NEW ORLEANS, LA – Major publisher Hachette Filipacci Media US has successfully implemented the SendMyAd ad portal supported by a DALiM TWiST workflow engine, all integrated by Blanchard Systems, to support major publications such as Car and Driver, Road & Track, ELLE, and Woman's Day.

HFM U.S. decided to bring advertising management in-house to streamline its ad management process. "Sometimes the ramifications of adopting new technology are not investigated adequately. There can always be shortcomings if you do not do ample research. Blanchard took the time to help us understand, in depth, the features of their SendMyAd and the DALiM TWiST system, while giving us a sense of their future direction," remarks Michael Esposito, VP of Operations. HFM U.S. went live on March 1, and rolled out the system to its advertising community on April 1.

"The Blanchard team exceeded our expectations. They were extremely well prepared and professional. They simplified the complexity of the system, and the project remained on schedule and within budget throughout the integration process," adds Esposito.

The system allows HFM U.S. to quickly accept ads digitally over the Internet from its advertisers. SendMyAd normalizes files so they are delivered to HFM U.S., within the required specifications. Thus, HFM U.S. avoids receiving out of spec ads that require additional labor to fix them. The DALiM TWiST production automation system was installed as the workflow engine supporting SendMyAd. Once ad materials are received, the files are handled in an automated way to put the ads into production. Partial page ads are placed within an editorial page and converted to PDF X1/a files for final production. Meanwhile, customers appreciate knowing the ads they submit through SendMyAd will meet HFM U.S.'s specs before final delivery.

With SendMyAd, production efficiency has increased by 30%, helping the team manage productivity better. The operations team can use dashboard features to determine ad page volume monthly by title, or, if necessary, daily. Attaining a live view of volume levels helps HFM U.S. maximize resources by enabling a strategically sourced work environment. "We are prepared to handle our labor-intensive work cost-effectively during periods of both peaks and valleys. SendMyAd helps us efficiently project peak volume periods so we can allocate resources accordingly. Our goal is to plan in advance to have resources available to work on files that best fit our capabilities. The end result is a quicker production turnaround at lower cost levels," remarks Esposito.

"We think the system is scalable and may eventually be used as an ad portal for handling classified ads and cross platform for digital ads for our websites. When used correctly, SendMyAd and DALiM TWiST are great tools to help streamline operations and increase productivity," concludes Esposito.