My Last Post

…on the Affinity Express blog.

If that’s not making you sad, don’t tell me. I’m immensely sad to leave: not just leave a blog that I’ve nurtured lovingly over two years, but to leave a job that I was extremely happy at, and a boss who made work fun each day and who’s become one of my best friends.

I have learned so much over the last two years: seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much in any other period of my life. It was exciting to be in this dynamic industry, to work in a business that’s aligned with my work (marketing!) so I can understand and be thrilled about the services we provide. It was a pleasure to meet (whether in person or online!) and learn from so many colleagues and clients.

And especially, it was amazing working in the marketing department with Kelly and Mel: never have I worked in another team that was so in sync (even though we’re all in different countries!); where even disagreements were fun and productive.

I’m glad we’ve found another Marketing Manager who’s brilliant and driven and fits well with the team; who has strengths different from mine and will push Affinity Express into new directions. But I’m sure Kriti will have her own post up here soon, so I won’t steal her thunder.

I’ll continue to write about marketing here and I hope you’ll continue reading me, and I’m happy to chat on Twitter.

And I know Affinity Express will continue to do exciting stuff and the blogging team here will continue to dispense great advice, so I’m definitely going to continue reading this blog. You’ll also catch me hanging about in the comments section here, so I won’t say goodbye!

Designs of the Quarter: Image Editing

The third category for the Designs of the Quarter contest was image editing. Our image editors work on pictures and make them more clear, or more complete, or remove backgrounds, or change colors, or make other modifications that the client wants.

This design won first prize, and you can see why. Something that starts as muddy-looking and shadowy becomes a clear image that conveys speed and power.

Designs of the Quarter: Videos

Video has emerged as such an important marketing vehicle it’s no surprise that our team is busy creating showcase, montage, pre-roll and post-roll videos and editing them for our clients. Our multi-media clients provide the service to their small- to medium-sized business clients. Typically, video would be too expensive for these advertisers. But the types of products we produce are affordable and take the SMB’s promotional efforts to a new level.

Here are our top picks from our video production work last quarter.

The first winning video ad uses a variety of effects to bring in all the different elements, separated by the curtains—a perfect device for a theater. The use of the fonts is appropriate to convey information that complements the moving elements.

Designs of the Quarter: Print Ads

In our first Designs of the Quarter contest this year, we had a slightly different format. We awarded three designs in each of three categories, instead of three designs overall. The categories this time were: print ads, video and image editing.

Today, I’ll share the winning print ads with you.

This first ad is really striking in its layout and the use of fonts and colors. The ad design lives up to the slogan: “Makes other bourbons feel underdressed” by complementing elegant imagery with classic fonts and understated colors so the product is dominant. This bourbon suggests it is in a different class of spirits and the design reinforces that point!

AESB 4.0: Our Cloud Tool to Manage Both Digital and Print Marketing Products

What’s new about AESB 4.0? A lot.

By making the processes of digital and print production more efficient and enabling digital and print services to be ordered and proofed through a single interface, we believe AESB 4.0 will be a game changer for the news publishing industry.

AESB 4.0 has several unique benefits for users:

Editorial Services for Newspapers

In 2011, we launched editorial services for news publishing clients. I recently had a chance to sit down with Affinity Express Managing Editor Alan Bonini and Vice President of Operations Kristin Meidell to get their perspective on the industry and the future. Outsourcing accelerates publishers’ ability to establish production hubs, re-purpose content, focus on critical value creation activities and cut costs. But I wanted to hear what Kristin and Alan had to say, as they are talking with clients every day and hearing directly about the pain points of news publishers.

What are the current challenges for publishers in terms of editorial?

KM: In markets in North America copy editing and paginating are being combined under one person. Very few papers have  many pure paginators anymore. News publishers have started trimming their own operations and want multi-tasking people. We’ve been able to respond to this demand by starting with pagination and moving into both services.

Has the service been well received by publishers?

KM: Publishers have been most receptive. In contrast, editorial departments do not usually welcome the idea of outsourcing functions. Instead, they want to do everything they can to reduce expenses internally.

For example, newspapers used to have people dedicated only to value-added sections such as travel, food, home guides, etc. Those departments have been collapsing to comprise fewer people. Where there was once a food editor, food paginator, travel editor, travel paginator, etc., now these functions are probably all done by the same person.

Why do you think outsourcing of editorial support services makes sense in today’s publishing industry?

AB: The first reason to outsource editorial is cost reduction. However, quality is a critical consideration. Editors have to be satisfied with the work they receive. In addition, the papers all have a unique voice that must be maintained.

Happy New Year

Please click here to view our online card.

From all of us at Affinity Express, we wish you a very happy 2012.

Digital Media and the Newspaper Industry: an Interview with Michael Fogel of Hearst

We recently met Michael Fogel, vice president of technology development at Hearst Newspapers. Hearst is a client of Affinity Express. Using our services to become more efficient and proactive is just one of the ways Hearst is adapting itself to the growing predominance of digital media and the decline in circulation and print ad revenues.

