Hewlett-Packard

NEW YORK—September 3, 2008—Marketing agencies stand at a critical crossroads. Changing consumer priorities, a proliferation of new media alternatives and increasingly complex multichannel integration requirements are driving up the pressure to develop and execute seamless, flawless campaigns. And clients are compounding the pressure, expecting their agencies to master an array of marketing execution tools just as well as they master the creation of a new advertisement, landing page or direct mail piece. For all the complexity inherent in their work, though, agencies are only now beginning to awaken to the critical role that technology plays in their marketing process. And despite the emergence of

Allegra Names Heidelberg USA ‘Supplier of the Year’ Winner NORTHVILLE, MI—Allegra Network honored Heidelberg USA with the Supplier of the Year award at its 2008 Allegra Network convention. Allegra Network franchise members vote to choose the winner. In April 2007, Heidelberg served as host for Allegra Network’s annual summit trip to Heidelberg, Germany. More than 160 of Allegra Network’s top franchise members participated in the event. The Allegra Network consists of Allegra Print & Imaging, American Speedy Printing Centers, Insty-Prints and Signs Now. Multi-City Road Show Deemed a Success MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Buhrs Americas and Lake Image Systems teamed up and headed for the road

Shareholders OK Vertis Plan BALTIMORE—Vertis shareholders approved the company’s prepackaged plan of organization. Once the plan becomes effective, Vertis can proceed with its merger with American Color Graphics (ACG). The restructuring will allow Vertis to reduce debt and interest cost, refocus investments and complete both the reorganization and merger in a couple of months, according to Mike DuBose, chairman and CEO of Vertis. Direct Group Makes Investment SWEDESBORO, NJ—Direct marketing specialist Direct Group has purchased 32 Océ VarioStream 8750 systems to upgrade capacity; increase uptime, speed and operational efficiencies; and take advantage of some of the industry’s latest digital technology, including flexible color

IN ORDER to remain competitive and profitable, graphic communications providers must travel beyond just putting ink on paper—expanding their services to variable data, the Web and cross-media. The first annual PIA/GATF “Converge: Variable Data, Web Services and Cross-Media Conference” will be held September 20-23 in Phoenix. Three tracks containing fundamental, advanced, and sales and marketing sessions, make this conference suitable for companies just beginning to redefine their digital services, as well as veteran practitioners. This special section has been designed to highlight some of the key conference topics and speakers. The Converge Conference is a combination of PIA/GATF’s Workflow and Variable Data and

MISSION VIEJO, CA—July 22, 2008—Franchise Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that more than 200 franchise owners and salespeople from around the world received awards at the annual Sir Speedy and PIP International Convention and Vendor Show at the Westin Diplomat in Fort Lauderdale, FL, July 9-12. Don and Bernadette Sanders of Amarillo, TX, received the Sir Speedy “Franchisee of the Year” award and Frank and Clarice Petrellis of Kissimmee, FL, received the PIP “Franchisee of the Year” award. Jim Corliss, Jerry Hogan and Jose Tafur of Braintree, MA, received the Sir Speedy “Top Volume” award and the Fulner Family of Indianapolis and

The hottest topic in the industry today is, without a doubt, digital color printing. Industry statistics indicate it is the fastest growing segment in the printing industry with a retail value growing at a 14% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). Maybe you’re a printer that’s still wrestling with whether or not to go digital. Maybe you’ve decided to make the leap, and need to know the best way to profit from this powerful technology. Either way, this webinar is a must-see.

Join Printing Impressions, industry expert Barbara Pellow and sponsor Hewlett-Packard for this webinar, and get on the pathway to making your digital endeavor a successful and profitable one.

Barb Pellow discusses the business evolution for digital printers on their pathway to profitability emphasizing the importance of:
- Building a solid marketing strategy
- Identifying target markets
- Repositioning your business
- Reaching new prospects through effective self promotion

Frank Defino, Jr. from Tukaiz Corporation and Rob Seaver from TAG Marketing & Recruiting join Barb to discuss their specific business evolution:
- Why they made the digital decision
- The impact digital color solutions have had on their target customers and business
- Most importantly, the strategies they deployed to make digital color profitable

To view for this Webinar, click here.

PALO ALTO, CA—June 30, 2008—HP announced that its 2008 drupa trade show exhibit highlighting the company’s industry leadership, innovation and commitment to customer success, was the most successful drupa exhibit in HP’s history. Purchase contracts completed at the 14-day show were led by a significant number of HP Indigo digital press deals, in addition to sales of HP Scitex and HP Designjet large-format solutions as well as HP SmartStream workflow systems. Drupa, which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany from May 29-June 11, is the world’s largest graphic arts exposition; the HP stand at drupa featured the industry’s largest digital color portfolio and was the

PALO ALTO, CA—HP will trim its Imaging and Printing Group from five to three business units. The change marries the Imaging and Printing Group’s units responsible for ink-jet and Web solutions aimed at small businesses and combines its laser jet and enterprise operations catering to corporate customers. HP believes the move enables it to reduce…

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—Consolidated Graphics (CGX) and HP have signed a multimillion dollar agreement for the installation of as many as 36 HP Indigo digital presses at facilities in the United States and the Czech Republic this year.The deal includes multiple HP Indigo 7000 digital presses and HP SmartStream Ultra print servers. The initial installations—presses at facilities…

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—May 29, 2008—HP today announced its latest digital printing products and technologies, which are designed to enable graphic arts customers to build their competitive advantage and successfully pursue profitable growth opportunities. With the new solutions and the company’s recent acquisitions of NUR Macroprinters Ltd. and MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., HP now offers print service providers the industry’s largest all-digital color graphic arts portfolio. These moves also support HP’s Print 2.0 strategy to drive growth of digital pages and lower costs of printing for high-volume commercial markets. By 2010, HP estimates that the value of pages printed in the global graphic arts market