The event, held aboard The Elizabethan and departing from Westminster Pier, was attended by GI customers, featured speeches from managing director Robin Welch, deputy managing director Patrick Headley and marketing director of Royal Mail Ben Rhodes, and saw the launch of a new digital envelope mailpack product.
Headley said that the company had invested a total of £25m in the business, £5m of which was invested in the last 12 months, and that the company’s aim was to boost its current £37m turnover to £50m by 2017.
“Every year since we started we have made a profit,” he said. “We fully believe in the future of the marketing industry and mail.”
Welch added that GI had experienced 10% compound growth over the last five years. “That’s because we listen to what our customers say and because we invest in the business,” he said. “In 2008 we saw 33% of sales just stop due to the issues facing the financial services sector. So we repositioned the business and invested in digital printing.”
The new digital envelope mailpack product launched consists of a colour personalised letter colour, matching personalised outer envelope with the option of a tipped-on personalised card. Customers’ preferred colours are chosen in accordance with data collected on them.
“The paperwrap uses conventional technology that has been adapted by the manufacturers with GI’s insight to allow the creation of these unique mail pieces. The innnovation is a combination of both mechanical engineering and thought leadership,” said sales director Alistair Ezzy, who reported that GI had its first two live orders in production, and is in negotiations with other customers regarding the product.
Royal Mail’s Rhodes presented research at the event recently carried out by Royal Mail’s recently formed MarketReach arm, highlighting that “mail packs last up to 28 days in the house” and are used on average five or six times each.
“We realised there was a lot more we needed to understand about when people consume mail,” said Rhodes. “What you see is mail and email have hugely complimentary roles. The key is to make sure you’re using the right medium at the right time. People love mail for substance and email for speed.”
He added: “We found mail engages customers more than any other media channel.”
