“Before I started Atomic Media Works, I was the GM of Toyota and Nissan dealerships for 16 years. I’m comfortable with automotive and I understand automotive direct mail. I started running into other dealers in the marketplace that produced direct mail with personalized URLs (pURLs) and recognized it as an effective solution, so we started developing automotive campaigns using this technology,” explains Wilcox.

A pURL is a dynamic service that links Web sites to a specific and unique identifier—such as an email, print, or direct mail recipient’s first and last name. Print service providers and marketers add pURLs to grab consumer attention. In addition, pURLs offer a means of tracking responses in real time while simultaneously building customer databases.

Atomic Media Works generates over $750,000 in annual revenue and is comprised of four talented advertising and marketing veterans with experience in industries such as automotive, real estate mortgage lending, and advertising. The team’s philosophy is to provide the best, most effective, and creative ideas by combining experience, cutting-edge technology, and exemplary client services.

Multi-Channel Success
Atomic Media Works creates multi-channel marketing campaigns for its clients, complete with pURLs to increase response rates and build client databases. Armed with a Konica Minolta C6500 digital press, EFI Fiery RIP, Constant Contact email program, and L2 Fuse online application—which includes pURL Web sites and document creation capabilities—Wilcox and his staff are able to generate strong response rates.

With pURLs, Wilcox sees a higher cost for customers, but a better response and return on investment to make up for the additional expense. “We do find ourselves having to educate advertisers about the benefits of the technology,” he says. “But the ones that get it benefit the most.”

The company formed a unique relationship with KFROG 95.1, a local CBS Radio FM station. Reaching out to automotive advertisers, the partners offer a complete multi-channel campaign including a radio broadcast, online exposure, digital media, mobile messaging, email, and direct mail. Atomic Media Works collects car dealers’ customer data and works closely with them to develop the most effective campaign for a select group of target customers.

“The dealerships’ customers receive a highly personalized direct mail piece utilizing variable data—including first and last name and the vehicle’s year, make, model, VIN, last service date, and approximate mileage—and variable images with personalized service offers created specifically for them. In addition, select consumers receive exclusive pricing on new and pre-owned vehicles,” explains Wilcox. “A Nissan Altima owner receives an image of a new Nissan Altima, Toyota Tundra owners receive an image of a new Toyota Tundra,” says Wilcox.

The direct mail piece points consumers to a pURL Web site based on the campaign’s domain name. The pURL pages also utilize variable data images and provide printable, personalized coupons of all offers. An instant email notification is then sent back to the dealership to signify a warm lead. Dealership personnel follow up by phone and/or email to set appointments for service or a test drive. “We provide periodic reporting of all campaign responders to the dealership,” says Wilcox. “Typical response rates are four to six percent, but many campaigns that include strong offers generate ten to 12 percent response rates.”

Finding the Right Solution
In a search of the best solution to meet its customers’ needs, Atomic Media Works found L2, the provider of Fuse, an on demand Web-based platform designed to create customized marketing campaigns through direct mail, email, and the Web. Wilcox says his company looked at several comparable solutions, but ultimately decided to go with L2 based on its user-friendliness and scalability, from both a technological and production standpoint. “We started searching on Google, where we found L2 and several other providers,” says Wilcox. “We had them perform different presentations and participated in many WebExs.”

Service, training, and location are all reasons that Atomic Media Works chose L2 Fuse. Based on the West Coast, Atomic Media Works was weary of hours where communication wouldn’t be possible with East Coast vendors. “We hit it off well with the people we talked to at L2,” says Wilcox. “We actually met with them and developed a good relationship. Also, they are extremely competitive in the industry.”

Collaborative Growth
Atomic is particularly impressed with the amount of training and support L2 offers. The two companies often collaborate on growing the Web platform to enhance its value on both the solution and client ends. “The area of technology where we are weak, Web implementation, L2 is strong. So we can go to them with a Web idea and their guys will work with us to try and figure it out.”

One example of such a collaboration comes from Atomic Media Works’ idea for an automatic, Web-based lead generator program, which quickly generates information from active sales leads over the Web for a qualified lead. “L2 is helping us create products as I see opportunities in the market,” says Wilcox.

“We get a lead and we sell it to a dealer, and then an email is automatically sent back to the consumer with a pURL Web site, which is created on the fly. This helps gain additional information about the consumer such as; do they have a trade in? Is there a trade in balance? How much is their current monthly payment? When do they plan on buying? Will they require assistance on financing? Do they plan to lease or own? This is the type of information you don’t typically get in a basic lead, but it is all information that a dealership may need to help sell a car,” Wilcox explains.

The email that is automatically sent to the consumer is embedded with a pURL page. The dynamic Web page is personalized, complete with the customer’s name and all the information on the car they are looking for. The page also includes an image of the car they are interested in purchasing along with a data collection template that asks the series of questions.

“Once the consumer submits their answers, it is sent to the dealership who now has a richened, pre-qualified lead without having to do anything,” Wilcox says. “Dealerships love it because it reduces the amount of work on behalf of an Internet sales person, who only has a slight chance of reaching the consumer at the right time,” he adds.

“Using Fuse online, Wilcox is able to take advantage of trigger event communication—instant, custom-tailored email to a new lead,” says Wrich Printz, CEO, L2. “This takes the communication to the next logical step, allowing Atomic to keep up with a customer prospect, using content that continues to engage, which makes a sales lead more valuable,” he continues. “Asking the right question in the right way, right on time makes the difference between ‘hounding’ and communication that gets a response. That’s why we built custom-tailored email into Fuse, because customers desire this type of contact.”

The Future is in the Data
Atomic Media Works focuses its attention on the automotive industry because of the company’s extensive experience within the segment. The company specializes in creating and producing multi-channel advertising and marketing campaigns designed to project their clients’ focused message across a wide range of mediums. With the ability to recognize consumers’ interests, the better the expected response rate.

Atomic serves a variety of other clients, however, they find that the automotive industry provides them with more opportunity due to the availability of good data.

“We think the automotive industry is a little easier because they have very specific data about their customers readily available,” says Wilcox. He explains that some of the industries Atomic works with just don’t have the data or they don’t do a good job collecting it. In some cases, such as the medical field, an industry has strict regulations on the data they can use. “We can use a car’s VIN number and not get into trouble,” explains Wilcox.