Deliver Chocolate in July? NOVA expertise avoids a sticky situation
St. Louis, MO. – August 3, 2011 - This summer’s scorching weather has
affected most of the nation from coast-to-coast. From wildlife fires and extreme
drought conditions in the South and Southwest to record high temperatures and
triple digit heat indices in the Midwest and the East, weather conditions have
been downright unbearable at times. It’s the kind of dangerous weather that not
only is a threat to one’s health, but also impacts the business world in more
ways than one can image.
Rocky Abbett, Vice President of NOVA Marketing
Services in St. Louis, will forever remember last July. A sizeable and ambitious
fulfillment project scheduled for May turned tricky and complicated when the
client decided to use chocolate as a giveaway item. It became a life lesson when
the promotion was delayed two months. Nothing melts faster than chocolate in the
heat of summer, but Abbett and the NOVA crew were up to the challenge in
delivering thousands of chocolate bars on behalf of a large shipping company
that wanted to reward its customers.
"I don’t know the reason behind the
delay, but our customer decided in early July they wanted this program launched
right away," recalls Abbett. "Most chocolate companies ship their product in the
spring and summer months in containers with dry ice. We had to assure our client
the chocolate would be delivered to their customers in one piece and not
resemble fondue when it arrived."
NOVA was responsible for managing four
different versions of the candy kits. Some customers received three chocolate
bars and a thank you letter. Others got four or five chocolate bars and a nice
backpack cooler, in addition to an overnight bag. The top-of-the-line customers
were rewarded with a half-dozen bars and the fore mentioned gifts, as well as a
coffeemaker with a one pound bag of coffee.
The NOVA team encountered one
roadblock after another but proved resilient in finding success at every turn.
It began early when the client did not have money in the budget for dry ice
packaging of the chocolate. The team brainstormed a few alternative ideas which
the client approved, then had to modify the final plan several times to address
FDA requirements and other concerns. The end result was an FDA approved solution
that came in under budget.
But Abbett said that was only the beginning of
the challenges his team would encounter.
"We were concerned our solution
would not survive the heat for more than two or three days, which is not a good
thing when you’re trying to keep chocolate cold. So we immediately ordered seven
deep freezers to freeze the alternative dry ice solution, which was delivered to
us with an internal temperature of 91 degrees. We knew it would take five days
to get the product frozen enough to ship, but we didn’t have five days."
It was back to the drawing board for Abbett and Company, but that’s where NOVA
excels. An immediate partnership was formed with a local frozen food warehouse
to quick freeze the product and put the project back on track.
"We staged
delivery of the delicious treats and gifts to reach households on specific
days," Abbett said "in order to ensure our client could be responsive to the
anticipated in-bound calls. Precise coordination of deliveries guaranteed that
every package reached its destination within two days. Our client was very
satisfied with the results after we moved thousands of pieces. The only
complaints received came from the few individuals who were out-of-town when
their package was delivered."
Years of experience and commitment to
customer satisfaction are the key to NOVA’s success. They’ll celebrate 20 years
in 2012, and their expertise in Kitting and Assembly, POS Assembly and
Distribution, In-Store Marketing and Project Management has the company well
positioned with its customers, which include Fortune 100 corporations.
NOVA Marketing Services provides on-line order fulfillment, real-time inventory
management, kitting and assembly, and direct mail while serving a wide range of
national and regional customers in many industries. In 2005, NOVA became a
subsidiary of The MATLET Group, a certified Minority Business Enterprise and
Corporate Plus® member of NMSDC. For more info, visit
www.novamktg.com.