Capita’s revenue from single site licensing is quite extensive yet these clients are not communicated with on a regular basis through either the marketing team or sales team. Previously referred to as single site schools, (schools that choose to purchase directly through Capita rather than go through their Local Authority), were recently re-branded to become known as SIMS Direct. A plan has been put in place to start to communicate to these customers more, starting with the SIMS Update events. These are held once a year and give these customers the knowledge of future software updates and enhancements as well as providing a valuable resource for schools to talk directly to Capita about any problems. However these events have not been received well in recent years. The last events, set across four UK locations, attracted a total of 300 schools out of 2000 customers currently holding licenses. This is due to the fact that the customers are communicated with late in the year and also because they don’t seem to be engaging with the offering. Our proposal was to look at ways in which Capita can communicate effectively with their customers to increase attendance at the SIMS Update seminars in November. It was also to create a relationship with this ‘forgotten’ customer base and to be encouraged to re-engage with Capita.

The concept for the campaign was to promote the event as ‘SIMS DIRECT LIVE 09’. ‘DIRECT‘ would form the basis of the overall campaign message. A bold, illustration style was developed using a themed colour scheme from the main corporate palette. This visual communication style was very different from anything Capita Children’s Services had done in the past. A multi-discipline approach was taken in communicating the main campaign message. We produced a series of e-shots, the first e-shot was a gentle introduction to the event, to make the customer aware of the look, feel and language of the campaign. The following e-shots were information updates and further reminders. The e-marketing campaign was supported by a personalised direct mail piece. We designed a lanyard VIP invitation that would also include information about the event and a SIMS expert drop in card. The lanyards were personalised with the customer’s name and school details using variable data digital printing.