Hello,

The Ballantine Corporation would like to welcome you to the November issue of our Sample of the Month Newsletter. This issue will feature a case study from our client Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the success they experienced in mailing a new direct mail package to promote their newly redesigned magazine.

Last month we exhibited at the DMA '05 direct marketing conference in Atlanta, GA. Here's a picture of us at our booth.

Furthermore, we would like to welcome a new member to our family of clients: Radar Magazine from the publishers of U.S. News & World Report.

TCG
Previous Control

This is TCG's previous 6x9 control package. In the package you'll find a letter, an order card, a lift note and a BRE. The offer is one year for $29.95, 2 years for $53 or a student rate of $20 for one year.

To read more about TCG membership, or to enroll online, please visit here.

TCG
New Control

This is TCG's new control package, a #14 envelope with two windows. Inside you'll find a 4-page letter, a brochure, a lift note, a reply card and a BRE. The offer is one year for $29.95, 2 years for $49.95 or a student rate of $20 for one year.

To read more about TCG membership, or to enroll online, please visit here.

Theatre Communications Group has been using a 6x9 package on and off since 2000 to promote their membership and magazine. They recently redesigned their magazine and, as a result, designed a new direct mail package to promote both. The test took place this past August.

According to Leigh Zona, Director of Marketing for TCG, "The question we were confronted with for this test mailing was, how do you get the attention of the same audience for a magazine re-launch? Our figures were telling us the 6x9 package was starting to fatigue so we strategized a new, bigger format to coincide with the redesigned magazine. We were confident it was the right move and the new figures agree."

Response rate for the new #14 package increased by 50% over the previous 6x9 control package.

Possible reasons for the large increase: 1.) the #14 package was a completely new format for TCG's audience 2.) the fact that the magazine was redesigned was probably a driving force for many new members 3.) the second window on the envelope lets the recipient peak through at a scaled-down cover of a sample magazine- this tends to work very well for magazines.

Leigh will be mailing the #14 package again in December and guesses he'll be able to mail it one more time thereafter until he has to go back to the drawing board.

We are a full-service direct mail production company established in 1966. We provide our clients with technical expertise, full project support and aggressive pricing.

For more detailed information, please view our 3 minute presentation at:
http://www.ballantine.com/benefits.html

Starting in January 2006, we will be adding streaming video to our monthly newsletter. Instead of describing each featured piece of direct mail, we will include streaming video of us showing how the piece looks and works as if you had received it in your mailbox.

If you have any suggestions, please e-mail us.