RRD’s CustomPoint® Portal Provides Tailored Marketing Materials for Wizards of the Coast’s Premium Retailers

CohereOne, the premier direct-to-consumer marketing agency and strategic consultancy, is pleased to announce the addition of Rob Santangelo as Senior Vice President of New Business Development. Santangelo joins CohereOne after six years at Belardi Wong in New York, where he successfully spearheaded the business development infrastructure for the marketing strategy and creative services firm. As both the youngest director and vice president in company history, Santangelo closed business with over 200 top brands during his tenure and generated at least $1 million in new business revenue each year. “CohereOne has been enjoying tremendous growth,” said Tim Curtis, President / CEO of CohereOne. “The addition of Rob supercharges our effort to serve the burgeoning direct-to-consumer industry. His insights and his understanding of how digital native brands launch and expand their use of the direct mail channel speaks for itself.” Santangelo began his career at 1-800-Flowers.com, and rapidly advanced in the organization from Associate Category Manager and Category Manager of Ecommerce Merchandising to Manager of Fulfillment Partnership Sales. Under his direction, the company’s Fruit Bouquets product line increased its fulfillment footprint from 13% to 78%.

Consumers exhibited caution with their spending in July. Although there was an increase in sessions for many retailers, this did not translate into higher sales, with order volumes remaining flat. Overall, U.S. retail sales grew modestly by 0.74% month-over-month, indicating that while consumers continue to spend, they are doing so carefully. The July jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also painted a mixed picture of the U.S. labor market, further highlighting consumer restraint in discretionary spending. Apparel and Outdoor brands outperformed many Home and Specialty retailers, buoyed by the back-to-school season and the Olympics, respectively. Nevertheless, demand appears constrained across verticals. In this challenging environment, refining strategies to enhance customer conversion rates and focus on improving customer lifetime value (LTV) will be crucial.

Did you know that the sense of smell is linked to the systems in the brain that evoke emotions and memory more directly than any other sensory system combined? What does this mean for marketers? It means that we can use smell to influence emotion and purchase intent. This therefore increases purchasing. In 2023, the USPS is offering a 5% postage discount if you integrate scent into your mail piece so you can not only drive additional sales, but you can also save money on postage. The purpose of this USPS promotion is to encourage sensory engagement with physical mail pieces. This is my favorite promotion that the USPS is running because you can only provide a tactile experience with direct mail. No other marketing channel can do this! Interesting Scent Facts: 75% of the emotions we generate on a daily basis are affected by smell. 81% of consumers would choose a product they can smell and touch over one they can only see. 65% of consumers can remember a memory associated with scent after a period of one year. 90% of respondents indicate the scented advertisement stood out from the clutter