LARGO, Fla. -- Val-Pak Direct Marketing Systems here is advertising nationally on cable television to boost consumer awareness of its packaged goods coupons redeemable at retail. The $3 million advertising campaign got under way last month on nine cable networks, including CNN, ESPN and TBS.
Val-Pak sends its light blue envelopes filled with coupons to specifically chosen neighborhoods -- postal routes grouped together based on retail shopping locations, traffic patterns and natural boundaries.
To attract more national packaged goods companies, the cooperative direct-mail company has formed an alliance with Spectra Marketing Systems, Chicago, to hone its consumer targeting abilities.
Val-Pak's targeting abilities are being combined with Spectra's lifestyle consumer segmentation model to enable brand marketers to mail to the neighborhoods that best meet their marketing objectives. Called the Spectra/PRIZM 54 Cell Matrix, the program has promised 15% to 30% greater targeting efficiency.
Although the bulk of Val-Pak's advertisers are local and regional businesses, some prominent manufacturers have advertised recently.
"Kraft Foods' Post Cereals, S.C. Johnson, DowBrands, Bristol-Myers -- all those companies have mailed with us in the last several months," said Tim Pfeiffer, Val-Pak's director of consumer packaged goods.
The envelopes carry coupons, but he noted that brand marketers are not limited to mailing a single cents-off coupon. "Post Cereals did a six-paneled piece that advertised several different brands so they were not locked into one rigid format," he said.