January 2008 Best Practices: Granting total access PMMI’s Personal Desktop Widget delivers targeted content and advertising to packaging industry By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor
Now that widgets are the hottest new online tool, you can download hundreds of tiny desktop applications to perform useful tasks like reading news from favorite Web sites, locating Wi-Fi networks and searching the Yellow Pages. Widgets run without a Web browser and auto-update whenever you connect to the Internet. Because users choose to install them, marketers are using widgets to push information and advertising to a receptive audience.
The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI, www.pmmi.org) may be the first trade association to bundle content from trade shows (PACK EXPO), a Web site (www.packexpo.com) and a magazine (Packaging Machinery Technology) for distribution through a desktop widget. Introduced at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, October 15-17, 2007, “Total Access” is a personal content-delivery program that offers packaging suppliers one-stop shopping for their media buys, and gives packaging industry buyers unlimited access to information and resources for the $450 billion packaging supply-chain industry.
“It’s a 24/7, 365 application that gives buyers access how they want it, when they want it, and where they want it,” says Francesco Leboffe, PMMI Vice President, Marketing. “Instead of blasting e-mails, advertising and direct mail, having a direct connection on the desktop makes us a business resource like your other desktop tools.”
Packaging buyers first learned about the concept at the PMMI Total Access booth, where representatives from all three properties explained the benefits of the Personal Desktop Widget. About 1,000 of the 24,000 PACK EXPO Las Vegas attendees visited the booth, 459 swiped their badge to request more information, and 250 installed the widget upon receipt of the confirmation e-mail with download instructions.
“That’s a strong start for a totally unknown program,” says Matt Croson, PMMI Vice President, Member Services and Communication. He expects an incentive for the first 1,000 users who download the widget to help jump-start the adoption rate — a $10 Amazon gift card delivered through Total Access. Periodic e-mail offers will also promote content available only through the widget, such as executive summaries of new research reports. The goal is a 10 percent adoption rate among the universe of potential users.
Once installed, the widget can be customized to deliver just the information requested. When the application is running, it not only pushes information to the user but also pulls data back to the association, enabling PMMI to profile prospective buyers and analyze trends. Both the widget and mypackexpo.com are powered by BDMetrics’ personalization technology, which analyzes user behavior to generate reports on frequent search words and phrases and reveal pent-up product demand.
“Total Access isn’t just the customer community but also the business intelligence we can deliver,” Croson says. “It’s a strong, long-term platform to drive our position in the market.”
Croson is now working with the top 20 industry suppliers to learn how they want to access buyers, and what packages would be attractive. “There will be opportunities to provide pricing differentials based on how actively you participate in each of the media,” he says.
Total Access is expected to increase overall sales when the value proposition becomes clear to suppliers. Instead of talking about 46,000 attendees at a trade show (PACK EXPO International, held every other year in Chicago), 35,000 magazine subscribers, or 63,000- 110,000 unique Web site visits per month, the sales team can talk about a reach of 130,000 potential buyers — the total number of unique names attributed to trade show attendance, Web site registrations and magazine subscriptions.
“That will get their attention,” Croson says.
Cathy Chatfield- Taylor is a San Francisco Bay-area freelance writer/editor. E-mail cathy@ cc-tunlimited.com. Sidebar: PMMI’S Strategy Goal: Provide one-stop shopping for multiple media properties. Objective: Connect suppliers with 130,000 potential buyers. Strategy: Package trade show, Web site and magazine in one media kit. Tactics: Introduce program at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, sign-up buyers at “Total Access” booth, e-mail confirmation with download instructions, deploy desktop widget to deliver personalized content and advertising. Results: About 250 buyers activated their widgets in the first week after it was introduced.
Stay informed with Expo's weekly e-newsletter: Get daily industry news via RSS What is RSS?