This blog post lays out Mr. Fogel’s views on the newspaper industry and explains how Hearst is riding the wave and leading the industry.

Digital Media Has Disrupted the Newspaper Industry

According to Mr. Fogel, the split in revenues for the newspaper industry used to be 80% advertising and 20% circulation. That was prior to double-digit declines in print revenues.

Not only have print revenues dropped dramatically, but newspapers are struggling to offer online services. Even as news publishers find ways to create and deliver digital products, margins on online services are lower and publishers need higher volumes to compensate.

How Hearst Uses Digital to Its Advantage

Unlike many of its counterparts, Hearst is surviving and even thriving in the digital world. The company was very close to realizing a year-over-year revenue gain in October. To Mr Fogel’s knowledge, no other news publisher can say this.

Designs of the Quarter: Online Ad, Coupon, Vector Art

The results of this year’s third Designs of the Quarter contest are in, and as always, I’m proud to present some of the best work within Affinity Express.

Online Ad

This eye-catching ad was an easy choice for Design of the Quarter because it grabs attention. Regardless of the online newspaper’s headline, you can’t ignore the ad because it surrounds the content. Even better, it earned high praise from our client: “We need to keep maintaining the high quality we’ve become accustomed to through Affinity Express. This is an AWESOME piece of creative built by your team. Keep up this great work.”

The Potential of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Small businesses seem to agree that social media marketing is effective.

• “Creating a profile on a social network” was named the most effective marketing or advertising tactic. (MerchantCircle survey, 2011)
• 34% of respondents who had used social media said it helped them reach new potential customers and 15% said it increased sales. (Deluxe Corp survey, 2011)

via eMarketer

However, they are yet to explore the full potential of social media.

• 1/3 are not yet using Facebook
• Roughly half of SMBs have not used Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn.  
• Roughly 3 in 4 SMBs have not used Groupon, Yelp, LivingSocial, or Foursquare.

This should soon change: 83% small businesses plan to use social media for business. Yet social media is far from being indispensable: only 4% small businesses can’t do without it.

Graphic Services Score 4.2 of 5

We recently conducted our annual survey of graphic services customers. First of all, my sincere thanks to everyone who participated: nearly 300 of you took the time to answer our questions and we are grateful. We have pored through the results and read through every single word of your comments. Thanks to everyone who wrote critical feedback: we want to solve the issues you have had with using our services and make it easier and better for you. Our team is also responding to individual respondents with any concerns or issues.

And of course, every word of positive feedback encourages our team and makes us happy, and we’re grateful for your appreciation.

So, how did we fare?

Retail Client Achieves 65% Lower Costs and Half the Turn Time

A design our team created for this client

We support several retail clients and their print design needs: in-store signage, flyers and image editing for product images on their websites are some typical products we work on. One of our clients is a leading grocery and pharmacy retailer with 2,500 stores, 140,000 employees and several well-known brands. In addition, the client also provides supply chain and business services to another 2,200 independent retailers. 

Cost Pressure and Inefficiency

In an innovative move designed to reduce costs, our client centralized production for the retail chains so all requests would come through corporate headquarters for better control and standardization. Yet they still needed a better way to provide support, reduce turn times and improve communication with external customers and internal design functions.

The company was outsourcing to a U.S.-based company, but the service was expensive and not meeting all their needs in the creative services segment. The company needed more productivity, lower costs and greater value for their investment.

As a result, the retailer made another breakthrough and decided to become one of the early adopters in the retail industry of business process outsourcing for advertising and media. The company selected Affinity Express, based on our reputation for transforming production for our clients, to build and operate an optimized onsite, onshore and offshore delivery platform, customized to meet the requirements of the client.

Eight Tips on Organizing a Great Event

Event planning often falls under marketing, whether that means trade shows, client visits or corporate meetings. And if you are a small- to medium-sized business, the chances are you don’t have a budget to hire an outside firm or a consultant. We’re just back from the Affinity Express annual strategy workshop and I’m glad to say that it went quite well, from the hotel to the meals to the events. Based on this recent experience, here are some suggestions to increase the likelihood of success for your event, regardless of the type of meeting or the industry you are in.

1. Visualize the Details

This is probably the tactic that has helped me the most, especially when it comes to large events. You have to know the venues, details and agenda better than anyone. Plus, you should see them from the perspective of your participants. When you envision through how guests will enter, what they will see, what they will need and what they will expect, you can effectively cover all of the details. Your goal is to have the attendees relax and feel completely taken care of, even when you’re having a straightforward business meeting.

This is one reason why you see signs with group names and directions in hotels when there are events. Having people wander around aimlessly, wondering where they are supposed to go, is not the best start to a gathering. The annual event for the Chicago chapter of Go Red For Women was a great example of effective signage. It was a large hotel and there was no doubt where to report, check your coat, find the ballroom, etc. They answered all the questions before they could be asked (and we were proud to have helped design the signage).

