From June to November Xplor hosted 10 XDU On the Road meetings and the topic of Transpromo and multi-media marketing encompassed the discussions.
At a couple meetings we had comments from people that “they were tired of hearing the word Transpromo”. When challenged to come up with a better word, the banter was interesting and fun but the conclusion was “Transpromo” was the best description.
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On the Transpromo Professional Network LinkedIn Group, Elizabeth Gooding President, Insight Forums recently asked, “Do you consider Loyalty Statements to be Transpromo?” She states:
I get loyalty statements in print and online for hotels, grocery chains, credit card rewards and more — yet I don’t see many case studies on these topics (with the exception of Best Western.) These applications have been out there for a long time (all around the world) but I don’t hear a lot of discussion about them. Does anyone have any great examples of these types of statements? Maybe we can pursue those companies for an article and get some case data that way.
Pat McGrew, Data-driven Communication Segment Evangelist at Kodak says, “No question in my mind that the techniques we sometimes attribute to TransPromo – those that use customer data to create an integrated customer conversation – are conducive to loyalty programs!”
Pat shared the success of Australia’s Guardian Pharmacies Plus Points program:
One of the first application trials in Australia was for Guardian Pharmacies Plus Points program. Response rates exceeded 50% when they abandoned the plain statement and separate catalog mailing and incorporated the points statement with targeted offers.
What do you think? Do you consider Loyalty Statements to be Transpromo?
Since the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 was signed earlier this year by President Obama, credit card issuers appear to have focused on squeezing every last dime from consumers before the changes take effect. According to research from the Pew Charitable Trust, credit card interest rates have spiked by an average of 20% on 91% of credit cards with outstanding balances.
While the CARD Act strengthened reforms already considered by the Federal Reserve under Regulation Z, and accelerated the time for adoption, some in Washington feel that it did not accelerate the timeline enough. Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) who authored the credit card reform bill, and Barney Frank (D-MA), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, have introduced H.R. 3639, the ‘‘Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009.” The current legislation calls for some provisions to become effective in February 2010 and others in August 2010. This new legislation would accelerate the effective date for all of the CARD Act reforms to December 1, 2009.
“It’s clear that credit card companies are taking advantage of this period between the signing of my bill and the current effective date,” Rep. Maloney said. “The breadth and depth of the rate hikes happening now point to the need for faster consumer protections. Americans need relief now.” You can read the full text of H.R. 3639 here.
Some industry experts have asserted that advancing the compliance deadlines would be nearly impossible for credit card companies to comply with, given the sweeping changes in systems and products referenced in my previous post Countdown to the CARD Act – Part 2. Others argue that if companies can manage the necessary system changes and mailings to facilitate rate hikes to over 90% of the “card carrying public” in a few months, they can facilitate the changes necessary to change rates less frequently as would be mandated by the CARD Act.
What do you think?
Over the past year or so, my colleagues and I at InfoTrends have been taking a look at software that enables TransPromo communications. For those that may have attended InfoTrends’ recent TransPromo Summit in Boston or are attending our European TransPromo Summit in October, you know that TransPromo programs can be extremely effective, but most are inherently complex and require ongoing attention and dedication for recurring success. They often require the proper organizational alignment among many departments for execution, including marketing and IT. Even though there are complexities, software vendors in this space have been working to enhance their solutions for ultimate usability and scalability in multi-departmental enterprise organizations.
The TransPromo technology landscape is very broad, and includes many different types of solutions: document creation and composition, message creation and management, post-composition, output management, production management, and campaign management. We decided to focus on enterprise-level document composition solutions with message creation and management components due to the important role they play in empowering multiple organizations within an enterprise to be involved in a TransPromo campaign. The result is a comprehensive (and lengthily-titled) guide to the leading solutions in this space: The Ultimate Guide to Enterprise TransPromo Solutions: Document Composition. While our existing Ultimate Guides have focused on software solutions for the Graphic Arts (W2P, VDP, Multi-Channel), we wanted to explore solutions that enable wide-scale collaboration in the creation and execution of TransPromo programs. (more…)
Last time we talked about ways Océ is helping customers build business with inkjet technology and how market acceptance of digital print quality has changed. Today, in the final installment of this interview, Mal Baboyian talks about how Océ is changing the way it presents itself to the market at big venues like PRINT 09 and gives us a glimpse of what the company will have on display in Chicago.
NW: Océ used to show only its high speed production presses at shows like PRINT or Graph Expo, but at recent shows you often have one or two wide format machines on hand. Why the shift?
MB: Océ has one of the broadest product lines in the industry covering the office, wide format, display graphics, and production printing. But even customers in these segments weren’t always aware of our other offerings and capabilities and didn’t necessarily think of Océ when they needed a different type of equipment. Having a wider range of equipment at shows strengthens our brand by showing the full scope of our offerings and helps position Océ as a leader in more segments of the printing market. We also share some technologies across the different divisions of the company and are always looking for ways to leverage what we know. As I mentioned, our inkjet experience in wide format aided us in developing the JetStream family. Many of our customers had no knowledge of Océ’s breadth of solutions in the office, production printing and wide format segments. And many of them have needs in more than one segment .
