Enid Greaves Brand Manager, G.Neil	Darlene Flagg Vice President, Marketing Communications, AIG VALIC	Christine DeLooze Marketing Specialist, Caslon & Company and PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative
G.Neil is the leading provider of tools to motivate and manage people. The company communicates with Certified Labor Law Service customers whenever state and federal law changes affect their current workplace posters. The mailing is customized to the customer's state and current poster inventory. A new poster is then mailed to the customer's business within 30 days.	AIG VALIC is one of the leading retirement plan services providers in the United States. The company currently produces a quarterly newsletter which is segmented into three distinct customer groups: Silent Generation, Baby Boomers and Generation X. Each version of the newsletter speaks in the voice of that generation. Article topics, tone and layouts of each newsletter version are created with each customer group in mind.	Caslon & Co. works with companies in the production digital printing marketplace to help them optimize sales and marketing activities. The company leads PODi, which is a not-for-profit industry initiative focused on fostering the growth of the digital printing industry. Membership is open to most types of companies and organizations involved in digital printing. For more information, visit www.podi.org.

How do you define one-to-one marketing?

GREAVES: It is the practice of understanding customer needs well enough to call them by name and respond to their specific needs based on having that inside knowledge.

FLAGG: One-to-one marketing is all about understanding your clients' interests and needs, and then building messages that "speak" to them and expose those important interests and needs.

DELOOZE: PODi defines one-to-one marketing as using the information available on a potential or current customer and tailoring communications to the specific needs or desires of that individual.

How important do you feel personalization and one-to-one communications have become in customer marketing?

GREAVES: Everyone loves to see their name! For the most part, marketers have picked up on that and have used it to their advantage. Taking it one step further than just mentioning the customer's name is even more powerful. Personalized communications show the customer that you thought about their particular needs and intended to address them with a solution that's just right for their situation.

FLAGG: Personalization may not be necessary in all circumstances and may even be wasteful, depending on the targeted audience. In those cases meriting it, I believe it is important because it helps expose a very personal and urgent need. It's very difficult for anyone to ignore a well crafted, personalized appeal that is intended to overcome, for example, investor inertia and elicit a sense of urgency. This is especially important in the financial services industry. In a manner of speaking, our mission is to ensure America eats its vegetables. If they don't, they will likely outlive their money, something we'd never wish on anyone.

DELOOZE: I would like to make a distinction between personalization and relevant one-to-one communications. Personalization can be good at attracting someone's attention as in "John, at Avis we try harder for XYZ corporation."

But what really drives results is relevance. By "relevance" we mean that you can use your data to speak to each recipient about something that has specific meaning to them.

PODi has found that relevance is the single largest lever on response in individualized marketing communications. Relevant campaigns show at least three times the increase in response over those that are just personalized.

What applications of one-to-one marketing have you already seen in your industry?

GREAVES: G.Neil has tapped this marketing method and continues to look for better ways to communicate with its customers. We've used customer purchase history as part of our marketing communications to drive reorder business and foster good business relationships.

FLAGG: Though the list grows every day, as we continually sharpen our marketing strategy, the most common manifestations are in:

>  Personal financial planning projection statements
›  Client publications
›  Sector prospecting
›  Financial retirement income gap analyses
›  General marketing collateral such as letters, postcards and e-mail
› Plan and financial education and enrollment booklets
› Financial plans

DELOOZE: PODi has numerous cases that show how digital print can be used to successfully market on a one-to-one basis. Our online database at www.podi.org contains over 220 case studies covering over 12 market segments and dozens of different business applications.

Here's an example from our database:
JAY PONTIAC BUICK - Jay Pontiac-Buick, an automobile dealership in Ohio, wanted to more effectively target its clients. An ongoing program featuring highly personalized service reminders was developed. The reminders vary according to the needs of the vehicle based on driver behavior and prior utilization. Images within the service reminder change depending on the car model the recipient owns. Special offers also vary based on the recommended service, and the dealer can place certain deals they are trying to promote.

These highly relevant service reminders have generated significant results. In six months Jay Pontiac profits increased from 12 percent to 18 percent. Jay's service department generates 75 percent of their business from "customer pay" activity as opposed to warranty based traffic. This compares to a standard dealership that averages about 40 percent "customer pay." This is important because it represents higher margin work and greater revenue.

Any guesses on the future of the one-to-one experience?
Are we just seeing the beginning of this marketing trend?

GREAVES: I think it's here to stay! We are always looking for bigger and better ways to meet our customers' needs. One-to-one marketing provides a method that, if used wisely, can be beneficial for both marketer and customer. I think that as marketers try to find ways to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers, they will gradually migrate to one-to-one marketing.

FLAGG: One-to-one marketing will always be limited to some degree due to privacy issues. And though the information is available if you look hard enough, many unenlightened companies will continue to attempt to build market share through bland, non-client-specific messaging. Other companies, though aware of the power, may resist the urge to engage this strategy due to a fear of violating privacy laws or angering their client/prospect base.

The winning companies, however, understand the power of one-to-one marketing, but remain sensitive to how they use it. In that sense, yes, I believe the trend toward one-to-one marketing will grow exponentially. Boiled down, it makes fiscal sense and boosts prospecting success rates. The key, however, is to find the right message for each subset. All the data in the world will not result in a sale unless it is used wisely.

DELOOZE: PODi anticipates that the use of digital print in one-to-one communications will continue to grow as more marketing professionals learn about its potential to drive business results.