Go Digital During the Holidays

  By Jimmy Egeland, Creative Services Manager, Dallas

As we all know in the business world, it is customary during the holiday season to reach out to clients, contacts and prospects to deliver a holiday message. Often times a paper greeting card is the default option. It’s quick; it’s easy, but is it the best option for growing your business?

To best figure out that question, answer this one: what do you do when you get a corporate greeting card in the mail? Read it and then immediately toss it in the trash? Read it and then put it a shelf for a month…and then toss it in the trash?

The point here is that the vast majority of greeting cards—if not all of them—hit the garbage can after their one and only impression. The chances that they live on past the holiday season or that they are shown to anyone other than the original intended recipient are slim to none.

Digital greeting cards change the game. When you take your paper card and postage budget and use it to develop a digital greeting, the chances for your message (and your brand) to reach beyond your initial mailing list expands exponentially.

Creating a fun, memorable or charitable holiday greeting that is online takes advantage of all the methods of sharing—email forwarding, social networks, even distribution channels like YouTube.

A trend towards goodwill and corporate responsibility is tangible in today’s business culture. Why not create an option at the end of your digital greeting card for recipients to choose a charitable organization that your company will make a donation to?

It engages them as they make a positive connection with your brand. After all, companies not only need to provide a great product or service, but also need to be proactive in giving back to the communities they affect.

Will 2010 be the year you ditch the paper card? Take the time to develop your digital approach and be sure to let us know if you need any help along the way. We’ve created plenty of digital holiday greetings for our own company and clients, such as Skanska USA and Armstrong Ceilings, ranging from fun to philanthropic.

Your contacts just might appreciate the change of pace and their contacts just might be introduced to your business.

The Card That Keeps On Giving

This past holiday season, VOLLMER released our annual e-holiday greeting with a twist – be an angel and click on the charity of your choice. As our holiday gift to you, we would make a donation to that charity. The card was a great success, not only as a wonderful way to get everyone involved in the season but to also help out several organizations. Here’s a letter from the Houston Grand Opera as well as another nice note from Camp For All. And just in case you missed it, here’s the e-holiday greeting.

‘Tis the Season to Go Viral

by Jimmy Egeland, VOLLMER Dallas

There he sits among dozens, seemingly lost in the crowd. He is just one of many now, no real identity. His metallic ink and snowflake design stood out so prominently once, but somehow in the throng of corporate greeting cards sitting on table his sheen seems dulled, his luster lacking. In a week, maybe two, he will be tossed in the trash. Never to be remembered. Never to be missed. He will be gone. Forever.

This is the life of a corporate greeting card and this sad scenario takes place quite frequently in the U.S. According to the Greeting Card Association, two billion holiday cards are mailed out every year, each with the same fate: the trash can. This translates into more than 250 million pounds of post-holiday greeting card trash. That’s a lot of garbage just to say “happy holidays.”
How can you stand out when you say happy holidays, reduce greeting card garbage and keep your holiday message (and brand) ringing long after the New Year?

Viral e-greetings.

Think about the holiday greetings you received last year. Do you remember any of them specifically—and no, that holiday tin of the three different types of popcorn doesn’t count. Any cards ring a bell? No?

Now watch this clip. What are the chances you will remember that next year? Better still, what are the chances you will want to share that with someone you know? If you chuckled, the chances are pretty good. How good?

In 2006 VOLLMER released its second holiday e-card Holiday Brainstorm to the tune of over 200,000 views that year, this coming from an initial distribution list of fewer than 2,500. Through viral distribution it landed on over 30 different Web sites and blogs, winning awards and bringing in new business along the way. Last holiday season—a full year after its release—Holiday Brainstorm was viewed almost 5,000 times in December and January alone. Compare the viewership and staying power with a traditional holiday card and e-card wins in a landslide.

If those numbers don’t whet your appetite, consider the “green” angle. With a focus on environmentally friendly practices, viral e-cards are the way to go this holiday season. It’s pretty simple—no traditional card means no paper, no trash and no waste—so your company is doing their part to reduce holiday waste.

Creating a holiday e-card is easier than you may think. VOLLMER has produced dozens of animations which have cumulative views in the millions. The creative process is completely customized to every client and everything from script writing to voice acting to animation to Web hosting is done in house.

Our process is tried and true, and the client is along for the ride every step of the way. It starts with the script. We write something that is sure to get a laugh. Then we illustrate the characters and scene to ensure you love their look. Next we apply lip synching to all the characters and make sure you not only like what they say, but how it looks when they say it. We follow that with secondary movements like blinking and gestures making sure you give us the thumbs up. After that, we host it and pass on the URL for you to send to your list. We’ll even help create an image to embed in the email and upload it to some of the best viral animation sites around.

Hopefully you will consider this information when you make your holiday greeting decision this year. Remember: greater impressions, less waste and more fun. ‘Tis the season to go viral indeed.

To view more animations by VOLLMER, try visiting these sites:

http://www.vollmerpr.com/holiday.asp
http://www.eco-bunnies.com/
http://www.pinemountainbrands.com/ILogYou/default.php