Emirates Marketing and Promotions (EMP), a marketing subsidiary of Emirates Post, has introduced an innovative mode of interaction and marketing exercise that offers a three-dimension solution to clients.

Starting last year, the company has embarked on this 3D card system to provides customers a complete solution that has a DVD that can include pictures, music and even a software or data. It has been accepted as a postcard by the Union of Postal Unions (UPU) worldwide and it can be posted anywhere in the world as a regular postcard.

The person to introduce this idea in the UAE is Ahmad Tahlak, Chief Executive Officer of EMP, which was established in year 2005.

Since then the company has been offering services through Direct Mail, with a database of 2.8 million segmented customers.

EMP's call centre's state-of-the-art technology and customer service professionals demonstrate the flexibility to cater to the wide-ranging requirements of its client.

EMP's Postcard Millionaire is yet another successful product in the region.

Tahlak, who founded The TeleServices Company and introduced the Call Centre concept at Emirates Airlines in 1994, won the Global Call Centre Manager of the Year Award in 2001 and 2002 consecutively from ICCM in Chicago (International Call Center Management Association) – the largest call centre association in the world.

Tahlak, a UAE national, is a US graduate in BS Degree in Business Administration & Management Information Systems, who is now a sought-after guest speaker at region's leading customer service call centre CRM business events.

He started a small marketing company owned by Emirates Post and being a government company and competing with private sector, with local, regional and international clientele was a challenge and operating and making its place in the market for the last three-and-a-half years with constant growth has been an achievement in itself.


What has been the growth graph for EMP since clients are cutting down on marketing cost due to the economic crisis?

We are certain that 2009 will show encouraging numbers as market is seeking cost effective means to communicate. In 2008 revenues doubled as compared to 2007. In the first two years of our establishment 2005-06, the growth was as high as 100 per cent. From 2006 to 2007 the growth was around 50 per cent, but we gained in the following year and we grew by 100 per cent in the 2008.

What is the current standing of EMP in a sector that's been dominated by private companies?

The competition is very tough and rough in the marketing field in the UAE. To survive and grow in this demanding market, we have been coming up with new ideas and new strategies so that we can promote a different way of doing things and reach the customers. Promoting the direct marketing in the UAE is not that well known, or should I say, not very well accepted. I would say its potential has not that well been accepted by the market and we have to educate them initially and then deliver some very affective results.

How many divisions you have and how many categories of direct marketing do you handle?

Within Emirates Marketing and Promotions, we have a few divisions. The first one is Direct Marketing department in which we assist the client in reaching their customers.

We use various options to reach out to the proposed target audience. It could be through SMS message or their PO boxes. As part of the Emirates Post group, we have access to all the 400,000 post boxes and can reach out to anyone, anywhere in the country.

What is the advantage of EMP as a govern-ment entity?

We have some strategic partners in the government sector with whom we can share and exchange information. As a result, we have enormous data that can be used by B2B or B2C clients. This data processing is achieved by a very intelligent software that can profile on the basis of nationality, gender, age or any other category that the client may want.

How big is your data bank?

Our database in the UAE crosses 2.8 million mark and that's very useful for any direct marketing exercise. It is a federal entity, owned by Emirates Post Holding Group. When we started in 2005, we were owned by Emirates Post. By year 2008, Emirates Post has moved into a holding group with other companies under the umbrella. In fact, Emirates Post is now a company under the Emirates Post Holding Group. As a result, EMP also became part of the Emirates Post Holding Group rather than just being part of Emirates Post and the whole thing is owned by the federal government.

What new areas of direct marketing and innovative methods are you developing?

EMP is indulging in a new innovative mode of interaction and marketing exercise that offers a three-dimension solution to clients. Starting last year, we have embarked on this 3D card system that can provide you a complete solution that has a DVD that can include pictures, music and even a software or data. It has been accepted as a postcard by the Union of Postal Unions (UPU) worldwide and it can be posted anywhere in the world as a regular postcard.

This is truly a 3D aspect of direct marketing. You can see, you can hear and you can even feel the product as in the sense you can smell the product that you are intending to promote.

To explain you the effectiveness of this technology, I will tell you about the promotion that we held for a chocolate company. In the form of a postcard, we had the DVD of the movie called Chocolate. Along with the movie, there's of course the necessary information about the company. And to top it all, we added the smell of chocolate and gave it a new twist with total solution for the client and for the end customer.

What's the distinct advantage of this product and who is your target audience?

This product has multidimensional advantages and appeals for many organisations. We are in discussion with various government and public entities such as museums, shopping festival organisers and many more to truly exploit the benefit of this tool.

Not to forget, it also serves the purpose of a regular postcard for any visitor who may want to send back their sweet memories on a card that has not just a picture, but a selection of pictures or perhaps a short video with sound.

This is our pilot project for this year and we intend to promote it and make it the most used marketing tool for direct marketing in the region.

The technology is from a Dutch-based company and we have long-term business arrangement with them. It's the simplicity of the product that makes it so successful and effective.

Does direct marketing have any advantage over other means, especially in the current circumstances?

What is more important in challenging times is to provide details of our activities. Our dedicated call centres are utilised to call all probable users and receivers of our clients and take their feedback.

The data gathered is formulated by a team of qualified operators and can be presented to the client in data form or even recorded messages from the end customers. This enhances our effectiveness and adds value to our claims.

The call centres cater to telesales, follow-up surveys and similar exercises and we can handle that in 10 languages of the region.

In addition, we can also arrange the same service in any additional language that the client may ask for.

How important role does the promotions department play in contributing to the revenue to EMP?

Promotions are very important and are led by our postcards that have made many common people millionaires. The Postcard Millionaire has been one of the most successful promotions in the country with a winner declared every day, every week and the big winner every month-end. We give away Dh100,000 every week as the big prize and there are instant prizes. Basically, with Postcard Millionaire, everyone is a winner.

Has the sale of millionaire postcards been affected during recession?

At the start of the global crisis in the fourth quarter of the last year, we did notice a dip in the sales of the cards. But eventually, it not only recovered but is selling more than the previous year. Perhaps it is giving hope to many more people that they may be able to beat the recession if they try Postcard Millionaire, which costs a very nominal amount.

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