 dpi; flexibility, thanks to the facility to manage variable data printing; as well as a pinless system for flat printing of envelopes by increasing the printable paper area.

 

Colourful business
But the deciding factor that played a key role in DM Group's choice was colour.
"We considered the colour facility to be a basic deciding factor. The availability of colour combined with the personalisation facility is what actually tipped the scale in favour of the Océ solution."

 

Colour, for DM Group and Océ, means a lot more than simply the colour highlights used in conventional applications. Colour, in this instance, means 'customised shade', i.e. personalised colour, thanks to the wider range of highlight toners on the market. Océ has developed, perfected and patented a techno-logy capable of achieving a more diversified range of coloured toners in the widest possible range of shades, for reproducing company colours and logos with the truest possible accuracy. "In order to implement this project, which is currently unique in Italy", says Dr. Rosso, "we have co-operated closely with the Océ Research and Development Department in Germany. One of our customers had requested printing of personalised material using a colour as close as possible to their company colour. We wanted to do better than that. Together with Océ we defined a colour that exactly matched the colour used in their logo."

 

"We are a company in the world of communication, so we are very sensitive to these issues. The ability to be in the vanguard is the turnkey in the economy of the third millennium: with today's globalisation anybody who can telephone, send a fax or click on a home page will certainly find himself in that vanguard. The difference lies in the ability to give added value and go beyond the customer's expectations."

 

DM Group currently uses toners of three different colours, as well as black, to print personalised documents of various kinds. "This is a parallel service that we offer to the most diverse sectors, given that colour laser printing is useful in general applications, the financial sector, the automobile sector and wholesale distribution. A logo does not necessarily have to be used: this technique can also be used to emphasise other parts of a document containing variable data. Colour, in fact, enables us to breathe life into a product that would maybe be dull without it, lending greater impact and richness." The result is even more effective when it is a matter of exactly reproducing the colour that a company habitually uses in its communi-cations and that somehow identifies the company.

 

In partnership with Océ, DM Group has broken new ground and has achieved a new level of personalisation. An important goal has been achieved thanks to DM Group's entrepreneurial spirit and ability to take the lead. And thanks also to Océ, who committed their resources in the search for a technological solution which exceeded expectations.