People around the world said, "I Do" to the Royal Wedding. According to Nielsen Media Research, the nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton was carried live on 11 networks and drew 22.8 million viewers and 18.6 million households.
Leading up to the big day on April 29, marketers used the occasion to their advantage. From English Princess boot camps to royal couple zombie t-shirts, nothing seemed off limits. The print industry even got involved. Kodak used the Royal Wedding to promote deals on the All-in-One printer with refillable ink in the UK. Three print advertisements, with yellow backgrounds, had some fun with puns (e.g., "Prints Charming," "Kodak End of Middle Tones" and "For Richer Not Poorer").
Whether marketing ploys were mad genius or just plain mad, they generated buzz.
The same can be said for digital printing. Just ask Dawn Fitzpatrick, vice president, global strategic marketing, of Stamford, Connecticut-headquartered Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies.
"There is no question that digital print will become increasingly widespread and common in the next five years. In the past five years, it has gone from nearly nothing to a viable, affordable and intelligent option for the companies and brands that typically lead the way," she said. "As costs continue to fall, and as companies continue to search everywhere for a source of competitive advantage, digital print will emerge as a growth technology that can deliver on both accounts."
Pitney Bowes recognizes the high demand for digital and, as a result, is making it easier on customers. The company has a long history of helping thousands of companies streamline and automate their mailing processes. Meanwhile, some still don't realize Pitney Bowes now sells and services digital color inkjet printers as well, resulting from an alliance with HP. Fitzpatrick explained the IntelliJet(TM) line of digital color printers are suited for "high-volume mailers that want to deliver 100 percent variable color content to their customers with document quality and integrity at a low per-piece price."
There are many benefits to digital printing. An obvious benefit is the incredible flexibility digital print offers. Fitzpatrick likened it to comparing the channel-changing knob on an older television to the remote control for a modern flat-screen display.
"You have much greater control, and far more options at your disposal than ever before," she declared. Fitzpatrick went on to discuss the more subtle benefits of digital.
"There are two big overlooked benefits. The first is that using digital print liberates a company from having to purchase preprinted envelopes and paper stock. There is a lot of hidden expense in these items—storage costs, inventory costs and waste from over-ordering. With digital printing, all you need is plain white paper and envelopes, printed on demand," she noted. "A second overlooked benefit is the contribution that digital print can make to your lifetime customer relationships. As the media environment gets more complex and cluttered, consumers are looking for signs that the companies they do business with really understand their wants and needs. Digital print gives companies the tools to deliver that more personalized experience."
Fitzpatrick has been surprised by some of the businesses incorporating digital printing in their marketing messages. For example, she knows of an auto dealership in South Carolina using digital printing to send personalized messages on the outside of the envelope being sent to its customers and prospects. The mail pieces inform recipients of service department special offers and/or unique offers for customers whose leases are expiring soon.
"If an old line business like a car dealership can leverage digital printing, it's safe to say almost any business can," Fitzpatrick concluded. 
Want to learn more? Here is a glimpse of what's happening in the world of digital print.
Commercialization Assessment for Narrow Web Digital Printing
Karstedt Associates, Ltd. announced the immediate availability of its Commercialization Assessment Report prepared specifically to assist the narrow-web label printer/converter in evaluating technologies and opportunities for digital label printing. This is the first in a series of planned business analysis and decision tools; several others will be coming over the next few months.
According to the company, unlike “traditional” market evaluations, Commercialization Assessments are designed to provide actionable input on how digital print technology can be applied a company’s existing workflow, the overall positioning within its product mix, and provide insight on how customers may perceive and respond to the expansion in this area.
This report provides insight to:
• How digital label printing can impact a printer’s business
• Which type of customers are most likely to purchase digital label printing and why
• The overall price sensitivity for positioning digital printing to clients
• What segment of the overall digital label printing market is most affected
• Forecasting tools that help establish a custom revenue and action planAn interactive worksheet template to help evaluate the investment—the customizable iVAT (Investment Valuation Assessment Tool)
• Enter operating parameters, including production costs, product mix, existing print technologies, equipment and more.
• e.g., Wondering what the impact of adding a digital press to your workflow will be on the bottom line? Create cost/ROI scenarios to help determine the best approach for your operations.
The report is available for immediate hard copy delivery for $2,500.