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As we saw in part three of this interview, Océ’s history in both toner-based and inkjet printing gives it good credibility as it rolls out its new inkjet systems. Still, for most print service providers, having equipment with a lot of capacity is only part of the equation. That capacity needs filling and profitability is still a basic business requirement. So, I asked Mr. Baboyian, what does Océ do to build capacity and help print providers get a bigger share of their customers’ wallets?
NW: OK. This is all good, and many printers I talk with see inkjet as having a lot of potential. But the thing they all say concerns them is being able to fill up a significant portion of the capacity of these machines. How is Océ addressing this and helping customers make the transition into inkjet?
MB: That’s a great question, and it really all comes down to applications and the importance of printers understanding their customers. When we first introduce a customer to the JetStream line we learn about all the applications they are running, who their customers are, and look for all the applications that make the most sense to print on a JetStream. For example, we know there are many jobs, especially in direct mail and transactional shops, that require preprinted forms. We’ve done the math, so we know that simply shifting these forms to inkjet adds a lot of volume to the press and will save the printer’s customer a lot of money. But as you know, that can a difficult conversation for some printers to have with their customer. So we provide the support our customers need when they introduce JetStream to their customers. We can help to explain the technology, answer questions, and show them, based on their current printing costs, how eliminating pre-printed forms can make a substantial difference in their business.
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In the second part of this interview we heard more details about Océ’s new JetStream 1000 inkjet press, how it fits into the market, and about print quality on inkjet systems. In today’s installment, Mal Baboyian talks about how Océ, with its legacy of toner-based printing is making the transition and commitment to inkjet.
NW: Mal, most people probably don’t think of Océ as having a history in inkjet printing, yet you’ve introduced several models of the JetStream family in a bit over a year and a half. But you haven’t done this on your own. Tell me about the alliance with Miyakoshi that has led to the JetStream line.
MB: Let me answer that in a couple of steps. First, Océ actually has developed a lot of inkjet technology and provided innovation and industry leadership in a number of markets. Our first inkjet products came to market almost 15 years ago. The wide format side of the company has been very successful and has the leading market share in some segments of wide and superwide format printing. Some machines, like the Arizona line of flatbed printers that can also print roll-to-roll, have won awards for innovation and quality. Last year at drupa I’m sure you saw our CrystalPoint solid toner technology which can be jetted onto a wide variety of substrates. At GraphExpo 2008, the Océ Colorwave 600 with Océ CrystalPoint technology won a Must See ‘Em award and this product has been recognized once again for PRINT 09 with a Must See ‘Em Encore award. Océ R&D developed and we manufacture these products. Of course, these wide format machines address a different market and at lower speeds than a production press, but the underlying knowledge of inkjet technology, chemistry, color, and material science has been very instrumental as we developed the JetStream family.
Second, our relationship with Miyakoshi is very much a strategic alliance that draws on the strength of both companies. Miyakoshi is a well-known offset press manufacturer that was developing an inkjet technology. We’ve brought our expertise in inkjet, color management, controllers, security, and error recovery systems for high-speed, high-volume digital printing. The win-win is that JetStream is built like a press for heavy duty use, our SRA MP [Massively Parallel] front-end can handle every aspect of the data in full color, and can be easily integrated into any PRISMA-based system as just another print engine.
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The clock started ticking on May 22, 2009 when the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act was signed by President Obama. It is a landmark piece of legislation that provides American consumers with stronger protection against unfair credit practices than previously imposed by the Federal Reserve under changes to Reg Z and Reg AA. It also gave issuers less time to comply than the Fed: the first date for compliance is this month, only 90 days after the law was passed. Tick. Tick. Tick.
On August 20, 2009 the first provisions of the CARD Act go into effect. By this date, card issuers must have made the changes necessary to ensure that:
In recent video interview Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor at WhatTheyThink as digital printing guru Roger Gimbel of Roger Gimbel & Associates if TransPromo is real. Here’s what Roger had to say:
What do you think? Is TransPromo real? Is TransPromo a service offering any printer can provide to customers?
The 2009 edition of InfoTrends’ popular TransPromo Summit is right around the corner: August 13-14 at the Hyatt Regency Boston. The Summit is the place to be to beyond the hype and buzz of TransPromo and see real world applications and discuss TransPromo applications with print service providers, marketers, and vendors.
InfoTrends Road Map 2009: TransPromo Service concluded: “The year 2009 will be an exciting one for TransPromo and will likely include everything from implementation discussions to sales force education to potential mergers and acquisitions. The continued delivery of new inkjet production color devices will certainly have an impact on the TransPromo opportunity, as well as its appeal to marketers. Reductions in overall customer print spend will encourage service providers to get creative with higher-value applications. Effective applications can deliver the return on investment of which customers are becoming ever more conscious.”
According to InfoTrends the market for TransPromo communications printed in full color will reach 12.8 billion impressions by 2012. Their market research found 95% of statements are open and read with an average of 2 to 3 minutes reviewing their statements, with 20% spending more than 5 minutes.
More information about the TransPromo Summit is available at http://www.transpromosummit.com
