Ricoh's First Engagement Symposium Focuses on Print in an Omnichannel World

MALVERN, Pa. — January 16, 2017 — Ricoh has announced that its first-ever Engagement Marketing Executive Symposium, held at its Executive Briefing Center in Boulder, Colo., brought in resounding accolades from attendees. Against a backdrop of mountains, executives from around the globe gathered for candid conversations with marketing service providers, agencies and industry experts aimed at exploring the role of direct mail and digital print in omnichannel marketing. Attendees from all facets of the ecosystem shared insights on how to create cohesive, measurable integrated multi-channel strategies to take advantage of today's trends to drive engagement.

Despite what many may believe, direct mail and print are resonating with a new generation of millennials. This generation is increasingly desensitized to digital messages and values the novelty of high-quality, ingeniously personalized print pieces. Working to ensure that print is a component of an omnichannel marketing campaign is essential to reach this desired audience. This is why the Engagement Marketing Executive Symposium's agenda ranged from case studies by marketers and marketing service providers, to seminars on unleashing creativity, to data-driven presentations on the latest trends. The agenda was developed to help attendees to learn new tools, tactics and opinions that can help strengthen their omnichannel efforts. A hands-on tour at Ricoh's Customer Experience Center also provided marketers with a chance to witness inkjet's evolution and see real life examples of how it's helping data-driven marketing prosper.

Presenters included Liz Miller, Vice President, Marketing & Programs, CMO Council; Jeff Hayes, Managing Director, InfoTrends; Brent Niemuth, President and CCO, J. Schmid & Associates; Paul Bobnack, Director, Who's Mailing What; Tom Boyle, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Heeter; and others.

• "While our focus has traditionally been on book printing, we're always exploring new business opportunities. Being able to have in-depth conversations at this symposium that help us understand how we can utilize inkjet technology to specialize in new areas like direct mail has been incredibly valuable." — Bob Durgy, Director of Sales, Central Region, Edwards Brothers Malloy
• "Our research shows that well designed, relevant direct mail pieces get consumers' attention and effectively complement other digital marketing channels. Millennials indicated they are more likely to read direct mail over promotional email than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Ricoh has done a great job bringing together direct marketers and marketing service providers to discuss how next generation personalized print fits in with their customer engagement strategies." —Jeff Hayes, InfoTrends
• "Senior Marketing leaders are in a constant hunt for innovations and ideas for advancing engagement strategies that can give their brands that competitive edge over intense market competitors. What this session enabled attendees to do was gather with leaders from vastly different industries and even different functions to hear about new opportunities to reach and engage with customers. Each case study, each roundtable, each presentation gave a new piece of inspiration these marketers could take back into their organizations and start to plan for future experiences." — Liz Miller, Senior Vice President of Marketing with the CMO Council
• "Print isn't going away, it's just evolving. This new digital technology that's coming out is going to open up so many new doors for us. It's not just print; it's going to be program-based." — Michael Efstathios, ICS
• "We need more marketing events like the Ricoh Engagement Marketing Executive Symposium. As an ecosystem, we're often talking past each other. By bringing marketers and marketing service providers into a hands-on environment with technology and candor, they begin talking to each other and having new conversations." — Paul Bobnak, NAPCO Media, Who's Mailing What (Click here to read Paul Bobnak's Takeaways from the Ricoh Engagement Marketing Executive Symposium)

Printed samples produced from the Ricoh Pro VC60000.

"Marketers are constantly being challenged to reach distracted audiences in impactful ways," said John Fulena, Vice President, Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh USA, Inc. "Direct mail, specifically in print, has evolved to captivate audiences in a tangible, targeted way that stands out in a sea of intangible digital marketing messages with increased engagement and stronger response rates. We're pleased that our Engagement Marketing Executive Symposium accomplished the goal of educating and inspiring marketers to rethink the role of print in omnichannel."

About Ricoh
Ricoh is a global technology company that has been transforming the way people work for more than 80 years. Under its corporate tagline — imagine. change. — Ricoh continues to empower companies and individuals with services and technologies that inspire innovation, enhance sustainability and boost business growth. These include document management systems, IT services, production print solutions, visual communications systems, digital cameras, and industrial systems.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2016, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,209 billion yen (approx. 19.6 billion USD).

Source: Ricoh USA.