Insert Media: A Miniature Resurgence

Why miniature catalogs are catching on once again

February 2007 By Reported By Donna Loyle

multipage

Like other insert media programs, such as package stuffers and blow-ins, miniature catalogs have been around a long time. But in recent times, their popularity among catalogers appears to be on the rise.

Catalogers as diverse in nature as nursing mother products marketer Motherwear International and B-to-B uniforms mailer UniFirst Corp. have been successful marketing through mini-format catalogs. What’s more, multi-title apparel and food cataloger Crosstown Traders plans to test its first miniature later this year.

Defined primarily as having no more than 24 pages at various dimensions, miniatures can be a more efficient way to get your product offerings in front of prospects at a cost that’s upwards of 50 percent less than a traditional catalog. They also can be used as a reactivation tool, to push buyers to other sales channels, and as a brand-building technique.

While a few miniatures are being mailed as stand-alone marketing vehicles, most traditionally have been part of insert media programs, such as package inserts, statement stuffers and blow-ins, and polybagged with other media, such as magazines.

Here are some key factors to consider:



Costs

A mini-format catalog often can be produced for 20 cents or less per copy, notes Anita Priest, a supervisor at Wilmington, Mass.-based UniFirst Corp. UniFirst has been producing miniatures since 2003. Last year, it inserted about 750,000 of them into several of its media programs.

As UniFirst’s full-sized catalog can cost up to 50 cents per copy to produce and mail, “the miniature is an economical addition to our mix,” Priest says.

UniFirst’s miniatures are produced by Web Direct Marketing, a Wheeling, Ill.-based printer and direct marketing agency that specializes in miniature catalogs. President/CEO Vernon Carson says that the 15-cent to 20-cent cost of most of the miniatures created and distributed by his company includes media research, placement, print production, shipping to the post office and mail tracking and monitoring.

While that low price is compelling, there are caveats to consider before producing a miniature. Debra Goldstein, senior vice president of the management division at Leon Henry Inc., a list management and brokerage firm specializing in insert media, cautions catalogers to monitor printing costs.

Most miniatures aren’t standard-sized package inserts or blow-ins, she points out. So the collation equipment often has to be adjusted to fit. As a result, “printers are forced to increase fees to accommodate the specifications for the job,” she says. “And some printers charge those costs back to the cataloger.”

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