Last week WhatTheyThink presented a Webinar with MindFireInc titled Does personalization really work? Statistically sound research and live use cases tell the story (Streaming Archive). The Webinar provided an overview of a study conducted by Marnie Brow, Ph.D. on response rates personalized cross-media marketing campaigns.

The study compared response rates of more than 650 real-life personalized cross-media campaigns, with data from DMA and PODi to statistically demonstrate the uplift that can be gained from relevant, personalized communications.

You can download the study free of charge from MindFireInc.

Frank Romano reports from a PIP Printing & Marketing Services event in Manchester, Connecticut. The event revolves around digital printing and variable data and Frank shows us some classic examples of some campaigns over the years.

What are some of our favorite variable print examples from the past?

Have you noticed? The best practices for personalized URLs are becoming more sophisticated. You may not always see those best practices listed, but they are being reflected more and more often in industry case studies. It’s really neat to see the evolution.

It struck me because, earlier this week, I released an update to “Personalized URLs: Beyond the Hype,” a primer and training and educational tool for printers and marketers.  In the best practices section, I had previously separated out the best practices into two categories: those commonly seen in industry case studies and those not yet commonly seen but practiced by some of the industry’s leading practitioners. During the process of updating the report, however, it struck me the extent to which the two are converging. In fact, in the October 2009 update I removed the distinction between the two classifications.
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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?

By Nicholas Barzelay

One of the problems in training for VDP is the issue of not providing an adequate understanding of the fundamental technologies involved. In football for example, a player needs to know how to run, block, and tackle before being able to adequately perform play patterns. In the military there is a step called “basic training”.

In VDP (and I have experienced this) the approach seems to be navigating the graphical user interface and pushing the right buttons in the proper sequence. After a couple of sessions, you are considered “trained”. Just follow the demonstrated sequence of windows and buttons each time, and you will be able to do VDP – at least mail merge.

This provides no preparation on the basic processes. When it comes to the menus, windows, and buttons, there is not an adequate explanation of what is going on under the hood or how it all relates to the basic processes. Finally the graphical user interface becomes the workflow. The workflow is narrowed and necessary activities outside the user interface tend to be ignored. The user interface does not comprehend the full VDP workflow, leaving a disconnected string of dots.

Some time later when the operation is only doing mail merge (something that can be done with most capable word processing applications), the question comes up: “Why can’t we get more out of our digital press?” The answer is that nobody understands VDP basics. The same holds true for DAM, except that the question is: “Why did we pay so much for this software and only use it as a Web portal?” The answer to that question is similar — nobody comprehends its basic functionality either.

The question frequently comes up: “What can I read to understand some basic technologies involved in VDP?” The reading list below can provide a good start, however it is not necessarily going to supplant some good basic training.

Reading List

XML problem-design-solution by Amiano, M., D’Cruz, C., Ethier, K., & Thomas, M.

This book explores the use of XML to produce a range of documents by repurposing content. Discussion starts with simple documents and then progresses into more complex documents.

FileMaker Pro: the missing manual by Coffey, G. & Prosser, S

The manual provides a good reference for learning and then using the FileMaker Pro desktop database. It also provides a hands-on explanation of database basics in the form of tutorial exercises.

A designer’s guide to Adobe InDesign and XML by Maivald, J. & Palmer, C.

This is an excellent hands-on window on variable data publishing. The authors have addressed several kinds of documents in text and in tutorial examples. They take the reader through building each kind of document step by step.

Instant InDesign: designing templates for fast and efficient page layout by Powell, G.

This book is a good companion to Maivald and Palmer (above). It addresses the key corollaries in VDP: document structural standardization and document content variation.

XML all-in-one desk reference for dummies by Wagner, R. & Mansfield, R.

For anyone with a desire or need to learn XML basics, this book provides a simple explanation of key XML technologies using easily understood and consistent examples. The examples can be downloaded for experimentation and learning.

By Nicholas Barzelay

Basic data processing for VDP is concerned with storage and retrieval, manipulating data structures and content, and program logic expressed in an input-process-output paradigm. This requires fundamental programming and data management skills.

