Publishers Clearing House is installing software that will help automate the process of converting print direct mailers into online ads, the company said this week.
North Plains System Corp., Toronto, is providing a digital asset management system — Telescope Enterprise — that will automatically break Quark files into components, including text, pictures and graphics.
Publishers Clearing House, Port Washington, NY, is expanding the number of new products it offers to consumers and needs to repurpose successful marketing campaigns quickly, according to North Plains.
Breaking down the Quark files manually is time consuming, said Jon Zerden, director of Internet and publishing technologies for Publishers Clearing House. Quark files, commonly used for design in the publishing industry, don't readily translate into online formats.
“You have to take the Quark documents, chop them up, extract and pull out the data,” Zerden said. “With this, the designers can still work in Quark, and this makes it easier.”
Once the pieces of the Quark file are broken down, designers for PCH can piece the components back together to create online ads, Zerden said. He estimated that the time needed to repurpose a print ad for online use would be reduced 80 percent.
Telescope Enterprise also helps increase campaign personalization, North Plains said. Designers can create multiple versions of a campaign to suit different customer demographics.
PCH expects to finish installing Telescope Enterprise by late summer.
