Xerox Corp.

CROSS-MEDIA services go hand-in-hand with digital printing and variable data. Two companies with lengthy digital printing experience, as well as two newer adopters, illustrate that point. To be a cross-media company means bringing in IT expertise or training internally. It means convincing customers that the company is capable of services beyond print. And, above all, it means consultative selling and “walking the talk” with cross-media marketing campaigns that show customers the power of this approach. Serge Grichmanoff, vice president of research and development at Avant Imaging & Information Management (AIIM), tells how in the early 1990s the company’s founders took the job of creating

ONE OF the promotional pieces sent out by the sponsors of Graph Expo made the claim that this year’s event would be the largest digital printing show in the United States by a factor of two. That’s including solutions for page printing, wide-format printing, software and related equipment. Tuesday was designated “Customer & Marketing Communications Day,” which was supposed to put a special focus on transpromotional printing applications that combine direct marketing with statements/transactional mail. Several digital press vendors did highlight this developing market during their press briefings, and GMC Software had a good-sized booth, but this application was still easy to miss around

Citiprint Press Addition Makes Big Impact ALLENTOWN, PA—Citiprint purchased a four-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 with coater to complement a two-color Heidelberg Printmaster QM 46 installed in 2004, when the company first opened. Shabir Sumar, co-owner, says the added capability has been instrumental in attracting new customers and producing larger format work for its existing clients. Fong Brothers’ Packaging Niche Expands BRISBANE, CA—Catering to major corporate clients and advertising agencies, Fong Brothers Printing has expanded its packaging and folding carton printing capabilities. The company installed a new six-color, 40˝ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000LX sheetfed press, which handles stocks ranging from 0.002˝ to

AT LAST month’s Graph Expo in Chicago, thousands of printers walked the show floor to learn what was new in technology and how it could impact their businesses moving forward. If you didn’t attend, hopefully you will read the post-show coverage in this issue. Graph Expo attendees heard about the “Must See ’Ems” awards, which identify innovative products in various categories that are worth looking at. These are judged by a 16-member panel of experts who also identify key commercial printing survival technologies—the most critical and fundamental technologies a commercial printer must have to survive profitably. Not too surprisingly, MIS was identified as the

Heidelberg Opens VLF Assembly Hall WIESLOCH-WALLDORF, GERMANY—Bernhard Schreier, CEO of press manufacturer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, officially opened assembly Hall 11 here on September 15. The hall measures 375,000 square feet (equivalent to almost five soccer fields) and will be used to assemble a new generation of large-format presses, the Speedmaster XL 145 and Speedmaster XL 162. Heidelberg invested around 45 million Euro in the building, making it the largest input of funds into the Wiesloch-Walldorf site in the last 10 years. The building’s foundation stone was laid May 15, 2006, and construction was completed in about 14 months. Assembly of the new large-format presses, which

Variable Data Works Magic for Disney BEING IN the printing industry, it’s hard not to have a skewed view of developments in the variable data marketing arena. The topic has received so much play, it’s easy to assume everyone has heard about this marketing technique and technology by now. Certainly, it has to be old hat for a marketing force such as Disney. Until last year, however, Disney Destinations had been sending out a generic package to anyone who contacted the company for information about booking an event at one of Disney’s five resort properties. Worse yet, there was no follow- up with these

AS DIGITAL color printing reaches the tipping point, it’s time to set the record straight on popular misconceptions about today’s systems. Which of the following is a true statement? Tapping the side of a can of soda will prevent its contents from foaming over when you open it. The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object that is visible from space. Offset presses are still the only real option for high-quality color printing. The answer: None are correct. In reality, tapping a can of soda does little to prevent foaming, the Great Wall is barely visible at altitudes of 180 miles, and

THIS SPECIAL editorial section was produced to tie in with the upcoming sixth annual PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference, to be held November 3 to 6 in Phoenix. The event will feature two dozen sessions to help companies leverage variable data for success. Attendees will hear riveting case studies and participate in sessions selected directly by prospective attendees during online voting earlier this year. As one attendee said last year, “This is the type of conference that puts all the variables of variable printing into one comprehensive program. I learned more at this conference than I ever expected.” Sessions for decision makers include

Transpromo, adding marketing messages to bills/statements, is a rarity in today’s business climate—a printing segment that promises strong growth. Unfortunately, that spending is likely to come out of a company’s traditional direct mail budget. It’s also not clear if commercial printers are well positioned to compete for this business. According to research done by InfoTrends, a Questex Co., color digital output of transpromo work totaled more than 1.6 billion pieces in 2006. It’s projecting the annual output to approach 22 billion pieces by 2010, for a 91 percent compound annual growth rate. Several factors contribute to the bullish outlook for this market segment. 1)

HP Empowers With Print 2.0 NEW YORK—On the 52nd floor of 7 World Trade Center, more than 700 guests and 100 Hewlett-Packard employees spent two days enjoying a room with a (magnificent!) view. The event was part of HP’s rollout of the “Print 2.0: Extending the Power of Print” strategy and provided a launching pad for a new $300 million, worldwide marketing campaign—“What do you have to say?” With New York City as a backdrop, the main attractions, however, were inside where HP staged an “Experience Center.” It resembled a Hollywood set complete with a faux bedroom, living room, home office, business office, retail