Imagine 121 Boosts Revenue with MarcomCentral

Originally founded in 1998 as a satellite operation of a large European publishing and printing company, Imagine 121 is a creative PSP (print services provider) organization that serves many of the largest financial institutions in Canada and throughout the globe. Stephen Lane, president of Imagine 121, had experience running similar operations in South Africa, England and Southern Ireland, and this was an opportunity to see how the business could perform in the Canadian market. At first, Imagine 121 was tasked with producing standard printing items like day planners, notebooks, etc. This gradually morphed into more personalized items like greeting cards, prospecting folders, and customized brochures.

Finding an Audience

The original objective of the business evolved over time after discovering their niche in the financial services industry in Canada, and now the US.  These large financial institutions needed a partner that could help them create collateral that could be customized for individual high-net worth financial advisor’s’ needs. Not only that, they needed a co-branding solution that would empower those financial advisors with self-serve, customizable access to those collateral pieces anytime. Another requirement was to ensure materials and collateral were guaranteed brand compliant while still giving the individual Investment advisor the ability to personalize the content to perfectly suit their unique approach.

We are so extremely happy with the organization [MarcomCentral] and what it’s been able to help us do as a business for some of the most exacting clients that Canada can offer. It’s been a great experience so far.

– Stephen Lane, President, Imagine 121

Scaling to meet the needs of the Enterprise

At first Imagine 121 developed their own software platform with local programming to capture orders and do some basic personalization. This was a delicate balance to achieve. The banking institution needed brand control, and the financial advisors wanted to customize their promotional materials to match their own brands. As they continued to work with these clients, the clients expected more sophisticated templates and designs. As these grew more complex, Imagine 121 decided to give Marcom a try after hearing about it from a financial client. They soon realized that it could be useful in helping to work in the financial service industry, specifically for brand-compliant customization and digital delivery of assets.

The MarcomCentral Solution

Imagine 121 soon realized how useful MarcomCentral could be for delivering everything their clients needed, along with an environment that is secure with exclusive access. Marcom has helped Imagine 121 scale to meet the needs of some of the largest banks in the world and is a gamechanger for scaling production and providing print ready PDFs on demand. And when it is combined with a creative, customer-centric firm like Imagine 121, it can truly shine. Imagine 121 provides customized support to their clients, designing and creating new assets as they ask for them. Marcom can help them deliver those designs and give financial advisors the ability to customize key parts outputting this collateral as customized print-ready PDFs. Once the collateral is up and running in Marcom – it runs itself. It’s that easy. “Having Marcom at the time that we did, right at the beginning of COVID … it meant that we were able to continue to be up and running at a time when many companies were scrambling to get a more robust online presence.” Rhiannon Lane, Creative Director, Imagine 121.

The Results:

Imagine 121’s unique blend of personalized customer service and creative solutions are a perfect match to manage their customer’s MarcomCentral Portals. They get to see the full picture of a product or campaign from the initial brand concept through creative design and to the final digital or physical product. MarcomCentral has been there every step of the way with expert team members responding to challenges and requests to ensure a streamlined partnership. Imagine 121 has been wildly successful leveraging the Marcom platform, generating over 1 million in revenue. They continue to evolve to meet the needs of their clients, by being a true expert in their niche and by leveraging the MarcomCentral platform.