Two Reports Show Growth of Digital Print in 2009

By Howie Fenton on September 2nd, 2010 - Comment

A report from Canon concludes that 58% of digital print providers increased their profit/revenue in 2009, as opposed to just over 31% of non-digital providers. The study, based on a survey of 840 printers across the world was conducted by ProPrint columnist Frank Romano. It also conlcudes that 26% of printers who did well during…

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Low budget – High Impact Fold

By Trish Witkowski on September 1st, 2010 - Comment

This week’s example comes from Creative Squall in Texas who put together a fun series of direct mail pieces featuring cool photos and the reverse accordian fold. Take a look – it’s super-cool! Reverse Accordion Direct Mail Series:

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“Dear Deceased . . . “

By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro on August 31st, 2010 - 2 Comments

For those involved in data-driven printing, other people’s direct mail horror stories can be a great resource for refining your own workflow to make sure the same mistakes don’t happen to you. Here are three of the latest disaster stories from members of LinkedIn’s Direct Marketing Association (Official) discussion group. You might want to put…

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Tradeshows worth the Travel – Take a Look

By Andy Gordon on August 30th, 2010 - Comment

Hopefully this past summer represents more than great vacations, and marks an inflection point for our industry from the hunkering-down strategies during the recession to optimism and planning for future opportunities. The timing is perfect to explore these opportunities as the conference and trade show season starts to heat up. While webinars are a great…

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Rice University Press Closes and Why Size Matters

By Howie Fenton on August 27th, 2010 - 5 Comments

Rice University Press is being shut down next month, ending an experiment in an all-digital model of scholarly publishing. University officials said that they needed to make a tough economic decision to end the operation, and they acted against the recommendations of an outside review team that had urged Rice to continue. The move ends…

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Is there a place for Small Businesses in the Printing Industry?

By Guest Contributor on August 26th, 2010 - 6 Comments

US domestic printing is an $83+ billion industry that tops the automakers in terms of size and the number of people it employs (1+ million). From new car manuals to tabloid newspapers to t-shirts to those little tags on mattresses, nearly every product calls on the printing industry somewhere along the line. So the big question is: if the printing industry is starting to be controlled by a small group of industry leaders and many of the 70,000 plants in the country are shutting down, what happens to principals such as market competition and market controls such as “supply and demand”…not to mention the people and personnel it effects?

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Visual Appeal and Inserter Friendly

By Trish Witkowski on August 25th, 2010 - Comment

This weeks fold is a wrapped accordian example from Alli. A wrapped accordian fold with wafer seal is a great way to add interest while keeping the job fully automated. Take a look.

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Can Social Media Friend Printing?

By Elizabeth Gooding on August 24th, 2010 - 4 Comments

We need to enable our print campaigns to launch on a dime in support of trends gleaned from online activity. Of course, we will want to communicate with people who are already online through online means – but why not extend the learning to be able to launch the same great message to the customers we know don’t use our online channels? Or simply reinforce the online message with a tangible printed campaign?

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Reynolds Fundraiser for LIVESTRONG

By Guest Contributor on August 23rd, 2010 - Comment

By Pete Basiliere What do you do when a family member is stricken with cancer? You offer support in any way you can. Encouragement. Prayer. Help with the chores, pay a couple of bills. Whatever it takes to help him or her focus on the fight at hand. The same holds true for your extended…

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What Do Print Buyers Really Think of Monochrome Digital Print?

By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro on August 23rd, 2010 - 2 Comments

I love the member polls from Print Buyer Online. It’s always fun to go in there, poke around the archives, and see what print buyers think about different issues and compare them to how printers think about them. You can learn a lot that way. PBO’s most recent closed poll (7/13/2010) is on the issue…

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Publisher Shifts From Offset Books to E-Book/POD Model

By Howie Fenton on August 20th, 2010 - Comment

If you have been following the PrintCEO blogs you know that there is a lot of interest in e-books. E-books are becoming more popular by the minute thanks to devices like the Kindle, Nook, and iPad, but major publishers have been hesitant to go all in—until now. Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped…

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Fly with out the PowerPoint

By Guest Contributor on August 19th, 2010 - 5 Comments

By Ed Cunningham, Vice President Sales W. A. Wilde I was flying home from a new business meeting the other night and realized I was in rarefied air…but not in the plane. This air was in New Jersey of all places. It was the fresh air that my team was breathing when we presented to a…

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Toner vs. Inkjet Presses: Does Size Matter?

By Howie Fenton on August 18th, 2010 - 7 Comments

I was in a presentation early last week and someone complained about the size limits of digital presses. That was echoed later in the week during the Graph Expo preview on WhatTheyThink by Frank Romano and David Zwang. During David’s presentation, he mentioned that sheetfed electrophotographic (toner) based digital presses had hit a wall in…

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2 Brochures – 1 Print Run – Super Cool

By Trish Witkowski on August 18th, 2010 - Comment

Here’s an example of  2 brochures in one. This piece is designed with 2 covers – open from one side and get one set of information, open from the other and get a different set of info. In this case used for a Summer and Winter schedule. What makes it all work? The Super Cool…

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Doing More for Less: Mystery of the Vanishing Profits

By Debra McMahon on August 17th, 2010 - 1 Comment

Communicating to the client the changes and additional work being performed can minimally be used as a way of creating good will and improving the relationship, but can also be an objective way of identifying and communicating additional costs. You decide in advance of discussion whether these are costs you wish to pursue with your client. Most importantly, you know that the work and costs exist.

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