Sema gains two major wins

Sema has won two major print and mail contracts as it begins to recover from its 2012 collapse and works more closely with IPMG.

The personalised direct mail company won key contracts with Optus and Australia’s biggest toll road operator Transurban, together worth millions of dollars a year.

Optus is one of the biggest promotional mail accounts in Australia, with a seven figure yearly value, and leverages Sema’s well-developed data expertise to create heavily personalised campaigns.

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Sema managing director John Stewart says the job involves complex data work and its value could grow over time as Optus uses data to better target its marketing, which Sema will help with.

“The ability to use data to personalise direct mail campaigns makes them all the more powerful and is where we see the market going,” he says.

Sema won a competitive tender against incumbent Cojo and other applicants. Industry sources say losing Optus is a major blow for Cojo as it was worth about 30 per cent of turnover and had five staff dedicated to handling it.

Cojo director Rod Jones says while losing any major client hurts, the business will soldier on.

The Transurban win sees Sema handle communication between the toll operator and its customers, including account statements, bills and notifications through print, mail, email and SMS.

It is said to be worth about $750,000 a year but Stewart says Sema hopes to grow it significantly. It was won from ABnote in Victoria and Fuji Xerox Document Management Services in Queensland.

Sema will print the work on Fuji Xerox 1400 digital web printers from its sites in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Transurban handles the tolling for 14 roads in Australia and the US including Sydney’s M2, M5, M7, Lane Cove and Cross City tunnels, Melbourne’s CityLink and Brisbane’s Gateway and Logan motorways.

Stewart says both tenders were long drawn out processes and believes Sema’s ability to provide multichannel solutions was a big factor in its success.

“We are combining our expertise across print and digital to future-proof our client’s communication needs and help them transition from one to the other when appropriate,” he says.

An influx of new contracts, with others rumoured to be on the way, indicates Sema is recovering some of the huge lost business from its collapse and subsequent management buyout in 2012.

Stewart says the company is also working increasingly closely with IPMG, with which it established a ‘strategic and financial alliance’ in December, particularly their sales teams which he says ‘makes sense for both our client bases’.

Most industry sources expect the two firms to gradually integrate to the point where a full acquisition is a foregone conclusion.

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