Case Study: Northwestern University Alumni Association
Delivering a message effectively depends entirely on reaching your audience. In today's marketing-drenched environment, that can be a major challenge, especially when electronic and print media must be integrated. Whether in print or on a screen, the message must be presented in a form that is eye-catching, appealing, and fully integrated with the design, logo and other visual characteristics of all other print and electronic communications originating at the same source.

The partnership between Triangle Printers and the Clubs group of Northwestern University's Alumni Association is a case study in how unified visual communication in all media facilitates information sharing among the many components of a major university's alumni association, as well as strengthening brand identification for the university itself.

When the Alumni Association's clubs office first sought a printer, "we had some specific needs that our own marketing people had come up with," says Christopher George, the Alumni Association's assistant director for clubs.

These included reworking aspects of the group's website and rerouting the flow of information, in addition to revisions in print communications. "We went with Triangle," George says, "because they were the ones who said they could accomplish these things - and they did it."

Triangle's Steve Goerth, a longtime print professional, began with the organization's website. "Northwestern's Alumni Association has 56 local and special-interest clubs nationwide, and all of them have to share and coordinate information about events, the club itself, ways of giving, University news, and more," Goerth says. "For the Alumni Association to corral all these people and get their information out efficiently - that's a very, very arduous task!"

The Alumni Association had an electronic program in place, but was not satisfied with its operation. "We developed the site so that all 56 clubs could log on to a more user-friendly template," Goerth says. "They submit their information to the association using this template, and the organization then moves information to us. We put it in hard copy, do the merging of the appropriate memberships, print it up and send it out."

Not every printer could revamp a client's website, then integrate it smoothly with print operations - but Goerth, a marketing veteran whose master's degree in management is from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Business, was just getting started.

"Universities are starting to understand brand identity," he explains, "and they are realizing the importance of having a visual that communicates their identity. For this client, it's a case of this look is the Alumni Association, whether you're in Boston or Los Angeles or Chicago. We helped to create a standardized look for the Alumni Association clubs, so that every alumni group now has the branded logo."

Making the change was a challenge for some of the local clubs, which were accustomed to their own graphics. "But even Chicago" - one of largest and most independent among Northwestern's local alumni clubs - "was brought into line this year, so now they've got a branded logo and the standardized look," Goerth says.

It's exceptional for a printer to provide a client with services like fine-tuning a website or standardizing a logo, but Triangle has always emphasized problem-solving - no matter what the problem may be. "Our founder, Harvey Saltzman, always says it would be more accurate to say we sell graphic arts services," Goerth says. "Whatever we call it, we're here to partner with our clients, no matter what they need."

"What's great about working with Triangle is that it's always a team effort," George says. "And that's true not just of their teamwork with us, but of the team they pull together to accomplish whatever we need to accomplish."

Founded in 1955 by Harvey Saltzman, Triangle Printers Inc. is a full-service printer at the forefront of printing innovation, developing new techniques to provide clients with maximum quality at an affordable price. Using today's latest sheet-fed technology and environmentally safe soybean oil-based inks, Triangle Printers designs and prints a wide range of jobs, from postcards to annual reports, at its 50,000-square-foot facility in Skokie, IL.

Clients can choose custom printing for high-profile, full-color presentations. Triangle also offers customers a value printing option, which produces high quality materials-including catalogs, postcards, brochures, rack literature and posters-at about half the cost of custom printing.

"At Triangle Printers, we strive to make our client's job easier every day," says Triangle President Harvey Saltzman. "The business environment seems to get more hectic all the time, so offering comprehensive service that our customers know that they can depend on really makes a difference.

For more information about Triangle Printers or to request a quote, please contact Bonnie Dayan at 847.675.3700.