Asendia Hong Kong: Case study publishing The Economist

About The Economist

The newspaper The Economist was first published in 1843 by businessman and free trader James Wilson in his campaign on one of the great political issues of the day – the Corn Laws. Published weekly, it has a circulation of 1.4m today, four-fifths of it overseas, and enjoys a notable reputation in the corridors of power.

Asendia manages subscriptions campaigns and distribution for The Economist; from renewals mailings to invoice acknowledgement letters. Asendia also handle Intelligent Life, their quarterly publication and large global direct mail campaigns.

The Challenge

The Economist first came to Asendia in 1988 and now requires Asendia to:

Manage subscriptions to The Economist; from Renewals, acknowledgments and invoice letter mailings to acknowledgement and welcome E-Mail campaigns.

Manage the order fulfilment and distribution of their E-Store and Economist Premia products.

Handle all aspects of the fulfilment and distribution of the worldwide Bi-monthly magazine, titled 1843, to 165,000 subscribers.

Execute UK and global acquisition and lapsed subscribers direct mail campaigns of between 50,000 and 600,000 mail pieces

The Solution

Asendia’s solution for The Economist is an end to end service, which includes:

Magazine subscription fulfilment
Data processing
Laser printing of 5 versions of carriers
Polywrapping
Returns handling

In addition we also provide weekly management and printing of The Economist Renewals, acknowledgments and invoice letters; data processing, laser printing of multiple letter set-ups and envelope enclosing.

The Direct Mail campaigns involve Asendia maintaining brand image and increasing ROI wherever possible whilst managing the print and supply of all materials, data processing – including data cleansing to reduce waste , document set-up and cut sheet and continuous laser printing of various letter versions, folding of letters and envelope enclosing, distribution within the UK and globally and returns handling. Daily pick and pack of the E-Store and Economist Premia products – including Gold Blocking personalisation of branded Diaries – requires Asendia to provide a consistent and reliable service to The Economist customers and members of staff fulfilling single orders, consignments, & pallets of products and printed matter, with the capability to resolve any delivery problems quickly.

Our order fulfilment system offers The Economist live 24/7 portal access to a complete stock management and order reporting suite tailored to their specific requirements. All of this work is carried out across Asendia’s two fulfilment centres in Bedford. The Economist account is managed by experienced Account Management teams across both sites liaising with Economist contacts in three of their London offices, their Switzerland office and their German office.