“If necessity is the handmaiden of innovation, as is often quoted, then it strikes me that the downturn has become the close companion of reassessment,” says Alistair Blaxill. 

Executive direct at communications provider, Communisis, Blaxill (pictured below) continues: “Unsurprisingly, all budgets have been placed under the spotlight with re-examination of return on investment being key. As a result, we have noticed an emerging trend for cost-sharing solutions, a case in point being transpromotional marketing. 

“Statement marketing is by no means new. The concept of adding marketing messages to transactional documents has been around in one guise or another for at least a decade, yet it has taken until now for the technology to catch up with the proposition creating a slick, individualised, cost effective solution and for increased demand driven by the need to cut costs. Arguably, therefore, this is the time for whitespace utilisation to thrive. 

“Transpromotional marketing suits the current climate as it enables organisations (including financial services, telecos, subscription services, the public sector, home shopping companies) that send transactional touch points to offset the cost.

“Traditional statement printing costs can be shared with the marketing team, who can add relevant messages to individual customers, either upselling their own products and services or selling space to third parties, further minimising investment.

“However, cost isn’t the only compelling reason to use essential customer communications as a marketing tool. Consumers expect statements and invoices, primarily because they contain important information which usually require some sort of action.

“Research from the UK’s Royal Mail shows that over 90 per cent of transactional documents are opened, moreover they are typically kept for longer than any other form of communication. Research also shows that the average customer invests between one and three minutes to review a piece of transactional communication, with 20 per cent spending more than five minutes reviewing these documents.

“Infotrends, a major international research organisation, has reported a surge of interest in transpromotional marketing worldwide. During 2007, transpromo full colour digital output represented 1.7 billion equivalent images in North America. It is estimated that by 2012 this will reach 22.8 billion images, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68 per cent. 

“At the time of writing, Infotrends was publishing figures for Europe – ‘Trans Meets Promo: A European Perspective’, released at The European TransPromo Summit in October. Early indications show that great transpromo results have been observed in both Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Australia Post is particularly vocal in the promotion of white space marketing. A case study showed that in the lead-up to the introduction of Australia Federal Government’s new superannuation rules, the marketing team at ING Australia was looking for the most effective way of educating its members about how the changes affected their superannuation savings. By including a targeted sales message as part of an essential mailing, ING was able to add another $22 million to funds under management in its superannuation fund. 

“As the above example shows, transpromotional marketing can be an extremely powerful tool in the marketers’ armoury. However, cynics might believe that, with the rise of digital, the opportunity will prove obsolete very quickly. But this isn’t the case.

“Consumer research commissioned by us in September revealed that three-quarters of consumers still receive paper statements and do so out of choice because they are convenient. Half the respondents said they wanted paper statements in order to keep a handle on their finances and need hard copies to file. Interestingly, only nine per cent of people claimed not to have been given the option to receive their statements through a digital platform, which again reinforces the fact that consumers are choosing paper over online delivery.

“Moreover, one in seven people were found to either not use online banking or were mistrustful of the security it provided, preferring the peace of mind a mailed statement provides.

“Given the increasing client demand for transpromotional communications, providers have ensured that the channel has evolved, meaning that obstacles encountered during its infancy have been eradicated. Workflows now exist between marketing and operations to ensure collaboration is seamless and painless, resulting in a sophisticated solution that ultimately benefits the bottom line.

   Alistair Blaxill, executive director, Communisis.