Rich Troksa, CEO of Extream Software, and I spoke recently and the interview was posted on WhatTheyThink December 12. I wanted to share some images of the holiday card we discussed; it really got my attention! Personalized graphic communications can be done very effectively using some basic data you already have about your customers or prospects, especially when someone has a bit of imagination.

In this mailing - which I received 2 years ago and simply haven’t let go - there were two places where the card was personalized. On the back (or front, depending on which side you consider the address side), Exstream used some pretty simple personalization - my name and my initials. Well, at least some of my initials; it’s pretty hard to deal with a hyphenated last name. The license plate looks pretty cool, though the name block, left/center, is pretty plain vanilla.

It is the inside of the card that really got my attention!

Here is where the fun stuff starts! We’ll start at the top left and go clockwise around the image.

In the upper left you see a reference to the airport out of which I would be flying - SeaTac; then on the right center is a reference to traveling by rail. This copy is a little weak; it would have been great if they could have referenced Union Station on Jackson and Fourth.

But the segment on the left, lower center, is what really got my attention! Yes, indeed, they did manage to find the gas station that has the lowest price in my neighborhood. In fact, there is always a line for the pumps - though I don’t suppose we’ll ever see gas at $2.29 a gallon again! If you look at the very fine print in the lower right corner, you’ll see where that data came from.

By combining known information such as my name and address with outside data sources, such as a list of airports and data from “GasBuddy.com,” Exstream was able to create a card that was personal and had value for me. Nice going!