Convergence Corner: Creating End-User Engagement & Understanding Your Audience With Dean Manzetti
The CDP vice president details a case study involving scratch-off tickets that yielded enormous growth for his customer.
The goal of any print or promotional product campaign is engagement. Ideally, that engagement turns into increased business for the client. When a print and promotional product campaign, with the two components working together, yields quantifiable growth, then a distributor knows that their hard work made all the difference.
Dean Manzetti, vice president of CDP, remembers one job he worked on for an auto parts company, blending print and promo through a scratch-off lottery ticket system with prizes including $50,000 worth of promotional products, discounts on auto parts and the grand prize of a Hummer SUV. The more customers spent on auto parts, the more chances they had to win. There was a direct call for customer engagement.
“They knew, no matter what I scratch off, I’m either going to have a chance at the grand prize or I’m going to win an instant promotional product, or I’m going to get a discount on my parts,” Manzetti said. “So instead of ordering $1,000, they’re ordering $2,000 and $3,000, getting two and three cards. Long story short, we tracked it, and at the end of six months, they had a $1 million sales increase.”
Working on this promotion meant more than just creating sweepstakes. For the promotional side of things, they had to choose products that enticed the potential end-user.
“We sat down and learned who [the client’s] customer was,” Manzetti said. “His customers were basically blue-collar people. The people that were ordering these types of items, they were the mechanics at Joe’s Fix-It Shop. So they’re not going to want something that was a nice pen and pencil set on their desk. They probably like a nice wall clock mounted in their shop. We did some nice stools with their logo on it. We based it on who his audience was. They’re all going to like leather jackets, because that’s the kind of people you’re selling to.”
In the end, it was a tremendous success for all involved, and it even made for a learning experience when his print vendor had to learn how to create a print job with this many potential variables.
Key Takeaways
• Dean Manzetti has been in the print industry since 1986 and began integrating promotional products into his business around 1995-1996, expanding his offerings through self-education and vendor relationships.
• Manzetti emphasized the importance of attending trade shows, joining industry organizations like ASI and learning directly from vendors to understand and succeed in the promotional products space.
• Manzetti shared a standout case study involving a scratch-off card promotion for a car parts wholesaler, which creatively leveraged drivers as distribution channels and resulted in a $1 million sales increase in six months.
• The campaign was funded through vendor co-op dollars, with suppliers contributing to the cost in exchange for brand exposure and product promotion, demonstrating a strategic use of partnerships.
• Product choices were based on the target audience – blue-collar mechanics – ensuring relevance and appeal, with items like leather jackets, stools and wall clocks.
• Manzetti stressed the importance of deeply understanding a client’s business model and end-user, asking insightful questions and collaborating with vendors to develop impactful, customized campaigns.