The card marketing landscape is changing
irreversibly. The demand for self-expression that is integral to Web 2.0
has meant that targeting a mass audience with mass-produced designs is
no longer relevant. As with many other sectors, the future of issuers
lies in addressing the long tail of special interest subgroups âàand
their increasingly creative demands.
But how do issuers engage with small, high value subgroups with the
scale they require, and without the prohibitive inventory issues that
have plagued them to date? How do they move away from the fierce
competition at the generic end of the cards spectrum and monetize the
lucrative long tail of affinity groups, which cannot be profitably
addressed through conventional channels?
The solution is Virtual Portfolio, a revolutionary and highly disruptive
web-based management tool created by global technology provider,
Serverside Group (www.ssgl.com/products/virtual_portfolio.html). Virtual
Portfolio allows issuers to offer an infinite variety of stock (and
personally designed) cards to an unlimited number of affinity groups
free from restrictive inventory issues, e.g. forecasting how many cards
are required, dealing with the problems of over- and under-printing, and
storage costs.
Via a simple online interface, an issuer’s marketing team can now
rapidly launch card programs targeting any number of affinity partners,
subgroups, co-brands, individual branches and even specific events, e.g.
a football match. Utilizing the latest inline digital printing
technology supplied by Datacard Group, they can then print high quality
cards ‘on demand’.
The result is a high volume, low cost and zero inventory card delivery
system in which card printing has shifted from the point of manufacture
to the point of personalization. Through Virtual Portfolio, all
stakeholders in the card creation and management process can create,
collaborate, review, approve and market cards through a single online
system.
There are other risk controls, too. Serverside’s technology allows
issuers to assess response rates in real time and tweak or change their
campaigns accordingly, e.g. prioritizing successful cards and removing
unsuccessful ones. Knowledge management has never been easier.
Until now, launching a new card design was a major undertaking. No more.
With Virtual Portfolio, the speed to market for new card products
targeting subgroups and niche communities is massively increased, and
they can be launched and managed at little, if any, cost. The system is
fully compatible with offline card applications and requires no
sensitive information to be disclosed. Virtual Portfolio is protected
under a series of patent applications around the world.
Adam Elgar, President, Serverside Group, commented:
“With Virtual Portfolio, issuers no longer need to worry about issues of
scale and inventory when addressing subgroups. Now, they can rapidly
create card programs for any sized affinity group, manage and adjust
those programs in real time, and print cards on a ‘just-in-time’ basis.
Personalization and the fragmentation of demand go hand in hand with Web
2.0, and Virtual Portfolio is the solution. As well as allowing issuers
to build a much stronger relationship with their customers, offering
card programs tailored to specific subgroups also results in greater
activation, increased transactions and larger balances.”
About Serverside
Founded in 2003, Serverside Group is the global technology leader in
digital card design and a provider of innovative software solutions for
issuers, personalization bureaus and card manufacturers. The company’s
flagship product, AllAboutMe, is a web-based application that allows
cardholders to design their unique payment card online. Serverside’s
innovation and growth were confirmed recently when it was named ‘One of
the Top Ten Technology Companies to Watch’ by respected industry
magazine, Bank Technology News.
