National Coffee Service & Vending

Multimedia marketing program: "Advertising and marketing work for us"

Brent Toevs, general manager of Take A Break Inc., in Ontario, Canada, gave a slide presentation on his company's multimedia marketing campaign. The campaign was designed to increase the number of inquiries for service and thereby reduce the need to cold call. The marketing campaign has a two-person creative staff and includes television, Yellow Pages, an Internet web site, advertising in business journals, a newsletter, broadcast faxes and posters.

"The power of the Internet is unbelievable," said Toevs, whose web site enables customers to order on-line. The site gets 3,000 hits per month, he said. While this only results in 10 orders per month, the site brings the company prestige, and enables information to be sent to prospects electronically. Telemarketers, for instance, can refer prospective customers to the web site.

The company also does radio remotes. These are live broadcasts for which Toevs' company serves free coffee and receives mention on the broadcast. The company mails out about 2,000 newsletters per month. Toevs said it took two years to get customers in the habit of reading this piece, which includes humor, management tips and coffee facts. Faxed surveys have proven a great way for finding out what customers want, Toevs said.

Another promotional tool company has is an on-site cafe at headquarters, which makes a place to impress prospective customers. In three years, this program has helped bring 500 new customers on board, another $2 million in sales. "Advertising and marketing does work for us,' he said.

AUTOMATIC MERCHANDISER -SEPTEMBER 1999

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