Dinner was a time to relax and have more informal conversations

For our dinners around the strategy meeting, I had perused the menus and arranged for special requirements in advance. Each day, I arrived early to meet the servers, select wine and appetizers, discuss the approach with the staff and ensure everything was set up the way I wanted. Over the course of four days, my boss never started a question with, “Did you . . .?” When our guests arrived, they didn’t have to think, just enjoy themselves, which they certainly did. I’m not naming names but there was spontaneous karaoke at one point!

Choosing the ELITE Logo Design

With the announcement of our new Affinity Express ELITE initiative to better communicate and reinforce our company’s core values, we launched an internal design contest in July to develop the ELITE logo.

All Affinity Express employees were eligible to participate. Designs had to include “Affinity Express” and “ELITE” (in all caps because it is an acronym). We asked them to take into account the company branding standards and colors, but work to develop an attractive logo that demonstrates our creativity and design capabilities. Individuals could submit designs or teams could work together. And multiple entries were permissible.

I’m happy to say that we received hundreds of amazing designs and this was our most popular contest since our corporate logo was developed several years ago. Entries were reviewed without any names or identification and voted on by a team of Affinity Express personnel, including Human Resources and Marketing representatives.

The first thing we did was eliminate entries we didn’t believe would work for a variety of reasons (e.g., because the colors were off, the designs were not interesting or they didn’t have balance with our logo). We also got a lot of variations on the same theme and had to drill down to one representation of an idea. As we went through our review process, it was important for us to consider how logos would appear in different media: on memos, the website, t-shirts, posters, presentations and more.

Our Parent Company, Ayala Corporation

For those of you who don’t know, our parent company is LiveIt Investments, the holding company for Ayala Corporation’s investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. Ayala Corp is one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines. This association has many advantages for Affinity Express, not least being the stability and financial backing that they provide, allowing us to be a dynamic, versatile company.

The 2010 Ayala Corporation Annual Report was released recently and we were featured as a valued company in the portfolio of LiveIt Investments, Ltd.

Here are some highlights from the report.

2011 Global Services 100: We’re in Again!

The U.S. holiday was on July 4^th but there are fireworks going off in our offices around the world these days. Affinity Express was named to the 2011 Global Services 100—companies that define leadership in IT and business process outsourcing! Not only that, we were selected as one of the top 5 knowledge process outsourcing providers. Wow! This is the second year in a row we’ve been included but we are even more excited than we were in 2010.

As the person at our company who compiles the information and submits the application, I can tell you that the process is not easy. There are numerous financial, client, process, technology and human resources questions to answer. The reason is that Global Services 100 (GS100) companies are chosen through a detailed method that evaluates them across several quantitative and qualitative dimensions. I’m glad they liked what they saw in Affinity Express!

Core Values for the Affinity Express ELITE Club

A couple of years ago, we articulated the core values of Affinity Express:

• We are passionate about efficiency and measuring continuous improvement.
• We work hard and exceed expectations—our own and our clients.
• We harness our creativity, dynamism and innovativeness to make our clients look good.
• We are team players who are honest and transparent with each other.
• We conduct ourselves with the highest standard of ethics and integrity.

These are values our company stands on, and we wanted every employee of Affinity Express to live and work by them.

Award function in the India office (I’m in the center)

Lack of Affordable Resources is the Biggest Challenge SMBs Face with Online Marketing

So how can more SMBs embrace the advantages of online marketing? If online marketing is actually more effective than they think and small businesses lack the resources and the knowledge to use it more effectively, how can this change?

But first, some more data. We asked our respondents about the challenges they face in online marketing.

Only 63% of SMB Respondents Have Used Online Advertising or Marketing: Affinity Express Survey

In our recently concluded survey of our small business customers, we asked them about their use of online advertising and marketing tactics.

Advertising and Marketing in the Digital Age

Twitter background designed by Affinity Express for a client

Interactive services is such a dynamic, interesting space. I recently interviewed Marisol Oberzauchner, director of interactive services at Affinity Express, to pick her brains about what she thinks of the space and what Affinity Express is doing in it. Here you go. 

KG: You help lead interactive services for Affinity Express. This is a dynamic category and it seems to change almost daily. How do you stay current with the latest trends?

MO: Our clients are looking for informed guidance. In my role, I have to continually stay abreast of what is happening in the industry, so I connect to social media portals that cover these topics, track new technologies through communities on LinkedIn and access creative groups. Outside of work, I read technology books, computer magazines and daily digests. At times, I attend demonstrations of new products. The information is available; you just have to stay current and make it a daily priority. 

Of course I follow the leaders in the space but also keep an eye out for the smaller firms who are trying to depart from the norm and solve problems in new ways. Breakthroughs seem to come frequently from these smaller guys and then the Apples and Googles buy them out. YouTube is a great example. I also found the acquisition of Radian6 by Salesforce.com interesting. A bigger recent event was of course Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype.