Features | April 12, 2022
How NFC Tech Made a Holiday Card Pop
By Kristin Frankiewicz, Brand Chain Staff
Sending holiday cards is a great way to ensure your company is staying top of mind for customers and prospects. But at a certain point, you may feel left at the discretion of the consumer.
Did they receive it? Open it? Leave it in a stack of other cards and bills? Unless you’re providing an incentive to engage (such as a coupon or custom link), that could be the end of the road for your card.
But what if you’ve inserted a chip powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology and combine it with some savvy marketing solutions?
This was the case for Brand Chain member RBO, a veteran-owned, woman-led marketing and branding company business based in St. Louis and Chicago.
A Coincidence Too Good to Pass Up
RBO was preparing for a major rebrand and wanted their holiday cards to showcase a teaser video. Partnering with fellow Brand Chain member Vpak, RBO considered using Vpak's embedded screen technology that’s been implemented for everything from business cards to promo boxes and cocktail shakers. When it came to cost, however, the technology for this particular project wasn’t a fit.
That’s when Vpak suggested the NFC chip, a more affordable solution with a similar effect. RBO could still feature their rebrand video by using NFC technology to “talk” to people’s phones. When the recipient tapped the card with their phone, the video would launch in a mobile browser.
This was the second time within days that the RBO team had come across an NFC-based solution, the first being a drink tumbler with a chip-embedded lid. The coincidence was too good —and too interesting — to pass up.
With a rebrand approaching, this was the perfect opportunity for RBO to showcase what they are capable of. “We're responsible for managing clients’ brands, so we needed to promote that we manage our own brand well, in an innovative way,” Cathy Armstrong, chief executive officer of RBO, says. “It became its own case study, in addition to being a holiday card.”
Clock’s Ticking
With the technology identified, RBO and Vpak got to work — quickly. When asked to share some of this project’s biggest challenges, Armstrong admits most were self-imposed.
“I started the conversation with Vpak on Nov. 1, and I had to ask our marketing and IT teams to work out the entire concept in time to mail cards the second or third week of December, while also factoring in that the chips are manufactured in China,” she explains.
Coordinating the mailing list added another layer of complexity but was necessary to create an actionable product. Each card and its corresponding parts were numbered, allowing the team to create a master tracking system that paired with unique video links and each customer or prospect on the mailing list. This, in turn, became a sales tool. For those who launched the video, RBO’s sales team could see who it was viewed by and when, then follow up to start a conversation.
The project is a case study not only in using innovative technology but in partnership too. Vpak provided the chip and manufactured the card. Given the time crunch, however, RBO didn’t have the luxury of seeing Vpak’s print quality from their supplier.
“We did it blind but had trust in Vpak. In place of a physical proof, they sent us a video demonstrating the card opening and closing,” Armstrong says, noting Vpak created the “proof” video during one of their shifts in production.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered…
Within weeks, the cards arrived, and RBO got to work stuffing envelopes over a pizza party, tracking closely against their master list and identification system.
“We wanted to make the pieces of the design look like it was a gift,” Brad Garlich, director of marketing and creative at RBO, says about the card’s look. “We treated the early logo reveal as a gift to the recipient, as some ‘inside information.’ We were trying to think of something we hadn't done in the past, a way we could show off a technology-driven card.”
When tapped with a phone, the card transmits a signal to the user’s mobile browser that opens a video created by Garlich, showcasing 35 years of the company’s work, including the rebrand.
Lessons Learned
“Depending on what you want your ROI to be, you need to think through the process and the messaging. Our message of innovation was really important to combine with the rebrand, the sales tool and the card,” Armstrong says.Looking back on the project, Armstrong’s advice for working with NFC technology is understanding the return on investment (ROI). This card, she says, incurred more expenses than past years’ holiday cards, but her team was happy with the results: a 13% open rate, which typically can’t be tracked with a traditional card.
The company is continuing to use NFC, including the earlier mentioned tumbler cup with a chip embedded in the lid. Similar to the card, when tapped with a phone, the user is taken to a video on their mobile browser. This tumbler was given to RBO employees as a gift with a holiday greeting and thank you for all of their hard work in 2021 (pictured below), and extras were allotted for the business development team. The tumblers are taken on sales calls and can be offered to clients and prospects as both swag and follow-up tools.
The company may consider additional uses of NFC in the future. "We'd probably want a longer lead time. Know your Chinese holidays, know your New Years' holidays," Melissa Matthews, vice president of business development, says with a laugh. "We got it in under the wire on that."
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What the heck is NFC, anyway?
Near-field communication, or NFC, is a type of wireless technology that enables short-range interaction between devices such as phones, computers and electric appliances. NFC powers Bluetooth speakers via phone, enables smartwatches and mobile wallets and so much more. For more use cases and examples of the technology in action, check out NFC Forum.
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RBO helps brands become leaders in their industries through a mix of solutions that include creative services, brand controls, brand fulfillment and metrics. These four pillars are the foundation of RBO’s holistic approach to elevating brand identities and relieving the burden faced by today’s busy marketing professionals. Through a mix of technology, devoted customer service and efficient processes and workflow, RBO executes on the entire supply chain with offerings covering concept, sourcing, online ordering, printing, warehousing and distribution, ensuring efficient fulfillment for any project, no matter how complex. This has made RBO the preferred brand printing and promotions partner for over 500 clients in multiple industries across the country.
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