Mazak Corporation’s Virtual Technology Center

Mazak Corporation, the world’s leading machine tool company maintains a network of Technology Centers across North America to provide customers with a hands-on products, technology and applications experience. Arranging a prospective customer visit to one of Mazak’s technology centers is a critical step in the sales process. However, location, schedule and budget constraints often make this difficult. After conducting agency-wide planning sessions focused on developing ways to help Mazak extend this valuable experience to more customers, dgs proposed a web-based alternative called the Virtual Technology Center. This interactive web portal provides Mazak customers and prospects with a dynamic virtual environment that simulates the experience and access to applications engineering resources they encounter while visiting an actual technology center. Within a couple months of launch, the Virtual Technology Center concept met with widespread acceptance by customers, journalists, and industry association members, not to mention receiving enthusiastic support from Mazak’s distribution network. Perhaps most important, the Virtual Technology Center has been instrumental in increasing the numbers of customer and prospect visits to the various regional Technology Centers. The Virtual TC, as it is now known around dgs, has become a core strategy in Mazak’s online marketing program, as well as a valuable component of its overall integrated marketing strategy.