Lots of color, strong heads and short, targeted articles give Small Business Edge the edge.

With four Newsletter Clearinghouse Gold Awards and three Silvers since 1992, Ariad Custom Publishing has certainly found a formula for success in producing, at latest count, 30 marketing newsletters for some of Canada's leading financial organizations.

The 1998 Silver Award-winning CIBC Small Business Edge certainly fits this formula: a profusion of colors (this is one to write away for) that complement rather than distract from the content; short articles with no jumps, plus lots of news briefs and tips; and strong headlines that immediately pull the reader into the articles.

And that's just the beginning: this newsletter is targeted specifically to small businesses. Rather than the all-too-common brag sheet about what the bank can do for its customers, the Edge provides practical information and advice of immediate concern to its readers. The effectiveness of a corporate marketing letter, as this is, can be measured by how much it resembles a subscription newsletter in the content it provides.

Ariad president Hugh Furneaux recently told The Financial Post Magazine, "One of the most effective ways of delivering useful information is through a newsletter with good information. A newsletter is brief, portable and manageable in size and content."

The article continues: "Over the past decade, the newsletter has become a common element in corporate marketing programs, while rapid advances in desktop-publishing techniques have opened new and more precise avenues of distribution. Variable-imaging technology for example, allows publishers to substitute text and images in a layout during print production on high-speed laser printers."

Furneaux adds, "We can vary the content according to the database information. We can have one run on the client's newsletters specifically address people who live in British Columbia, or another run that is customized for those who are over 55."

Furneaux says the software for such editorial-data manipulation didn't exist until recently. Ariad spent about $300,000 to set up the necessary software system, opening up dramatic possibilities. "In the past 18 months, our business has changed quite radically. Now our clients are able to tie their newsletters into their customer databases completely. This couldn't be done two years ago-at least, it couldn't be done economically."

CIEC Small Business Edge

1998 Silver Award Winner, corporate-external category

* 4 pp., 81/2 x 11"

Production specs:

* Ink: 4-color process

* Paper stock: 70 lb. matte

* Headline typeface: Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed

* Text typeface: Palatino

Editor: Regina daSilva

Designer: Wojtek Pasternak Produced for CIBC by Ariad Custom Publishing, Hugh Furneaux, president, 119 Spadina Ave., #1005, Toronto, ON M5V 2L1, Canada, 416-971-9294.