Why TV, and Why Now, for Vistaprint

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Vistaprint North America has historically kept a low profile in the branding space, opting for -- and acquiring and retaining customers through -- direct mail, email, catalogs, giveaways and print. In an interview with Ad Age, Ms. Shineman, a veteran direct marketer, explained that for a growing company such as Vistaprint, which is arguably well-positioned for a value-conscious market of entrepreneurs and smaller businesses, sampling TV for the first time represented a chance to attract some new attention on a broader platform. Ad Age: Why TV and why now? Ms. Shineman: Our awareness in the U.S. is very low -- 25% from an aided awareness perspective within our target market. There was a huge market opportunity that we wanted to capture. We knew our awareness numbers were really low. Creating that awareness would create a fair amount of growth in the market. Ad Age: How much money did you put behind this latest campaign? Ms. Shineman: It was a budget of $3 million to $5 million. We spend over $100 million a year on our marketing initiatives. So it was a toe in the water. Ad Age: Who is your target , and how has that changed in the recession? Ms. Shineman: Small business/home office [customers]. Our sweet spot is businesses under 10 employees. That's been pretty consistent in this economy. Because Vistaprint is a low-cost provider, it's a pretty easy way for people to raise awareness of and drive traffic to their businesses in this economy. This fiscal year, we'll grow about 30% in constant currency. Ad Age: How will you be measuring ROI? Ms. Shineman: We are looking at new-customer acquisition. The goal is to increase awareness. [TV is] still a pretty small buy. [The ads are] scheduled for four to six weeks. We're in the midst of determining how long [in total the campaign will run], but we will look and evaluate. We're very analytic in terms of how we look at measurable ROI. Ad Age: Why humor? Ms. Shineman: We really wanted to stay pretty simple. We wanted to keep the concept simple to break through, and we think humor is a way to do that. It is a fairly small test. Humor is another way of getting it across without huge production costs associated with it.

Why TV, and Why Now, for Vistaprint

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