Emailing Insertion Orders in Bursts from MPE

The Company

For over five decades, Carmichael Lynch (CL) has been an eminent figure in the advertising realm, catering to illustrious brands such as A.G. Edwards, Harley Davidson, and Porsche. Their accolades include the prestigious O’Toole Award, Gold EFFIE Award, and Cannes Lion. One key to their success? Embracing innovation and swift B2B response through process automation.

The Challenge

The team at Carmichael Lynch was grappling with the inefficiencies of cumbersome multi-part forms. Preprinted forms proved costly and confining, with noisy, high-maintenance printers further complicating matters. The need for a shift from paper-based workflows to an electronic alternative was clear. CL sought a way to seamlessly transmit orders via fax and email from their DSI Datatrak database with minimal manual intervention.

The Solution

In April 1995, Carmichael Lynch introduced AventX MPE from STR Software into their system. Exceeding their expectations for automated document delivery, they made it a permanent addition just a month later. 

With the addition of Tractor Supply Company as a client, CL began employing AventX to streamline insertion order submissions, particularly due to the client’s high volume of circulars. CL overcame manual document delivery bottlenecks, enjoying significant time and resource savings. AventX was used multiple times per month to deliver as many as 1,400 pages per run for a single client.

Later, CL’s technology department upgraded its solution by incorporating AventX Mail and a FAXCOM 3100 two-channel server. The upgrade enabled them to overcome Datatrak’s limitations and include email addresses as destinations. Plus, email delivery confirmations were sent without requiring any programming modifications.

Doug Kieser, System Programmer for CL, attests to the advantages of dynamically named POs and insertion orders, enhancing document identification. Furthermore, integrating the AventX Archive Module permanently stored PDF duplicates of all faxed or emailed dynamically-named orders on a file server, creating a robust audit trail.

Steve Diedrich, IT Director at Carmichael Lynch, emphasizes the transformative impact of AventX, stating, “STR Software opened our eyes with this solution. We started with one objective, but it soon became apparent that AventX offered so much more. An insertion order electronic document delivery solution is like gold for any agency or media buying firm with a high-volume media client. For us, that solution is AventX.”