For more information, visit http://karstedt.com/contact-us.
Knight Media Installs Two Ricoh Digital Printers
Ricoh Americas, a leading provider of digital office equipment and advanced document management solutions, announced that it has installed a Ricoh Pro 907 digital production printer and a Ricoh Pro C720s color production system for Knight Media of Lake Charles, LA. These systems give Knight Media the versatility, superior quality and fast turnaround times needed to meet its customers’ wide range of creative design and printing needs.
“With these two Ricoh systems, no matter what the jobs are, we can turn them around quickly at an attractive price point for our customers,” said Chuck Ehlers, president of Knight Media. “The speed and quality of the Ricoh Pro 907 and Ricoh Pro C720s are outstanding. Our customers cannot tell the difference between the quality of their output versus offset print, and they can’t believe how quickly we can produce their projects.”
Knight Media began life as Knight Manufacturing, a company with rotary offset equipment that primarily served business forms brokers, office supplies and other resellers of forms. As the forms market changed gradually, Knight Manufacturing did as well with the addition of larger sheetfed equipment and a completely new line-up of products which includes process color posters, flyers, booklets, event and advertising collateral in the half-size format.
Along the way, graphic design, website design, direct mail capabilities and full bindery capabilities were added. While this transition was going on, a decision was made to rename the company to more appropriately describe its products.
The Ricoh Pro 907 is designed to meet the unique needs of data centers, service bureaus, digital printers and other production print specialists to handle peak volume more easily, improve redundancy and meet tight deadlines for extremely large jobs. Users can print extremely large jobs easily and efficiently, including file sizes that exceed 2 GB, or single jobs that contain up to 100,000 pages. Jobs can also be personalized with stapling or other finishing touches in one continuous job with accurate subset processing. Processing speed utilizes enhanced memory architecture, including 1 GB RAM standard and two 160 GB hard drives.
The Ricoh Pro C720s is a versatile color system that represents an advance in efficiency and productivity, combining consistent 1,200 dpi output with 72 ppm speed. It utilizes Ricoh’s new image processing technology for unsurpassed quality and quick turnaround times, and can handle a wide range of media, including weight ranges up to 110-lb. cover. Its modular design enables a number of input and output configurations, and it offers many production tools for advanced page programming requirements, including high-resolution scanning, copying and automatic distribution to multiple destinations, including e-mail, URL and FTP.
“The Ricoh Pro 907 and Ricoh Pro C720s have raised the bar in digital print productivity, combining superior quality with high speeds and state-of-the-art workflow applications, all at terrific price points for businesses,” explains Brian Balow, vice president, production sales, Ricoh U.S. “They are excellent solutions for customers like Knight Media, who utilize them for the creative design and quick, efficient production of the print materials they create for their customers.”
For more information, visit www.ricoh-usa.com.
High Recycling Marks for Xerox's Digital Color Printing Systems
Xerox Corporation has received "good de-inkability" certifications for its digital color production systems from the International Association of the Deinking Industry (INGEDE). The ratings were given to the Xerox iGen4 Press, 700 Digital Color Press and Color 800/1000 Presses.
INGEDE, a globally recognized association made up of leading European manufacturers and paper mills, conducts a widely accepted, standardized test to identify the types of printed paper products that have the best recyclability when they are deinked.
The "good de-inkability" rating means the production systems achieved high scores, more than 90 out of 100, in the evaluation of five parameters—luminosity, color, cleanliness, ink elimination and filtrate darkening.
Deinking refers to the removal of ultraviolet and electron beam printing inks – an important step in the paper recycling process. Inks that are not deinkable spoil the recycling process by either reducing the brightness of the pulp or by leaving ink specks on the recycled paper.
A sustainable digital print solution that utilizes good deinking products can offer print providers a more versatile and enhanced printing performance.
For more information, visit www.xerox.com.
Sappi Introduces New Digital Design Center
Sappi Fine Paper North America announced the launch of its new Digital Design Center—a powerful web application which allows printers to create custom marketing tools to promote their own digital printing capabilities.
"In three easy steps, printers can customize marketing pieces to promote their own digital printing capabilities, and the piece can be printed on any of Sappi's high quality digital paper. With the introduction of this powerful, customer-friendly tool, we hope to inspire our printer partners and take our digital product portfolio to the next level," said Jennifer Miller, executive vice president, strategic marketing and communications.
