Advo Las Vegas
Advo Inc. has quietly begun an experimental weekend mailing program in Albuquerque, NM and Las Vegas.
Chris Nutter, vice president, investor relations for the Windsor, CT-based advertising mailer, says the weekend drop offers local merchants an alternative to newspaper ads or inserts. It also allows Advo to extend its brand into new products and services.
The content of Advo’s weekend ad pack is all but identical to that of its missing child card pack. It goes out to 60 million households a week.
However, capacity for the company’s printing plants is greater than the amount of pieces being mailed. Instead of leaving its plants idle, Advo looked into adding the weekend mailing.
“The basic notion is that we can offer targeted print ads in categories retailers might prefer to have in prospects’ homes on weekends,” Nutter says.
Instead of ads for items like groceries, weekend drop ads tend to favor “dual decision purchases.”
“Home electronics, home furnishings and other things for the home,” he cites as examples.
The first test was run in Albuquerque. The launch included two dozen marketers.
“It’s a market where we’re strong,” Nutter explains. “Having strong retailers in the package is very important. It makes the package relevant to the consumer and adds value.” And, he adds, it also attracts other retailers.
Testing began in January. While Nutter declined to cite results, the success allowed Advo to expand the program to Las Vegas in July where it was “pre-sold.” He forecasts adding four markets a year for the next few years.
“We are not going to 25 markets in the next quarter,” Nutter says. “We want to make sure [the program is] executed well for our clients.”
Nutter also believes the idea of a weekend mailing will allow Advo to expand into new markets.
“Entertainment fits well with the package, although we wouldn’t gear our timing directly for entertainment right now,” he says.
While Nutter feels entertainment could be served by a midweek or weekend program, he voices concern about opening too many programs and thus diluting the focus.
On the other hand, he says, “We do have restaurants that use us. We could break into theaters and some sporting events as well.”
