Attention Retention

Officials of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), located in New York City, had a problem.

The competition for the group's annual Echo Awards—said to be the Oscar of the direct marketing industry—was in danger of losing some of its cachet. Increasingly, U.S. marketing companies were not responding to DMA's request to submit entries for the Echo Awards. In fact, last year the number of international submissions outnumbered domestic entries for the first time, with more than half of the 1,122 coming from agencies outside the U.S.

DMA needed a way to grab—and hold—the interest of U.S. marketers for its 2002 Echo Awards competition, the winners of which are slated to be honored in mid-October in San Francisco at the association's 85th annual conference and exhibition.

The solution, which began to arrive at the offices of marketing companies in late winter this year, was placed inside the mailer for the 2002 Echo Awards. Here, a clear plastic, medium-size wrapper contains what appears to be a flat, colorful square. Pry open the wrapper and, presto, the square pops up and is instantly transformed into a 5x5" psychedelic-themed cube, complete with a white daisy attached to one corner.

"When you come to San Francisco (to pick up your award), be sure to wear a flower in your hair," urges the hand-assembled pop-up cube. "Share your mind-blowing strategy," beckons one panel of the cube. "Pass on cool outta sight results."

Wayne, Pa.-based creative agency DMW produced the art and text for the cube, while Structural Graphics, Essex, Conn., renowned for its pop-up promotions, designed the piece. Applied Printing Technologies, Moonachie, N.J., printed 18,000 cubes on a four-color, 28x40" Heidelberg CD 104 Speedmaster sheetfed press using Carolina 14-point coated-two-side paper and Superior Ink's High-Definition Process ink.

For Applied Printing Technologies, the project was virtually painless, says account executive Dave Wood. "The job was well thought out by DMW and Structural Graphics," he states.

"Believe it or not, it's all four-color process with an aqueous coating," Wood continues. "The most unique aspect of the project was making sure that the colors popped. We wanted people to want to open this piece, and more color elicits a better response." Says Wood, achieving "a nice, clean, crisp look" was a matter of being diligent when proofing on press and "letting the press operator do his job."

Once the cubes were printed, Applied Printing Technologies forwarded them to Structural Graphics, where they were scored and perforated on a Bobst 102SE diecutter. After Ivyland, Pa.-based CC3 completed personalization services, Structural Graphics hand-assembled the cubes, then performed the fulfillment and mailing services.

While the pop-up mailer is decidedly memorable, will it produce the desired results? At press time, DMA had already begun receiving entries as the April 15 deadline for the competition approached. DMA Echo Awards manager Terri Edwards is quite confident that the pop-up cube will prove to be a winner.

"Let's put it this way," says Edwards. "A lot of people at the DMA outside the Echo Awards department have the cube sitting on their desks. We love it."