World Bank Honored for Promotional Excellence

Diane Kim accepts the World Bank Group's 2016 IPMA In-House Promotional Excellence Award from Chris Donlon during the IPMA 2016 conference.

In-plants that excel at promoting their services deserve special recognition. At the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference in June, the The World Bank Group got that recognition when its General Services Department—Printing and Multimedia  (GSDPM) operation was honored with the 2016 IPMA In-House Promotional Excellence Award.

“Winning the IPMA In-House Promotional Excellence Award is validation of the importance we put on our business development and client relationship efforts," remarks Division Manager Dave Leonard. "It has been a concerted effort over the past three years and is now beginning to pay real dividends in client awareness and our bottom line revenue."

The in-plant highlighted three major promotional campaigns that employed diverse promotional strategies and approaches.

1. In-house omni-channel delivery for holiday cards and calendars. World Bank Group-inspired holiday cards and office calendars are extremely popular seasonal products for the in-plant and are offered to departments and staff members. Every autumn, the design team brainstorms fresh concepts and presents new designs that may reflect changes in institutional initiatives.
2. Event marketing and promotion of a new digital media product, augmented reality (AR). The most effective way to promote AR was to present demonstrations to highlight what it is, how it works, and to show off the likely benefits. Early adopters and other advocates of this new technology played a significant role in expanding its opportunities and visibility to other groups within the institution.
3. Implementation of the institutional printing procedure and a targeted customer outreach for printing services. To achieve this strategic goal, the team initiated more aggressive client outreach, which included making appointments with clients, developing and circulating brochures about the new procedure, and organizing brown bag sessions to explain the new procedure and framework the process.

Representatives from the World Bank's in-plant show off some of their awards during the IPMA awards reception.

During the past decade, the department has evolved from a traditional in-house printer to a full-service printing and multimedia service provider for the many institutions that comprise the World Bank Group. GSDPM’s integrated media services also helps World Bank staff maximize their communications and knowledge sharing efforts. Last year was a particularly instrumental year in reinforcing GSDPM’s position as an integrated multimedia service provider and a strategic communications partner. Promotion of the department’s services, products and new initiatives was paramount in attracting new clients and yielded exceptional results.

In addition, one of the most successful client engagement events provided by GSDPM in 2015 was an internal awards reception, where GSDPM invited its clients whose projects won awards in the In-Print contest. Proving a great success, the event celebrated in-house printing excellence with the team’s key customers and was a meaningful occasion to strengthen the relationships built over the course of each project.

"I would like to congratulate all my colleagues for their hard work and outstanding achievement," praises Business Development Officer Diane Kim.