From Code to Print: The Origins of Phygital Marketing & Audio Direct Mail
The Tech Guy Who Fell in Love with Print: Unpacking the Origins of Phygital Marketing
If you try to explain the concept of “phygital” marketing to someone for the first time, you might end up sounding a bit like Morten B. Reitoft trying to introduce me during our recent sit-down for INKISH.
Am I a printer? Not exactly. Am I a foiler? Not quite. Am I an electronics specialist? Well, sort of.
The truth is, bridging the gap between physical print and digital technology requires a unique blend of skills. During a recent industry event, Morten and I had a fantastic conversation about my unconventional journey into the printing industry and how merging tech with tactile experiences leads to some of the most disruptive marketing campaigns in the world.
From Hardcore Tech to Print Embellishments
My origin story usually catches people off guard. I actually started my career as a hardcore tech guy—a computer programmer and electronic engineer by trade.
My entry into the marketing space was entirely focused on developing tech products, specifically integrating sound chips and video screens into printed collateral. But along the way, something unexpected happened: I completely fell in love with print.
I realized that technology alone can only go so far. When you combine digital innovations with premium print embellishments—like raised UV and holographic foils—you create a sensory experience that demands attention. That is the essence of phygital marketing.
The “Annoying” Audio Campaign That Disrupted an Industry
During our chat, Morten joked that I was responsible for those “two-bit, very bad audio chips” you used to find in cheap birthday cards 20 years ago. While I happily denied responsibility for those, those little audio chips actually paved the way for one of our most successful campaigns.
Many years ago, we worked with Rogers Communications, a major telecom company in Canada. At the time, the telecom industry was aggressively replacing live customer service operators with automated telephone menus—the dreaded “press one for this, press two for that” phone trees.
To highlight Rogers’ commitment to real human connection, we engineered a brilliant direct mail piece. When the recipient opened the printed brochure, they were immediately greeted by an intentionally annoying, robotic audio chip mimicking a frustrating phone tree. After running through the automated prompts, the audio finally cut to a real human voice announcing, “With Rogers Communications, you’re connected to a live person.”
It was chaotic, it was disruptive, and it generated a massive amount of buzz because it proved a point in a highly visceral way.
The Power of Audio in a Visual World
As Morten pointed out during our interview, audio adds an incredibly compelling layer to any experience. He compared it to video production: you can have the most expensive camera in the world, but if your audio is terrible, the video is unwatchable.
The same applies to direct mail and physical marketing. If the sensory experience is disjointed or frustrating, the consumer will immediately disengage. But when you get it right—when you perfectly balance high-end print, tactile embellishments, and seamless digital tech—you create a marketing asset that is impossible to ignore.
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TRANSCRIPT (AI-GENERATED)
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[00:00] When you are at events like the Fujifilm reveal of the PC2120, obviously you meet a lot of people, and one of them is a very interesting gentleman, Eddie. And I have a problem because I don’t actually know 100% how to introduce him because he’s a printer, but he’s not a printer. He’s a foiler, but he’s not a foiler. He is a specialist in electronics, but not really. And then he is NFC, and metallization on, on… I just give up. Eddie, I guess you’re better to explain than me, right?
[00:33] All right, well thanks for the attempt for the intro.
[00:38] I tried. I tried. I really tried because- it’s a lot, yeah … okay, I, will… if I should redo it, you’re an entrepreneur. And you like actually, taking advantage of technologies and, design and the opportunities to bring stuff to market, right?
[00:55] That’s right. So I’ll put it this way. I started in technology, so I’m a computer programmer and electronic engineer by trade. So I developed tech marketing products like sound chips in print marketing, video in print marketing. And in the end though, I’m a tech that fell in love with print and then print embellishments, and I got a lot of attention. So we started off in, adding for that, for example, adding sound chips in direct mail campaigns. So imagine opening up the brochure instead of a happy birthday card. It’s actually, speaking about a value proposition for a product.
[01:30] So you’re responsible for the two-bit very bad audio chips in birthday cards back 20 years ago?
[01:35] Oh, no, not those ones. No. Imagine one of the first campaigns we did was for a telecom in Canada called Rogers Communications. And they, at the time, this is many years ago, at the time, they, a lot of telecoms are focusing on let’s replace our live operators with, telephone, press one, press two. So they did the campaign, and when you open the card, it was like an annoying voice saying, “Hey, press one to do this, press two to do that, press three to do that.” And then in the end you had a live person saying, with Rogers Communications you’re connected to a live person.” And that went out direct mail. It had a lot of buzz. It did, really well to prove the point that. Yeah … yeah, you actually speak to humans. Yeah. And audio adds such a, compelling, experience, I guess.
[02:20] It’s funny you say that because, when we started INKISH, 15 years ago, I always thought it was a camera that was the most important thing, and it is but if you have sh*tty audio on a camera, or, like a video, you cannot see it, right? Yeah. I realize that.
[02:35] So I guess that the same experience that you talk about here is that basically if you’re in a voice messaging system, have too creepy sound, basically you’re just like, “No, I can’t do this, right? Yeah. exactly.
DISCLAIMER: All brand names, logos, and trademarks appearing in this video are the property of their respective owners and are used solely for illustrative and demonstration purposes. No affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement is implied.
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