Understanding database is helpful for initial data acquisition and front-end data preparation. Basic file manipulation skills – read a file in, test for specific content, modify identified content, and write the file out – are helpful in integrating data into a document design application. Integration activity requires small ad hoc programs run at the terminal without development of graphical interfaces.

Use of XML requires only a basic understanding of the technology. This involves the ability to recognize a document or data file structure, express the structure as a simple DTD (document type definition), and then properly tag the document or data file. While more in-depth understanding of XML useful, it is not a necessity since much of XML data manipulation can be accomplished through simple file processing, rather than XML tools like XSLT or structures like DOM (document object model).

Where basic data processing skills by themselves fall short is in the area of applying them to business problems. Business and system analytical skills are needed as a precursor to satisfactory application programming skills. In other words, programming and data manipulation have to be put into the context of a customer’s business requirements.

Alternatives
One alternative for acquiring usable data processing skills for VDP may be to hire a good systems analyst or business analyst who knows how to program and understands databases. However, for addressing graphic design in a business or systems context, this approach has its limitations. The alternative is to find a good graphic designer with a lot of business and computer programming exposure. This is easier said than done, because such a person may be hard to find.

One reason for this difficulty is that basic mental proclivities for graphic design and programming may be antithetical. It is the difference between artists and engineers – left brain and right brain activities. A related reason is that the curriculum for training graphic artists does not commonly include programming and database, and the usual computer science or information technology curriculum does not include graphic arts. To further complicate matters, such studies not necessarily attempt to provide an understanding of contextual business considerations or print production issues.

There is one certainty: the complexity of technology studied in computer science and information technology programs will likely guarantee that any computer guru worth his or her salt will quickly become bored with VDP – different skills, different interests, different personalities, and different sets of mental processes. The idea of simply finding someone with a computer science degree is not the panacea it might appear to be.

VDP is IT
Based on lab trials and classroom observations, in terms of actually producing a variable document, as much as 60% to 80% of the work has to do with some aspect of data handling and preparation, text processing, and programming. That leaves only 20% to 40% of variable document development work for traditional print activities.

IT activities include a variety of tasks: database management, data file extraction and processing, associated programming, XML conversion and preparation. When considering digital asset management (DAM), other than image and color management concerns, development of metadata, key words, search criteria, and other library-related functions, much of the activity related to image file storage, maintenance, security, and accessibility is also IT related.

In fact, in developing variable documents, the development methodology is closely akin to an IT approach: objectives definition, requirements analysis, high-level design, detail design, development, testing, and implementation. Based on research, the VDP workflow is more like an IT rapid iterative development workflow than a traditional sequential print production workflow.
When Web components such as email, personalized Web pages, and other personalized Internet communications approaches are added, the percentage of IT-related activity increases.
Finally, infrastructure maintenance and operation for DAM and VDP is very systems intensive in terms of both individual system platform operations and in terms of cross-platform and cross-application integration. Deployment and integration of VDP and DAM capabilities primarily represents an IT problem.

Conclusions
Given the heavy amount of IT in VDP and DAM, we can draw a couple of conclusions:

1) In terms of training costs and productivity thresholds, it may be more cost effective to hire people with IT skill sets and then train them in printing and graphic design than to hire print people and train them in IT. (And, by the way, graphic design people may not know any more about the technicalities of printing than IT people.)

2) In terms of academic preparation for digital printing careers, printing, publishing, and graphic design curricula that address digital printing need a heavy concentration in IT on subjects germane to VDP and DAM. Graphic design curricula need to comprehend the nuances of printing, and IT curricula should include VDP and DAM as study topics.

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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By Nicholas Barzelay

The question, “What is the best programming language for VDP?” seems to be a persistently unanswered issue for those developing or contemplating VDP development. There are very many programming languages these days. Some are more suitable for handling textual and numeric data than others. This is one consideration, but beyond functionality, execution method may be a more relevant first step in making a selection.

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