About a decade ago, Brianne Baggetta Noonan, president of Albany, New York-based The Mailworks, had a revelation: How can you market your product to new customers if you are outsourcing your work and you are not passionate about it? After years of steady growth, the company outsourced 60–70 percent of its work from print brokers or offset printers.

"We went from being order-takers to order-makers," Baggetta Noonan says.

But being order makers meant that The Mailworks would need to meet the demands of its customers. Although the company already had a fleet of digital presses, including two VarioPrint 6000 TITAN inkjet presses, Baggetta Noonan explains that the time came for the company to make a decision: It needed to either continue down a path of growth while outsourcing personalized direct mail that it could not do in-house, or it could take a “calculated risk” and add an inkjet press.

In September 2016, The Mailworks decided it was time to reap the rewards of inkjet with the installation of a VarioPrint i300 inkjet press. The addition of the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press enabled The Mailworks to bring the last of its outsourced work in-house and offer its customers the full-color personalization that they need in the price range that they want, cost-effectively and quickly.

Baggetta Noonan says that customers are happy with the increased flexibility the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press has brought them. For example, the company can now print card offers as an incentive in direct mail campaigns with colors that vary by segment, allowing cards with multiple companies or offers to be printed on the same sheet.

One of the aspects of The Mailworks’ newly established flexibility is that it can offer customers variable data in full-color rather than just monochrome. Previously, The Mailworks had to limit what customers could choose for a direct mail campaign. Now, Baggetta Noonan says customers can change multiple variables on the piece, but she advises her customers to “embrace the new color with caution,” solely from a marketing perspective. Customers who are excited about the new possibilities may make too many changes to their existing products, resulting in brand recognition implications.

Although the transition to add inkjet has gone smoothly, Baggetta Noonan says that the company did rely heavily on Canon Solutions America to assist in training and ink optimization. The company worked with Canon Solutions America to determine the amount of ink needed from both a quality standpoint and an acceptable price point.

“We used to be so reliant on offset,” Baggetta Noonan says. “When you’re outsourcing that much work, you can’t take full ownership of it. … [The VarioPrint i300 inkjet press] gives us control and a sense of pride.“

That is one thing about inkjet that encouraged The Mailworks to transition most of its self-mailer work to the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press. By using a 9-pt. matte substrate, the company is no longer experiencing scratch-offs from optical character readers at the post office. With inkjet, the ink sinks into the substrate, resulting in beautiful, high-quality mailers that can withstand the stressors of going through the mail stream. The Mailworks has also transitioned four-card inserts on 9-pt. matte, as well as its letters, which are undeniably unique. The company worked with a paper manufacturer to develop 9" x 19" converted inkjet sheets for its 8.5" x 18.75" finished letters, of which The Mailworks has printed more than one million since the installation of the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press.

The Mailworks — which was founded by Baggetta Noonan’s mother in 1984 in an attic — does not just offer unique inkjet options. In fact, it is not a typical direct mail provider. The woman-owned business runs on a non-traditional business model. The company does not employ any sales people; it does all of its sales by marketing its capabilities. It is a young company in general, which lends itself to a team that has an extensive understanding of SEO, social media marketing, sequence marketing, and AdWords. Its unique marketing strategy is what Baggetta Noonan says differentiates The Mailworks from its competition, but it is also what gave the company the opportunity to add the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press.

The Mailworks operates with a unique incentive-based program: gamification. The company uses a point system in which points are awarded for achieving specific goals. Each department gathers points for things such as mistake-free production, inking a new customer, or printing a record number of pieces in one week. The whole company is treated to lunch when the points reach 100. Personal days are also awarded for reaching certain goals. The departments work as a team to meet the same end goal—a better and more efficient workflow. Baggetta Noonan says this incentive-based system encourages young people to feel excited about their work and their accomplishments. It is crucial that The Mailworks team feels pride for their end product, otherwise Baggetta Noonan says, they are not succeeding with company culture.

In all, adding inkjet and bringing work in-house has made a difference in The Mailworks’ output and morale. Baggetta Noonan adds that other companies interested in the technology would be surprised at the breadth of work that the VarioPrint i300 inkjet press can take on. For The Mailworks, however, the most important thing the press has given it is pride.