PRINTER news

Adam Garwolinski has been promoted to pressroom foreman with the recent installation of a fourth Komori press at Elk Grove Village, IL-based Quality Color Graphics.

Dalim Software Users Organization—which offers an unbiased collaborative channel of communications between Dalim Software users, staff and resellers—has elected new officers at the 2008 North American Dalim Software Users Organization (DUO) Annual Meeting at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Brent Kantola, prepress manager at Rogers Printing, and Stephen White, specialist, Integrated Manufacturing, at Vertis Communications, were elected president and vice president, respectively.

Thomas Kern, former director of operations for Transcontinental Direct’s facility in Downey, CA, has been appointed director of operations at IWCO Direct’s Elm City, NC, facility. Kern, a 30-year industry veteran, is now responsible for managing the Elm City facility including print, envelope, personalization, lettershop, Delivery-Point Bar Code Sorter (DBCS) and warehouse operations.

Mountainside, NJ-based Print Tech—a provider of digital printing, direct mail, targeted marketing, signage and fulfillment services—has named Jim Puzzo corporate account executive. A 30-year industry veteran with specific expertise in rush direct mail projects, Puzzo comes to Print Tech from Printing Design Group.

Bill Denzen is the new general manager at Smyth Companies’ rollfed division, in Minneapolis. Denzen, a 16-year Smyth employee, recently served as vice president of finance of the company’s rollfed division. In his new role, Denzen is responsible for all operations of the rollfed division, and will continue to provide leadership to quality and process improvements in both rollfed and other operating divisions within the company.

Abby Pedersen has joined the sales team at Plymouth, MN-based Daily Printing as account associate. Pedersen is now working with the company’s top account managers to help increase communication with clients and improve the company’s ability to service them.

To further bolster its entry into digital printing and its support of clients’ multichannel marketing campaigns, Dallas-based Jay Kay Press has added new personnel and resources. Cheralyn Wood has joined Jay as vice president of Digital Solutions, and is now responsible for helping to drive the company’s entry into cross-media marketing. In addition, some of the new resources the company has implemented include: a new HP Indigo digital offset press; new software solutions that support variable data printing, multichannel marketing campaigns and dashboard-based results tracking; and enhanced print offerings that include spot UV and scratch-off coating.

Smith Litho, Rockville, MD, has announced several recent appointments. Chuck Barger has been promoted to production manager of manufacturing. Barger joined the company in 1976 and has served in a number of positions including pressman, account manager of customer service and senior account manager. Bill Wilkinson, who joined the company in 1997, has been appointed manager of material operations and is now responsible for supervising the daily operations of the company’s shipping and receiving departments, as well as transportation logistical contracts. Also, Mike McKenzie has been promoted to assistant production manager and will also maintain his current responsibilities as prepress foreman.

At Printed Specialties, a folding carton printer in Carrollton, GA, Greg M. Smith has been promoted to president. Smith joined Printed Specialties in 1986 and went on to hold positions within estimating, customer service and production. Smith has also served as vice president and general manager for the past five years, where he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s folding carton business.

North Chelmsford-based Courier Corp. has tapped 25-year industry veteran Paul Campion as vice president of sales for Moore Langen, Courier’s book component division. Prior to joining Courier in 2007, Campion served at Lehigh Press, Phoenix Color and Von Hoffmann Press/Visant Corp.

Jon Sandstrom recently joined HM Graphics as an inside account executive. The first grandson and namesake of the company’s late founder, John Sandstrom, Jon Sandstrom is the first member of the third generation of Sandstroms to join the company full-time. He is now responsible for servicing and handling production management for some of the company’s largest accounts. In addition, Daniel Soltysiak has been tapped as the company’s new senior account executive, and is now responsible for building new business and developing a portfolio of clients. Soltysiak has spent the last two years as an inside account executive at HM.

Print In the Mix

2008 B2B Marketing Forecast

According to BtoB’s “2008 Marketing Priorities and Plans” survey of business-to-business (B2B) marketers:

• Sixty percent of B2B marketers plan to increase their 2008 marketing budgets.

• Areas of budget increases:

—Close to 80 percent of marketers plan to boost their online budgets.

—Half of marketers plan to increase their events budgets.

—Nearly half of respondents plan to increase their direct mail budgets.

• The reported primary marketing goals of B2B marketers for 2008 are customer acquisition (62.4 percent), followed by brand awareness (19.3 percent), customer retention (11.7 percent) and other objectives (6.6 percent).

• Increases in print budgets are projected to be down. Less than 28 percent of marketers expect to increase their print spending, compared with nearly 34 percent last year.

• Seven out of 10 marketers plan to launch new ad campaigns in 2008.

Source: BtoB Magazine’s survey of 213 B2B marketers, which was conducted online during the last week of November and the first week of December 2007.

Consumers Interested in Green Products and Companies

DoubleClick Performics’ “Green Marketing Study” finds:

• Sixty percent of online consumers surveyed consider environmental consciousness an important company trait.

• Consumers, when choosing between two similar products, report they prefer environmentally friendly products; 83 percent indicate they are extremely or very likely to choose the environmentally friendly option.

• Nearly half of survey respondents attest a willingness to pay at least 5 percent more for green products.

• Consumers indicate the most attractive type of environmentally conscious marketing is that which focuses on “specific user benefits,” such as saving money on bills or longer product lifespan.

Source: DoubleClick Performics, April 8, 2008. Survey of 1,087 consumers.

Consumers Keen to Avoid Online Ads

Online Ads vs. Print Ads:

• More than 75 percent of consumers find online ads more intrusive than print ads.

• Nearly 65 percent report paying more attention to print ads than online ads.

Source: Deloitte’s “2007 State of the Media Democracy” study conducted by the Harrison Group. Survey of 2,211 consumers, age 13 to 75.

Print in the Mix, a clearinghouse of research on print media effectiveness, is published by the Printing Industry Center at RIT and made possible by a grant from The Print Council. Please visit www.printinthemix.rit.edu and www.theprintcouncil.org .