One of those companies is 320-staff Howitt, a high-tech nerve centre humming with Goss and Heidelberg web presses, a B1 Mitsubishi sheetfed press, three iGen 3 digital machines, plus repro and finishing gear. The print powerhouse in Nottingham is more than 170 years old and notches up 70% of total group turnover of over £50m.
The other firms in the group are Data Lateral, the specialist in gathering and analysing data, Dialogue Solutions, which manages print, email and SMS campaigns, and Shift Click, a creative hub that designs and builds websites and micro-sites.
The aim Howitt, insists Lateral Group sales director Nick Barbeary, has a great print reputation, a strong brand and an impressive client list. But not even that is always enough.
"We are working within a multi-channel environment and print is only one of those channels," he says. "It cannot work in isolation; it must compete with all of the other channels. We try to serve every one of the needs of our blue-chip clients and marketers who have or need multi-channel communications."
This means helping clients "determine the most appropriate channel for their communication to deliver the most responses and the highest return for their investment".
Those methods are many and include print, social media and other online work as well as digital TV. The key of course, he says, is for print to complement and integrate with the other channels. And Lateral had to change its business to suit that.
"The end-game, in essence, is to help our clients sell more stuff. In some cases we will print less material, but ensure it is more targeted and focused by harnessing our data-analysis expertise. This is crucial as clients have to be more accountable for their spend, while response rates to marketing are having to be sweated that much harder," says Barbeary.
What Lateral needed to facilitate this new environment was a clear cross-media strategy.
The method Barbeary reveals that Lateral Group set up its own programme entitled ‘12 steps to integrated communications management’ (ICM), which includes such steps as data, processing, response and fulfilment (for the full list, visit bit.ly/pw-22lateral). In simple terms, this means honing ‘inputs’ such as data to define a strategy of ‘outputs’, be they offline or online, to save money by improving workflows and, of course, hit marketing targets.
Printing still plays a "very, very important role" in that mix, and the advent of four-colour digital technology, for example, makes it more relevant to what Lateral Group does, says Barbeary. Printers of the future, he adds, will be able to produce "even more highly personalised communications, even more economically, and even more at will".
It’s about investing in the skills and the technology to do the job properly and also highlighting to clients the options available. The ICM programme helps to remind all within the company that there are numerous elements to every campaign and that all have to be thought through and considered on behalf of and with the client. This means Lateral can provide a true cross-media service, rather than looking at cross-media as an after-thought, or something simply bolted on to a print offering.
Clients need to understand new technology and what it can do for them, cautions Barbeary, talking of a multichannel "journey". So a consumer buying a £3,000 sofa embarks on this journey, which may involve traditional print with a personalised website address on the letterhead. Or maybe they receive a voucher offering a discount on a bed six months down the line. Lateral realised it was its job to show the client this path and to roll out the campaign accordingly.
"ICM is an integral part of Lateral Group’s strategy," says Barbeary. "It provides the framework for a successful cross-media solution. If we can develop an understanding of our clients’ objectives based on the 12 disciplines of ICM we will demonstrate our value by delivering a sustainable business model that provides, among other thing, improved workflow, cost savings and channel optimisation."
The results ICM was integrated throughout the business so that everyone knew the core principals of what the company was attempting to achieve.
"ICM forms a core element of our Lateral Skills Academy, which sets out to train all members of staff on the fundamentals of our capabilities," explains Barbeary. "This drives our staff to be market leaders in developing and delivering this strategy to the benefit of all of our customers, existing and new."
Lateral Group used its ICM strategy to great benefit for the government’s recent Change4Life campaign, which encouraged families to eat well and exercise. Initially, the contract focused on small print runs and mailings to NHS staff, but then came the flood: Howitt rolled out 11m 16pp kids’ questionnaires as door drops, inserts and direct mail.
Shift Click created an online version of the survey, and from the data drew up action plans for each child. The customisation of this alone, says Barbeary, "creates a mindboggling array of possibilities for the fulfilment system to handle". And by this he means "a ballpark of more than 3.9m potential combinations". Printed material included branded boxes containing surveys, stickers, leaflets, wall charts, posters and playing cards in multiple combinations.
"The integration we built into the platform produces impressive turnarounds," he explains. "Consumers registering with the programme on day one can be sent a mail pack on day two. Daily reports covered response levels, stock control and budget in real-time – important to balance stock levels given some items have lead times of up to four weeks."
Less than two months after the launch, response to the questionnaire exceeded expectations by 75%, he says. Launch packs went out to almost 190,000 people and 28,000 of them replied, giving it a response rate of 15%. This increased steadily as the campaign gained momentum to 21%. Having a clear cross-media strategy was crucial to that result.
Barbeary says the need for results to be quantifiable is even more critical in today’s culture of unforgiving competition and swingeing budget crunches. Information gathered from the Change4Life surveys, for example, not only allowed the Department of Health to evaluate the campaign, but justified future investment at a time when resources and funding are limited.
The verdict Lateral Group knows that to improve the likelihood of good response it has to make its message super-personal by talking on an individual level, says Barbeary. This often results in a "huge undertaking to provide an engine that supports mass-media advertising campaigns using complex variable data".
He adds: "We draw on data from a variety of sources, and in the case of Change4Life managed over 12bn potential variations in content. Not only does it score responses and create reports and recommendations, it also controls and leads the entire fulfilment process."
But new technology has ushered in new risks, and as a footnote Barbeary insists his frequent references to "best in class" and "best practice" are more than mere public-relations piffle: "Recent data security breaches at Sony, for example, have made data compliance a major issue. Clients are extremely cautious on managing their data and we take compliance and best practice on utilising information extremely seriously."
COMMENT: STRATEGIC THINKING
Philip Thompson, head of BPIF BusinessSuccessful companies are often those that use their knowledge of the marketplace to exploit any opportunities that present themselves. However, opportunities may not just be what customers are demanding, but can also be created by providing solutions for customers beyond the physical product at the end of a manufacturing process.
The Lateral Group has shown what can be achieved by looking at the different channels. By thinking strategically about how to provide not only the end-product but also additional services that meet customers’ needs, the company has been able to advise its clients on a variety of solutions and, as a consequence, boost its own business performance.
So often the strategy for a company comes from the top – the chief executive or the directors. However, this represents only a small part of a business. Imagine the impact of having management at all levels thinking strategically about their part of the business. By empowering and training your management to think about how they can generate value for the customers, companies will tap in to a huge resource of possible ideas. The opportunities will then be identified by the people who will go on to develop the solutions and exploit them for the benefit of the business.
It is unrealistic to think that this will happen overnight, with trading conditions remaining difficult at best, first and foremost staff need to get the work in then out of the door as quickly and as profitably as possible. However, with some careful planning and engagement with managers it is not impossible to make a start.
By creating the branding slogan, ‘thinking.people’, the Lateral Group has identified a powerful tool to move the business forward. Thinking of new and dynamic ways to deliver customer products does not have to be left to a small number of top-level managers, but can and should be encouraged throughout the whole business.
