Marketing Mail Innovation Showcase at National Postal Forum

During a “Marketing Mail Innovation Showcase” session at the National Postal Forum, Trish Witkowski, chief folding fanatic at Fold Factory and star of the “Fold of the Week” series, and Ryan LeFebvre, EVP of sales and marketing at Specialty Print Communications (SPC), showed examples of innovative envelope and “faux-velope” designs produced by SPC.

The faux-velopes – or substrates that has been printed, folded, and glued to imitate an envelope – are something that has existed for quite some time, but they have gone through some changes, and for a very good reason. During the pandemic, it became challenging to source envelopes, so marketers and their print service providers had to get creative. The results, Witkowski said, is that they have been “perfected.”

From left, Ryan LeFebvre, EVP of sales and marketing at Specialty Print Communications (SPC), and Trish Witkowski, chief folding fanatic at Fold Factory, showcased a variety of envelope samples to attendees during their session focused on mail innovation.

With the use of various stocks, interesting diecuts, and inserts, faux-velopes can not only serve the needs of the marketers, but they can increase engagement and excitement among recipients.

Beyond the faux-velopes, LeFebvre shared multiple examples of the power of printed envelopes. He showed one example produced for American Airlines that featured a shimmery pearlescent finish. The company had been sourcing a very expensive pearlescent stock from Italy to achieve its desired look. SPC offered a creative and money-saving solution. It took a basic stock and added a pearlescent coating to simulate the more premium stock and ended up saving American Airlines $800,000.