Upon completion of a simple on-line registration, Sappi's Digital Design Center invites printers to customize the marketing tool by inputting print shop specific information based on topics such as: Products (the equipment the print shop runs), Services (Creative, Logistics, Prepress, Proofing, among others) and Sustainability (Chain of Custody certifications, renewable energy usage, recycling program). In addition, the marketing tool provides a wealth of information about the digital printing and paper segment as well as tips and tricks to optimize digital printing on Sappi's portfolio of digital papers.
As a final, customizable step, each printer can choose a portfolio of high-res, premium images to print along with their customized marketing piece. Images from the Automotive, Fashion, Pharmaceutical, Retail and Travel industries are provided from Friend+Johnson, one of the most highly regarded creative representatives in the country. After spending just a few moments with Sappi's Digital Design Center tool, printers have a high-value, customized marketing sell sheet and a portfolio of theme-specific images to help them sell their top-notch printing services.
For more information about Sappi's Digital Design Center, please visit: www.sappi.com/na/digitaldc.
New Wide-Format Printer Series Designed for Signage and Digital Printing Applications from Seiko I Infotech
Seiko I Infotech Inc. (SIIT) announced on April 27 that it will add the new "ColorPainter W series" wide-format mild-solvent inkjet printers to its ColorPainter product line.
The "ColorPainter W" series is provided in two sizes, the "W-64s" 64 inches wide and the "W-54s" 54 inches wide. There also are two color configurations for both sizes, the 4-color type for lower running cost and 6-color type for better image quality. The combination of 6 new high-speed print heads, two types of ink and several new innovative printing functions increases printer performance and widens the printer's application range for the signage and digital printing market.
The "ColorPainter W-64s" and the "ColorPainter W-54s" will be sold through SIIT channel partners worldwide.
Features:
1. New high-speed on-demand piezo print heads make possible excellent color density at high printing speed up to 17.8 sq. m/h
*(Note), and a maximum imaging resolution of 900x900 dpi.
2. Dynamic Dot Printing (DDP) Technology to jet 3 different drop sizes per print pass, which enables the printer to print at high speeds without density loss.
3. Smart Nozzle Mapping function allows the operator to re-map print head nozzles in the event of a clogged nozzle without any speed or quality loss.
4. New Smart Pass Technology 3 function offers a more sophisticated interleaving technology to improve print quality to the highest level yet.
5. Revolutionary new "green" IX ink, which is the first low odor, HAPs (Hazardous Air Pollutants) free ink, and re-loadable cartridge holder design for preservation of the environment.
6. EG-Outdoor GX inks give excellent density and outdoor durability.
7. Free "CP_Manager" printer control software enables the operator to see printer's status and to perform print adjustments from a PC.
8. Bundled ONYX RIPCenter for limited regions
*(Note) Printing speed for W-64s
For more information, visit www.seiko-i.com/products/graphics/index.html.
EFI Introduces New UV-Curing Digital Inkjet Printer With "Cool Cure" Technology
EFI™, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovations, introduced the EFI VUTEk® GS3250LX UV-curing digital inkjet printer as an addition to its growing GS Series family of printers. Engineered to dramatically lower the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the printer, the VUTEk GS3250lx incorporates "cool cure" LED technology and increased productivity to facilitate faster and more efficient job production than ever before. With no VOCs, less consumables and waste, low energy consumption, and the ability to print on recycled and other materials without introducing warping or head strikes, users can more easily satisfy customer requests for a greener printing solution.
"This is a true breakthrough in high-speed superwide inkjet printing technology," stated Scott Schinlever, senior vice president and general manager of EFI VUTEk and Rastek. "Not only does this printer expand what is possible in terms of substrates and applications, but it also delivers a significantly lower cost of ownership. That translates into greater profit-earning potential for owners. The VUTEk GS3250LX builds on the success of our previously released GS3200 printer. To date, we have shipped 135 GS3200 printers which have produced over 100 million square feet of output for our customers. We expect the GS3250LX to be even more productive."
