Heidi Tolliver-Walker Heidi is an industry analyst specializing in digital, one-to-one, personalized URL, and Web-to-print applications. Her Marketer’s Primer Series, availalbe through Digital Printing Reports, includes “Digital Printing: Transforming Business and Marketing Models,” 1:1 (Personalized) Printing: Boosting Profits Through Relevance,” “Personalized URLs: Beyond the Hype,” and “Web-to-Print: Transforming Document Management and Marketing.”
In a recent discussion about the value of QR Codes here on Digital Nirvana, a comment from one of the participants really struck me. He said, “I can only remember one campaign when I’ve ever gotten something rewarding from scanning [a QR Code].” This is the primary complaint against QR Codes I read about in…
I just read a case study that reminds us that soft leads matter, too. In this instance, the case study involved an email campaign, but how often have you heard vendors talk about the value of personalized URLs for capturing “warm” leads? The lessons apply to print, too. The client was Dollar Thrifty (the chain…
I’ve been reading tons of industry news lately about the foundational impact of mobile on consumer and business behavior. First, EFI announced today that its PrintMe Mobile has been named winner of the 2012 Mobile Merit Award in the mobile services, enterprise products/services category. PrintMe Mobile enables direct Wi-Fi printing from iPads, iPhones and Android…
This morning at drupa, Heidelberg announced its third Heidelberg ECO Printing Award, the only international environmental award for sustainable printing in the sheetfed offset sector. The award focuses on the usual — sustainable use of resources and energy, climate protection, and environmentally aware management practices — all of which are really, really important. Awesome. However,…
On Tuesday, I posted about a very funny (but appropriate) response I recently saw to a question about the use SnapTags over QR Codes. (In case you missed it, you can see the post here.) But funny and thought-provoking comments aside, the issue itself still stands—which is better and why? With the rise in number…
I was just reading a discussion on LinkedIn about SnapTags versus QR Codes and which format was better and why. As many of us do, one of the participants took the first available opportunity to throw in a little bit of self-promotion. There was a brief comment — just enough to lay claim to actually…
Increasingly, marketers are gathering more data. But do they know what to do with it once they have it? According to a research study by the Aberdeen Group last year (and now being offered a free download by Adobe), best in class marketing organizations are gathering loads of data through techniques like website visitor tracking;…
I just read that Facebook is set to score one-fifth of the mobile ad market by 2017. That reminded me of an email I got from my father this morning. On my mother’s Facebook page, there is some kind of pop-up with my name, an image of a woman reclining and staring off into space,…
Over the years, much has been made of the fact that digital presses can only run pre-approved stocks, thus “limiting” creative options. These complaints have come primarily from the graphic design community. Although technically there are still limitations, I think most of us would agree that this is more of a printer’s issue than a…
It’s been interesting to stir up conversation here and on other discussion boards about the current status of toner versus offset print. My first post on the topic on Digital Nirvana, about the visual differences between the two, generated a lot of responses. Lots of people wanted to chime in on that one. The second…
Years ago, I remember writing about the design limitations for those wanting to output on digital presses. Over the years, many of those limitations have been addressed and I don’t find myself talking about them anymore. Or maybe it’s that, plus the fact that marketers don’t care about any remaining limitations as much as they…
I’ve written several posts about the QR Code trademark issue — that while the industry is using QR Codes to refer to all 2d mobile barcodes, in reality, this term is trademarked and refers only to the open-source codes created by DensoWave. The issue is much like the one for PURLs, which is also a…
Next time you’re having a conversation with a client about the value of continuing to use print in their media mix, you might want to throw in some data from Harris Interactive. Its Harris Poll, conducted of 2056 adults in February 6-13 2012, found that while smartphones could be used to replace many print-related activities,…
I haven’t stirred the pot in awhile, so I thought I’d take a few swipes around the edges today. I’m currently updating my customer education primer, “Digital Printing: Transforming Document Management and Marketing” and would like input from Digital Nirvana readers on what you believe to be the most important visual differences between digital and…
I recently had the opportunity to listen in on a discussion about printing QR and other 2d codes on mugs and cups. It was fascinating to hear about the technological challenges (and solutions) and to be a fly on the wall regarding some of the opportunities that presents. Let the fly share a little of…
