Offset Printing
St Ives Direct Helps Weight Watchers Grow as its Members Slim
Thursday 01. May 2008 - St Ives Direct, the direct mail and commercial print division of St Ives plc, is working with Weight Watchers, the UK's number one weight management organisation, to fulfil the print and distribution of its Monthly Pass membership option.
Recently launched by Weight Watchers, Monthly Pass combines weekly meeting membership, with the added value of its online weight loss resource, Weight Watchers eSource, for those seeking to lose weight and keep it off.
Each Monthly Pass is personalised with the recipient’s full name and membership details. This is sent along with a personalised letter, and in the first month of membership the customer also receives an additional welcome booklet. The card gives the member unlimited access to Weight Watchers meetings plus free access to the online resources which provide useful tools, services and hints and tips throughout the week.
“We are printing approximately 5,000 new cards each day for delivery in the UK, and 3,500 new cards for delivery in Germany,” explains Simon Khan, account director, St Ives Direct. “We receive the member data from Weight Watchers US operations every evening, which is automatically processed and sorted overnight. First thing in the morning the data is sent to the presses and printed, followed by distribution. We were really excited to be involved with Weight Watchers and help launch Monthly Pass. It’s already proving a really successful product, and we are working to align our group offering to meet Weight Watchers needs.”
The member pays £17.95 for each month’s membership. Weight Watchers Monthly Pass Scheme has been well received by members in the US, hence the roll out in the UK and Germany in 2007. To appeal to the German market the British mailing was adapted to reflect the look and feel of a German direct mail piece, the print and fulfilment of which St Ives Direct also handles. Weight Watchers plans for other European countries to adopt the strategy in the future.
“We are working to contemporise the service we offer to our members and want to be able to develop the range of weight loss tools we provide. Our research shows that members who attend meetings and use our internet weight loss companion, eSource, lose 50 percent more weight that those just attending meetings. By combining both of these products with Monthly Pass, we aim to help more of our members achieve their weight loss goals,” says Audrey O’Brien, Head of Service Innovation, Weight Watchers UK Ltd.
“When we launched Monthly Pass in the UK last year, this was a completely new product for us. We wanted a print service provider that specialises in the delivery of high quality direct mail on a regular basis, and that could promptly deal with the huge amount of data transfer to meet our deadlines. As a result of the pitch process we really felt St Ives Direct had an understanding of who our members are, and could appreciate their specific needs.”
Weight Watchers is also using St Ives Direct to print promotions that are inserted into the Monthly Pass mailing that will continue to add to the members’ experience, saving on postage costs and utilising St Ives distribution and added value services.
“Keeping these mailings together delivers us lots of efficiency and ensures our members benefit from receiving one piece of communication that delivers against their needs,” adds Audrey. “For me, it really works as I have one point of contact, which makes communication so much easier, and having that relationship with a supplier means I get the peace of mind that the job is being done, and being done well. Additionally St Ives shares our desire to push innovation further in the future, we are looking at the potential benefits its online management system could offer, including data management and increased brand consistency.”