The following article appeared as part of a sponsored supplement in Strategy DirectResponse:
The Western Shores Direct Marketing Group has been preaching the gospel of Integrated Direct Marketing from its very first day, eight years ago. ‘Direct marketing is more than just mail,’ says president Theo Sanidas, ‘Our client’s direct marketing shouldn’t be one-dimensional. We believe in using all media – from radio and TV, to print and the Internet.’
‘Fully understanding the client’s business and overall objectives is key to developing the right strategy,’ says Sanidas. For that reason, Western Shores places great importance on forming strategic partnerships with their clients. This allows them to work closely with them, providing the expertise needed to make the most of every facet of direct marketing.
‘We like to design and execute programs for our clients from the ground up. Return on investment is always important when we are designing programs, consideration of brand awareness and position is also always key.’
When the plan is in place, Western Shores has the in-house creative and database teams to make it happen. ‘This full-service capability is one of the things that makes us unique in Western Canada. It’s the result of a conscious decision we made to offer complete, integrated, direct and database marketing services.’ In the diverse and sometimes limited western market, agencies usually bring in talent on a project basis. That can mean not having the best people available when they’re most needed. Western Shores has assembled the strongest possible team of experts in the field.
Creative Director John Friesen built an impressive reputation over twenty years as a freelance copywriter in direct response before joining the agency three years ago. ‘I liked Theo’s vision of providing a complete direct marketing service. Too many programs out here seem to be done piecemeal and run haphazardly. Done right, direct marketing is one of the strongest tools there is. Western Shores seemed committed to do it right, and with the in-house resources needed to deliver on the promise.’
Managing Director Bryan Kanarens joined the company from Toronto last year, after a successful career with American Express and TMS Direct, a company he helped launch. ‘It may have been the weather that brought me to the west coast,’ says Kanarens, ‘but it was the capabilities and commitment to meeting the client’s objectives that attracted me to Western Shores.’
Western Shores currently manages some of the largest customer files in western Canada, and uses them to maximize their client’s marketing success. ‘I think we’re unique in the way we manage and process the data, analyse and generate reports, and then give our clients direct, on-line access to it,’ says Sanidas. ‘We use a unique system we call Pinpoint to locate customers, plus other GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping tools to clearly define who the customers are.’
It’s no longer good enough to have a customer list, you have to know which customers reflect the preferred profile that drives your business. ‘There’s a lot of direct marketing clutter out there. To break through it, we need to know more about customers than name, address, or even demographic profile. Customer purchases are the key to understanding future behaviour, so we develop programs to provide information to our clients on a one-to-one, customer-by-customer basis. It’s also what lets us get inside the customer’s head when we do our creative.’
Getting to know the customer is one of the keys to Western Shores’ success in designing customer acquisition and retention programs. ‘Our client base is highly diverse,’ says Kanarens, ‘It includes financial institutions, government agencies, fund raisers, some of Canada’s largest retailers, real estate developers, and high tech firms. Our clients tell us what they want to achieve, and then we devise ways to meet or exceed their objectives. We conduct campaigns in the local market, and across Canada and into the USA.’ The diverse market on the west coast has forced Western Shores to become an unusual combination of generalists with the knowledge base of specialists.
There has been a lot of excitement recently over marketing on the Internet. Western Shores has been active on-line since 1993, marketing products and services for the government, educators, and Internet service providers. Sanidas feels the potential of this media for marketers is enormous: ‘I don’t think it’s well understood yet, but it’s already clear to me that the best way to use it is by extending the principles of direct marketing. The Internet is really just another medium, and the things that work in direct response – excitement, personal contact, rewards – do work on the internet if they’re executed properly. The only difference is that the internet is more fragmented and is the ultimate one-to-one communications medium.’
‘I like to think that we’re the only complete direct marketing shop on the west coast, with the most available expertise under one roof. When direct marketing here matures, I expect Western Shores to be the leader.’
