MailPrimer works on a simple premise. Research conducted by Calcium in conjunction with the Direct Marketing Association showed that on average more than 40% of daily business communication is conducted by email. At the same time, less than 10% of a company's marketing spend is focused online. When you consider how many emails are sent every day to key customers, suppliers and stakeholders you can appreciate how many opportunities exist to reinforce brands and company values.

For an increasing number of companies in New Zealand, Calcium's mailPrimer is the tool to capitalise on these many opportunities. As emails are sent, they are routed through a secure server, which places the content of the email into a pre-approved template. Typically this template consists of the company's brand and imagery as well as consistent signatures and disclaimers. The email also carries trackable links back to the corporate website or partner's websites. 

One such organisation to recognise the benefits of mailPrimer is The HiGrowth Project, a Government backed ICT industry project which is aiming to create 100 ICT companies generating over $100 million each in revenue by 2012. As such, brand and communication are two of the project's biggest priorities, even though marketing resources are limited. 

Adopting Calcium's mailPrimer template has provided a valuable marketing tool to the fast-moving project. "Email is a major means of communication for The HiGrowth Project both locally and globally," says the executive director, Catherine Calarco. "MailPrimer has enabled us to make each and every email a valued marketing communication which is both creatively and technically smart." 

"The template branding remains consistent, no matter who sends the email, with links to information on our website," says Calarco. HiGrowth Project staff write their email as they have always done, using both Microsoft Outlook and ACT to send to both individual and group email addresses. The template is applied as the email is sent.

Another company recognising the marketing potential of email is The Hyperfactory. As one of Asia Pacific's leading developers of applications and marketing strategy for wireless technology, maintaining brand consistency is crucial across all areas of the business as well as all territories. 

Email plays a significant part in The Hyperfactory's daily communication with clients, suppliers and partners. Before mailPrimer was implemented there was a feeling that every email sent undermined the brand's traction in the marketplace. Derek Handley, managing director of The Hyperfactory explains, "We focus a lot of time and resources into promoting The Hyperfactory brand and its values in the market. Every singe thing we do as a company represents those brand values but the one weak link was email."

For The Hyperfactory, the ability to dynamically change the template to reflect updates within the company, new products, customers or awards is also important. "The Asia Pacific mobile market is fast-moving and highly competitive. The ability to inform our major stakeholders of our successes was an important driver in our decision to implement mailPrimer."

For these and many other companies everyday email is being transformed from a practical communication tool to an integral part of the marketing and business development strategy. 

For further information please visit www.mailprimer.com, www.calcium.co.nz, the Calcium exhibit in the Online Marketing Pavilion or the Online Marketing Research Pavilion.

Further reading from Calcium

• One giant leap for mailkind - brand your emails

September 2004