I have to say, this is a clever idea. As a campaign to promote the ad agency Rapp, and their new name/image, Rapp sent out this interesting piece which consisted of a “box” which contained a button. That button, once you pushed it down, rubber stamped the recipient’s name onto the top of the letter. Oh, wait, I didn’t tell you… The “box” unfolds into a letter, which expresses their desire for their clients to be “personally involved” with the image. The reason that I am writing a blog post about this, is that it’s clever, but I think it could have been more clever in the right context. This campaign made no mention of the topic of personalization and variable data… but it should have.
Imagine how effective this campaign would have been if the goal was to explain the idea of personalization (and variable data) and how “it doesn’t have to be this hard”. It probably cost a bundle per piece especially with creating rubber stamps with all the recipients’ names on them, but could get across the notion that if a company is not tailoring their letters, direct mail, or any one -to-one printed collateral – as well as emails – that they really haven’t opened their eyes as to how easy it is to implement this type of communication. Looking at QuantumDigital’s platform, we make basic “address field” personalization available to all customers as part of our normal cost of doing business, but more advanced technology (right now you have to call in to request this) would create a personalized mailing which recognizes a recipients’ lifestyle, ethnic group – or maybe just their name in different places on the piece – has been setup for clients in the past.
So in essence, this is a great piece and concept, but has it’s limits because of the high cost per piece and the limited novelty factor. But if you’re in love with rubber stamps with every mailing, I’m not going to stop you 
