Digital Markets Are Emerging Bit by Bit

On-demand digital printing feeds dynamic niches for a variety of products.

Digital color printing came on the scene in the early '90s, meeting demands for small quantities of high-quality printing quickly and affordably. Yet many in the industry are still grappling with big-picture ramifications, which involve equipment purchases, new product knowledge and marketing, staff training and customer education.

However, for others the assimilation was rapid, and applying this technology to certain obvious applications is resulting in growth and profitability.

Consider Dallas-based Hedge Creative. With "print, PIN and ship in three days or less" as its motto, the company specializes in small to medium runs of digitally printed debit, membership and prepaid phone cards. According to President Jeff Hedge, "Digital printing is the perfect choice for four-color process printing in quantities of a few up to 10,000."

Hedge noted that with digital printing, the ordering process can differ slightly from that of conventional printing.

"For example, with short runs of digitally printed promotional phone cards, we must have the entire order, artwork and PINs in order to go to press," he said. "But with larger offset runs, we can go to press and go through the die cutting process before we require PINs from the client." The upshot is that Hedge Creative can turn around digital phone cards in as few as three days, while conventional offset cards could take up to two weeks to produce.

By adding just one additional day to the process, Hedge Creative provides card products in value-added, custom die-cut shapes. An eye-catching, uniquely shaped prepaid plastic phone card may even feature a hole for a keyring, creating a dynamic promotional marketing piece.

In addition to card products, Hedge finds digital printing ideally suited for short runs of fliers, brochures, business cards, personalized nametags, pressure-sensitive labels and anything requiring sequential numbering.

"Printing only what is needed when it's needed controls inventory and reduces the waste of obsolete, out-of-date materials. And because there is no film involved, there are usually no set-up charges," said Hedge.

But perhaps the greatest benefit of digital printing technology is the seamless merging of variable text with graphics to create full-color marketing materials that convey an individualized look and language.

"Adding variable data formerly required a separate line run," said Hedge. "But digital printing offers the ability to add multiple lines of information—such as name, address, telephone and identification and sequential numbers—during a press run, making the production process faster and more affordable."

Hedge also discussed one of the newest digital printing technologies, which allows a 21-up press sheet with credit card-sized membership or ID cards to not only be variably imaged, but matched with an individual's photograph. "This creates an even more secure access card," he said. "Hedge Creative supplies the software and expertise to create such a program in almost any enterprise."

Of course, digital printing technology is still evolving, and some concerns regarding color quality have been bandied about. Observed Hedge, "Blacks were not rich enough, and reds, purples and blues were hard to hit."

However, equipment manufacturers are continuously advancing digital color printing systems, and the results are impressive. "The newer Indigos, such as the UltraStream 2000, have corrected color-quality issues," Hedge added.

By Maggie DeWitt