Drupa – A Touch of Heaven for the Direct Mail Industry

Which areas should direct mail managers invest in?

Manuel Mataré: It is not up to the drupa team to make investment recommendations. Our job is to help a direct mail manager get a complete picture of all existing and future technologies so that he can make the right investment decisions. However, as Messe Düsseldorf is also a major lettershop customer, we obviously consider very carefully which target groups are reached with highly personalized information and which ones are addressed in clusters. Ultimately though, direct mail should offer both variants if it wants to be viewed as a full-service partner. Digital and inkjet printing, with their diversity of options, stand apart from other technologies and should be at the top of the list when it comes to investment planning. Based on my experience, workflow and Web-to-Print solutions, such as the ones we will have on display in the Innovation Park at drupa, are greatly underestimated. They focus on production efficiency and I strongly believe this is just as important, for instance, as job management in the areas of postal pre-sorting and postage cost optimization.