New Media Gateway has introduced a quartet of interactive tools to help marketers address a range of electronic campaign needs.
Tim Storer, NMG’s chief executive officer, said the products in the lineup are the
result of three years of development.
“”They allow sales and marketing departments to have access to more intelligent data,”” said Storer, “”and the solutions can be deployed and used company wide.”” That means consistent brand integrity across the enterprise, he said.
The four solutions work in concert with NMG’s Collateral Management System, which allows users to locate and select materials for download or customization from a central archive, and from which system administrators can add, subtract or modify marketing materials as well as designate which departments or users can access them.
NMG’s Email Campaign Marketing System, for example, allows sales and marketing staff to access all approved marketing materials and to create Flash-enriched e-mails by simple drop and drag.
An employee could therefore customize a Flash presentation, approved by his employer, that comprises a brochure, video and a PowerPoint presentation to send to a key client across town or around the world. Similarly, a sales director in Dallas, NMG’s hometown, could send a special incentive offer to clients who haven’t made a recent purchase.
Storer said the e-mail system interfaces with each client’s email database and allows staff to track their results in real time. Other aspects of the Email Marketing System include on-demand collateral streaming, meaning no e-mail attachments; the ability to add, delete or modify HTML templates; a dual mime format that will automatically display either a properly formatted text message with a link or an enhanced HTML message based in the recipient’s e-mail program; and privacy compliant unsubscribe management that meets the new CAN Spam Act in the U.S.
The NMG’s Interactive 3D Tour Engine, meanwhile, provides users with 360 degree views that allow them to move from location to location, Storer said. The 3D tour’s programming means viewers will be engaged with a client for far longer than he would with standard 3D animation, he added.
James Bliwas, president of The Group Orion in Toronto, said the only thing new about the NMG products is the fact that they are bundled together. Bliwas, who develops marketing strategies and solutions for companies both online and off, noted that the functions NMG’s new lineup offers have been around from one to three years.
The third piece of NMG’s new system is its Micro Site Web Site Generator. It supports the needs of worldwide distributor networks while allowing the client maintain complete control of its brand and pricing, said Storer. Using the generator, clients can create customized and branded Web portals and sell products online using the NMG platform’s e-commerce capabilities.
The final piece in the NMG lineup is its Online Survey System. It allows clients to create, distribute and measure — in real time — customized surveys, Storer explained.
“”This is a completely Web-enabled online system,”” said Storer about the product lineup, which is hosted in NMG’s secure data centre. However, Bliwas pointed out that Web-enabled products have been around for some time but aren’t widely used because of certain issues such as security.
Storer said the base cost of the new system is US$15,000 rising to US$25,000 for the enterprise model. Several companies are already using it, he continued, although for reasons of confidentiality he couldn’t name them. Storer explained that he will be as aggressive about tackling the Canadian market with his new lineup as he has been in the U.S.
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