Since its introduction more than a decade ago, digital printing has remained a steadily growing market—one that experts predict will continue to thrive as technologies and opportunities evolve.
Manufacturers of equipment, inks and papers are busy developing new products in response to emerging digital markets and trends, and printers are augmenting existing pressroom capabilities to tap into the high-profit market. For many distributors, the focus is on helping customers leverage the power of variable data to grow their businesses.
The increasing demand for digital printing and variable data is what led Team Concept Printing & Thermography, Carol Stream, Ill., to install an iGen3 last year. Tony Rouse, owner, and Laurie Kaminski, the company’s four-color area supervisor, pointed out that people who are used to offset often build their blacks in a CMYK breakdown, yet digital interprets black best when it’s built in 100 percent K.
“If you have a rich, CMYK black, it will tend to look a little washed out or less vibrant compared to 100 percent K,” observed Kaminski. “If it is just a solid background black built in CMYK, 99 percent of the time we can change the background to 100 percent K. But, if you have a TIFF file, for example, that was built in PhotoShop, and it has a CMYK black background placed on top of another black background, you cannot change one without changing the other. And, most of the time, we are not able to change them both.” Kaminski also suggested avoiding solid pastel colors when designing for digital. “They can be very hard to hold,” she observed.
Many printers who initially wanted to steer clear of digital are realizing they have to embrace this technology to remain profitable in today’s marketplace. “And, not just digital, but the variable part of it—especially the hard-core variable, where you are changing out different images and [data],” noted Rouse. “This is big, and it will continue to be a big part of printing well into the future.” A rather straightforward project may involve different images for different geographical regions. However, an age-oriented travel industry campaign, for instance, could involve targeting seniors, as well as families with young children. Then, it becomes a matter of writing the programs so they know which images to put with which names,” Rouse explained.
He went on to say that distributors and their customers are frequently unsure how a job is going to run when creating files. “More and more, though, as our customers know a job is going on [the iGen3] they are building the file for that press,” he said. “Some customers send us their output after they’ve built their templates, merged them and created [a] postscript [file] for it. All we are basically doing is the printing. We’re printers, so we love to have the files supplied and ready to rock, and we try to steer our customers that way. But, there are times when we are asked to create files. We do have a software program strictly for variable, which helps out, instead of writing straight postscript.”
Particularly when working with customers on variable data printing projects, distributors must know what printers expect and need to process the job. “Gone are the days where a middleman can just pass things through. Margins are tight and turn-around times are short. Problematic jobs exacerbate this situation and hurt all parties involved,” said Doug Rosen, director of education and technology for Markzware, Santa Ana, Calif.
“The format of the data the printer can work with is a key issue here,” he continued. “Many programs allow for the insertion of variable data placeholders, but the data must be formatted correctly or it will just not work. Another [factor] is, what actual data will be printed? If I set up a variable data piece and leave a certain amount of room for a name and address, this area should accommodate the largest name and address combo, or they will spill out into another area and the integrity of the piece will be lost.”
Jeff Prettyman, executive vice president of Alpharetta, Georgia-based Wise Business Forms, pointed out that the company changed the name of its NextWave Digital Color Printing division to NextWave Digital Marketing to better reflect its variable data printing, e-mail marketing and personal URL (PURL) offerings.
Prettyman explained that design templates are set up for both print and e-mail. “Based on a database and business rules for data mining, we dynamically print the PURL on the printed piece, and add a link in the e-mail to the PURL—usually there’s an incentive, such as winning [prizes] and entering sweepstakes,” he said. The PURL links to several pages, including the landing, a survey, an “update profile” prompt and thank-you messages. “Once an individual completes the PURL, an e-mail and/or phone text message is sent to the assigned person for immediate follow‑up,” continued Prettyman. “This is a fantastic solution [for] sales reps, as they receive notification immediately on their phone when the person completes the information at the PURL. Real-time reporting and analytics are included in a customer dashboard for both e-mail and PURLs.”
The demand for digital is having a major impact on the industry, and, as Rosen observed, traditional offset printers are seeing that having both an offset workflow and a digital workflow under one roof enhances revenue possibilities. “[For example], with digital printing and variable data, the printer can also provide services for data formatting and storage,” he said. “[Plus], presenting printed material on a website opens up new possibilities for printers, as well. If I could get my annual ... report printed, a variable data mailer sent to investors, and have [everything] posted on or prepped for a website, all ... done by one vendor, I would most likely pay a bit more [as opposed to dealing] with several vendors.”
Digital printing and variable data are undoubtedly adding value for end-users, providing dynamic solutions to help grow their businesses. The upshot for manufacturers and distributors is a marketplace teeming with opportunity.
No comments:
Post a Comment