The combination of innovative GS Series image quality and LED technology enables the VUTEk GS3250lx to produce high-definition point-of-purchase graphics with true 1000 dpi and advanced three-layer white ink printing. The LED system features instant on/off and requires less maintenance, increasing the uptime to produce more profitable jobs. Since there is no warm up time required and the LED bulbs last the lifetime of the printer, owners will consume less energy and lower hard costs to help reduce overall operating costs. The VUTEk GS3250LX expands the range of substrates that can be printed to include, for instance, poly banner materials and some cardboard/corrugated materials by eliminating 100 percent of the infrared heat associated with a mercury bulb curing process. In addition, the innovative ink curing technology delivers high adhesion so you can reduce your material costs with less expensive substrates like thinner styrene and other rolled materials.
Nick Olson, owner of PVS In-Store Graphics, is already seeing the benefits of his new VUTEk GS3250LX. "We've been able to print on a much wider gamut of materials than ever before which is opening up new opportunities we couldn't pursue previously. Equally important has been the benefits of the new cool cure technology. For example, with a much lower UV cure temperature, we have been able to use thinner styrene sheets at half the cost of what we previously had to order."
The high continuous board productivity of the VUTEk GS3250LX also allows users to take on more jobs and turn them around faster. With a time between boards of less than five seconds, it's possible to produce up to 55 - 4x8' (1.2mx2.4m) boards per hour. Unlike competitive devices, a precision alignment fence accurately aligns every board for highly-consistent image placement without adjustments. The addition of a VUTEk MediaMaster automated material handling system also aids the production of high-speed, high-volume jobs without manually loading materials.
Users will find that the new printer software improves overall printer performance and simplifies operation. For example, multiple jobs can be run at once across the width of the printer with the multi-queue functionality available right at the user interface. Audit information is also available on every print job (printing time, media usage, and ink usage) through bi-directional communication between the Fieryâ XF RIP and VUTEk system. The enhanced Fiery XF 4.5 RIP enables better color and performance, as well as easier job deployment. Users can also optimize their business processes and profit potential with seamless printer integration to EFI Web-to-Print and MIS solutions with native JDF connectivity. Maintenance is simplified because there are fewer mechanical parts and because the software provides information that helps improve troubleshooting and reduce the possibility of errors.
Additional good news for current EFI VUTEk GS3200 customers is that the new "cool cure" LED technology, along with the continuous board speed enhancement and software functionality described above, will also be available as an upgrade to their existing printers in the near future.
For more information about the VUTEk GS3250LX, as well as EFI's integrated end-to-end workflow solutions, visit www.efi.com.
RR Donnelley Introduces First 60" Wide High Speed Ink Jet Digital Press
Last October, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced that it developed the industry's first 60" wide high speed ink jet digital press. New 60" presses, expected to be deployed in the first half of 2011, will enhance the company's fleet of proprietary ProteusJet™ digital printing units. A combination of width and speed make these new presses faster and wider than any commercially available alternatives.
RR Donnelley's global platform features a broad array of proprietary and commercially available technologies. Its digital press platform will include nearly twenty ProteusJet presses by year end and the company expects to deploy an average of one new ProteusJet press per month through early 2012. One recently expanded production facility alone will utilize five ProteusJet presses to produce trade and educational books. The company has integrated one- and multiple-color digital printing presses with delivery systems that enable digitally printed content to be finished in-line into books, direct mail pieces, catalogs, marketing communications, magazines and other products.
"No other provider offers the flexibility afforded by our leading digital printing resources," said Thomas J. Quinlan III, RR Donnelley's chief executive officer. "This expansion to our ProteusJet fleet represents the next leap forward in digital book production, with significantly enhanced productivity as these new presses can produce two-up images. Put in-line with automated book binders, these RR Donnelley innovations will continue to allow publishers to reinvent the supply chain for trade and other books."
The presses were designed and built at RR Donnelley's recently expanded Research & Development operation, which has been instrumental in a series of digital printing breakthroughs. As do the company's other ProteusJet presses, this new unit will run at 1200 dpi resolution at 800 feet per minute in one color mode.
Ed Lane, president of RR Donnelley's Book & Directory offering, commented, "We are helping to change the dynamics of on-demand and variable communications. ProteusJet is already at work in a variety of book, TransPromo statement and direct mail applications. This new offering—the widest and fastest ink jet printing press anywhere—will further enable publishers to reduce expensive inventories, revitalize back lists and respond even faster to quickly changing consumer demand."
For more information, visit www.rrdonnelley.com.