RR Donnelley

CHICAGO—RR Donnelley has acquired the assets of San Francisco-based Nimblefish Technologies, a provider of multi-channel marketing services to retail, technology, telecom, hospitality and other customers.

Nimblefish’s software services include integrating direct mail, e-mail, Web publishing, personalized URLs and variable video components into multi-touch, multi-channel customer prospecting and engagement programs. “The addition of Nimblefish’s innovative products will enable our customers to draw on RR Donnelley for automated programs that touch customers and prospects with intelligent rules-based messaging that is responsive to their interests and actions.

NEW YORK—The advisory board of New York University’s Graphic Communications Management and Technology Program today named Thomas  Quinlan, president and CEO of RR Donnelley, the winner of the 2011 Prism Award. The Prism Award is presented annually in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic communications media industry.

The Prism Award is presented annually in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic communications media industry. It is sponsored by the Master of Arts in Graphic Communications Management and Technology program at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

One of the biggest questions heading into 2011: Has the e-reader market peaked, having now been embraced by the most ardent bibliophiles, or is there reason to believe more market share can be cannibalized? Further, whither the future of the educational sector and its possible adoption of e-readers in lieu of textbooks?

I love this time of year because my mailbox is stuffed with lots of printed material. Good stuff like catalogs from Land's End, Tattoo World, Column Writers' Fashions and Victoria's Secret. All of the Christmas-related, printed material warms my heart. It's refreshing after being forced to watch all those TV political cartoons—er, I meant to say political "commercials" where I learned absolutely nothing about why any candidate deserved my vote.

While many magazine and catalog printers have reported some improvement in their sectors since 2009, economic and industry uncertainty still carried its weight into 2010. Reduction in advertising pages, a migration to digital alternatives, and the rising cost of postage and paper have remained key issues.

Commercial printing industry news briefs, including items on RRD, Knepper Press, Standard Register, Transcontinental, 
Coronet Printing, Fey Printing, Pacific Printing and Shutterfly.

Good news was difficult to find in 2010 for the printers of direct mail, not to mention the direct marketing community. Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) struggled in its continuing efforts to offset dwindling volume and out-of-control costs, having seen its request for an exigent price increase denied in late September by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

With publicly held companies on the 2010 Printing Impressions 400 reporting sales declines for their most recently completed fiscal years, pay levels for the principal officers at these large firms didn't necessarily follow suit. For most of the executives appearing here, their overall salaries were up significantly.