WEB-SITE DESIGN NETS StrategyMap.com, Inc. FIRST PLACE CADM TEMPO AWARDS

(Chicago, March 21) - Converting a traditional consumer-oriented company to a business-to-business entity is much like a tightrope act: take a misstep and you're in for a nasty fall. Noting the strategically creative balancing act performed by Chicago-based StrategyMap.com, Inc. with its strategic partners Focus Communications, Inc. and Sherie Presta Creative Services the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM) awarded the team two first place Tempo Awards for its interactive campaign for client 3PF. 3PF hired StrategyMap.com, Inc. and Focus Communications, a Chicago integrated marketing agency, to reposition their company from a carrier-neutral third-party fulfillment service for consumers, to a company that would help businesses outsource their warehouse and fulfillment functions.

"We had a tall order," says Bill Polich, president of 3PF at the time of the repositioning. "3PF wanted to be known as the definitive source for order fulfillment in a very crowded marketplace where no one really stood out. The team proved it could crack a tough market with solid results."

A Tempo Award in Marketing went to StrategyMap.com, Inc. and its partners for an event it organized called "What Every Venture Capitalist Must Know." The program generated a 33% response, a highly successful program considering the difficulty of reaching and attracting the venture capitalist market. These exceptional results were due largely to the quality of the lists, which Focus harvested. Preliminary market research revealed the correct approach for direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing used to generate attendance at a seminar on outsourcing at the University Club of Chicago.

A first place Tempo Award was presented to the team for a new web site that generated more qualified leads than from any marketing tool in 3PF's history. Using Flash animation the omnipresent boxes appear on the web site and open to reveal the company's services. Moving down a conveyor belt complete with sound effects the visual instantly motivated users to seek more information.
The team also designed the new collateral material, which received a first place Tempo Award for Creativity, to tightly integrate with all media thereby achieving consistency and maximum awareness.
"We helped implement a look and tone that could be carried across all media," says Mark Fabish, StrategyMap.com, Inc. president. "The look of the new campaign was vital to the company's new repositioned identity, and would require a migration from an existing graphics look to a powerful brand image built around strong typography, an instantly identifiable corporate color and the reoccurring corrugated box--signifying 3PF's shipping capabilities--on all communication pieces."

The agency's first major initiative was to identify and build a brand around 3PF's unique selling proposition: overnight shipping with a high-tech proprietary software system that tracks order fulfillment in real time.

After the creative team developed the positioning statement, "Fulfillment. With a Brain," StrategyMap.com, Inc. helped launch a multi-disciplined campaign that encompassed a new web, direct mail and sales collateral. All were designed to work as a cohesive marketing program whose main mission was to generate sales leads for the company's sales force.

"In this highly competitive marketplace you have one shot at making your impression as the definitive source," says Mr. Fabish.. "It better be right on target or you have forever left your mark as a me too."
To hit the target, a campaign was designed to prove to prospective customers how fast 3PF could fulfill and ship their time-sensitive orders. StrategyMap.com, Inc. helped develop a new web site that invites prospects to take a "One minute Needs Analysis." In return for completing the survey, prospects were sent, via Airborne Express for arrival on their desk the next morning, a 3PF clock and the newly designed large format, corrugated-covered sales portfolio. A sophisticated database sent information to sales reps for follow up. Less qualified leads were sent a Slim Jim version, "Ready to Outsource Your Fulfillment?"

In business for eight years, StrategyMap.com, Inc. develops custom software applications. Its latest product, StrategyMap, helps companies achieve strategic goals using a powerful online system.

back