Polk and Hallmark Join Forces to Promote Customer Loyalty
5 January 1998
Polk and Hallmark Join Forces to Promote Customer Loyalty; Loyalty Building Program to be Initiated Within Automotive Industry
DETROIT, Jan. 5 -- The Polk Company and Hallmark Cards, Inc.
announced today that they will pool expertise in "customer loyalty" and
initiate a new program with automotive dealerships beginning this month. This
new prospecting program was developed for the automotive industry and will be
offered to dealerships who desire to increase their percentage of loyal
customers.
The program was designed with a simple, yet effective approach to building
showroom traffic with a focus on helping dealerships to say the "right words"
to the "right people" at the "right time."
The "right words" have been captured by Hallmark's creative staff in their
Business Expressions Unit. To deliver the right words with a high quality yet
humorous approach, Hallmark has created two special greeting cards: one for
owner retention efforts and the other for competitive prospecting. Hallmark
will provide the cards, or complete fulfillment for the cards, based upon the
dealerships' request. Hallmark, well known by consumers with its strong brand
image, offers a softer way to approach new car buyers than what is
traditionally offered in the industry.
Polk will provide the "right people" for the loyalty building program.
They will generate two types of targeted lists for the dealerships: one for
the best current customers (for the owner retention card); and the other for
the best competitive prospects (for the competitive prospecting card).
Customers or prospects selected for these lists will be: 1) more likely to be
in the market for a new vehicle; and 2) more likely to be loyal once they
purchase from the dealership. Polk's Focal Points(TM) product will be used to
determine the household loyalty profiles and will be combined with Polk's
Automotive Purchase Predictor (APP) to determine which customers or prospects
are likely to purchase a new vehicle within 3-6 months.
This program is being launched to the dealerships at the "right time," the
beginning of the new year, which will allow participating dealerships to build
showroom traffic right after the holiday rush and when showrooms are typically
slow.
The program offered by these two industry leaders provides an extension of
offerings for both companies. For Polk, the program is an extension of the
Polk Automotive Loyalty Excelerators(TM). The Polk Automotive Loyalty
Excelerators product line was designed to help automotive manufacturers and
dealers gain the marketing intelligence needed to excel in consumer loyalty
and is the source for the Annual Polk Automotive Household Loyalty Awards.
For Hallmark, the extension will build on Hallmark Business Expressions'
loyalty programs to help the automotive dealer market to further reach its
consumers. Hallmark has already built an extremely loyal customer base in the
retail segment with its theme "When you care to send the very best." Polk's
role of identifying consumer characteristics complements Hallmark's well-known
ability to produce high quality greeting cards.
Both Polk and Hallmark recognize that customer loyalty and retention are
keys to business success. The cost of acquiring new customers continues to
rise, costing six times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an
old one.
Polk has served the automotive industry for 75 years and has the longest
record of being a curator of automobile records in the United States. Founded
in 1870, Polk launched its motor statistical operations in 1922 when the first
car registration reports were published.
Polk provides multi-dimensional intelligence information solutions to
companies as a statistician for the motor vehicle industry; a direct marketing
resource; a supplier of demographic and lifestyle data and database marketing
services; a publisher of city directories; and a data enabler for geographic
information systems. Polk is a privately held firm with facilities around the
world including the United States, Canada, England, Germany and Barbados.
Hallmark Cards, Inc. is the personal expression industry leader virtually
synonymous with consumers' preferred brand of greeting card. While best known
for helping people express their feelings and touch the lives of others,
Hallmark also owns and operates thriving businesses in family entertainment
and personal development. Hallmark markets products under varied brand names
including Ambassador, Shoebox, Crayola, Party Express, Hallmark Keepsake
Ornaments, Magic Marker, Silly Putty, and many others.
Hallmark Business Expressions is a three-year-old division which helps
companies strengthen business relationships and customer loyalty. Hallmark
Business Expressions offers customized and personalized greeting cards and
fulfillment programs direct to businesses, and through catalog and web-site
distribution. The fast-growing division uses Hallmark branding, creative
resources, and "people" expertise to assist its clients and partners to
enhance the bonds of loyalty with those companies' highly valued customers.
For more information contact Jim Miller, director of public relations for
Polk, at (303) 298-5696, or Jeff Olsen, Hallmark Business Expressions' manager
of business development, at (816) 274-5079.
SOURCE Polk Company
