Aspen Marketing Services traces its origins to a company founded by Patrick O’Rahilly in 1986 to provide marketing services to the automotive industry. In the ensuing years, it has grown to become a full-service integrated marketing company with 800 employees in 11 offices throughout North America. Among its clients are industry leaders in the automotive, telecommunications and pharmaceutical fields, in addition to more than 8,000 independent automobile dealers throughout the country. Their integrated marketing and communications services include direct mail, event marketing, public relations, database analytics, and consulting on marketing strategies and tactics.
At the company headquarters in Chicago, Vice President of Production Services Denny Dee oversees a direct mail operation that now averages 12 million mailpieces per month. "With over 2,000 jobs per month, we average about 5,000 mailpieces per job, but we’ve handled jobs ranging from one piece to several millions of pieces," he said.
Denny Dee, Vice President of Production Services
Aspen Marketing
While Aspen Marketing had expanded its services to include digital marketing, analytics, telephony and social media, Dee noted that the digital print and mail operation was still relying on inserting equipment and technology that was 15 to 20 years old. With production volumes growing exponentially and a customer service policy of end-to-end, 24- to 48-hour turnaround, Dee recognized the company needed to make some significant upgrades quickly to support their growing business.
With Aspen’s growth, management knew that there would be increased frequency of customer and prospect visits to the site. The production floor tours are a vital part of Aspen’s sales presentation; prospects want to see that Aspen has the ability to deliver fast, high-quality mailpiece production. Having the newest equipment and software on the floor would send the subtle yet important signal that Aspen had the technology they needed to meet the most challenging deadlines.
Aspen’s team had extensive experience with Bell and Howell gripper-arm technology, which they describe as "the most versatile machines for the direct mail industry." Based on his own knowledge of these systems and his sales and production goals, Dee recommended replacing the entire fleet of inserters with new Bell and Howell gripper-arm systems. The company purchased two Pinnacle inserters with JETVision reading systems to ensure Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB) verification, four Phillipsburg Mark II inserters (also with three-camera JETVision systems), and four stamp affixers.
The new inserters use JETVision systems to provide mailpiece quality and integrity. The JETVision systems also enable three-way-match capabilities, and allow Aspen the advantage of the discounts and benefits available through the US Postal Service’s full-service IMB on every piece of mail that they produce.
Within two weeks of placing the order, Bell and Howell had installed the new inserting systems without impacting Aspen’s rigorous production schedule. Dee was also pleased that his equipment operators took to the new inserters so easily. "The learning curve was minimal," he said. "We’re now mastering the combination of the new inserters and JETVisions to maximize capacity and deliver even more creative mailpieces."
Barely a month after the completion of the installation, Aspen Marketing was seeing immediate results. "We kept the same number of staff but have doubled our capacity," said Dee. "Most of our jobs are turned around in 24 to 48 hours, and this new equipment will allow us to pursue larger-volume mail programs."
More than a vendor
Throughout the installation and initial period of adjustment, Bell and Howell staff was on site at Aspen Marketing to help answer any questions and ensure that the new inserters were operating as expected. With lightning fast turnarounds, Dee knows that Bell and Howell Services is always on-call and ready to assist with keeping their equipment up and running.
"Bell and Howell has long been a vendor partner of mine, and I like to stick with what works," Dee concluded. "Ultimately, the decision to make the budget requests to upgrade our fleet was mine, and I would definitely purchase this equipment again."