IBM and Vision Associates
Timing Is Everything

Bill Gates was causing a stir again. At a national meeting of school district superintendents, he decreed that the soon-to-be-released Microsoft K-12 solution would be the answer to school data woes.

Hold on Bill. IBM and Vision Associates saw the need for a data warehousing solution when you were still hawking Windows ’98 — and thus created the eScholar software solution. So even though Bill had beaten IBM and Vision Associates to the soapbox, he had not beaten them to market. But they had to get the word out about eScholar fast.

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We developed a six-color glossy mortarboard package and delivered it via Federal Express to get immediate attention. A personalized letter accompanied the package, inviting superintendents to test drive eScholar online. A follow-up mailing, a mock report card, dared respondents to grade themselves and their software capabilities, reminding them that, if they aren’t using a system like eScholar, they’re probably behind the grading curve.

Report Card Time

The nontraditional delivery nabbed instant top-of-desk importance.

The mortarboard achieved a response rate of 4.3 percent in the first four days and continues to generate leads.

Vision Associates’ Web site traffic continues to surge with each communication.

The online survey cuts to help Vision Associates quickly qualify prospects according to level of authority, budget, need and time frame.