Offering variable printing means big changes, but also high margins.
When 52-year-old scuba enthusiast Jane Young of West Palm Beach, Fla., received a travel brochure from Charlie B. Travels promoting a cruise to the Caribbean that included a scuba diving package for those aged 50 and older, her interest was piqued. Just three months later, she was diving off the island of St. Lucia with a group of her peers.
That is just one example of the effectiveness of variable data printing making it obvious that, in an industry where printed materials are distributed by the millions, it pays to get personal.
But getting personal today means more than just changing the names and addresses that appear on a form letter or card. According to Bill Prettyman, president of Wise Business Forms/NextWave, Alpharetta, Ga., it means altering the text and graphics for individual recipients based on criteria such as buying behavior, age, hobbies, income and location. In other words, advanced variable data printing is about getting specific.
This is exactly why Wise began offering the service five years ago.
"We felt this was the coming wave in printing and wanted to be involved in its development while it was still in its infancy stages," said Prettyman. "We also saw it as a market opportunity and wanted to bring our distributor base into the realm of merging data with communication documents."
Some of those communication documents include short-run color items such as post cards, direct mail pieces, corporate brochures and employee-personalized human resource pieces.
Offering these materials, however, meant a major overhaul in production processes, calling for a $1 million investment in staff, training and technology—including an Indigo Turbo Stream. And because variable print procedures are so different from those of traditional forms, Prettyman said he needed to segregate Nextwave from the rest of Wise's plant.
Bob Willis, president of Portland, Maine-based EPX, can relate to Wise's formation of NextWave. Investing more than $3 million in a changeover from traditional to variable data printing, Willis described EPX's switch as dramatic.
"It took us three years to move from manufacturing with heavy equipment to forming a group of professionals from the data processing field," said Willis. "When we look back, we can see what a cultural shock it was for us."
Along with the purchase of Xerox, Pitney Bows and Honeywell hardware as well as a diverse group of software programs written specifically for EPX's direct mail, check processing and state invoice products, Willis said an entirely new infrastructure was formed.
The transformation also called for closer ties with end-users. "Distributors had to allow us to work with their customers di-rectly in order to assure proper translation of data," said Willis.
Prettyman concurred. "The only way large variable printing is possible is if the printer is brought together with the end-user," he said. "The exchange of information is critical and a direct line of communication is essential."
The distributor's role, he added, is to link manufacturers with end-users while also selling the benefits of variable image documents.
Personalization Pays
Those ties help manufacturers organize the very information that makes variable printing personal.
Citing an example, Prettyman said NextWave works with grocery stores that track the buying behaviors of their customers. "Grocers will send out coupons related to what individual consumers tend to buy," he said. NextWave's job, he added, is to ensure that databases are properly written to accept such information for accurate printing.
NextWave also works on specifically-targeted direct mail campaigns which results in great cost-savings to the end-user, and a higher response rate.
In fact, the Printing Industries of America (PIA) reports that merely cleaning up databases to remove possible duplications and misdirected mailings can reduce mail costs by up to 14 percent. By further personalizing mail pieces through information gathered from discount cards, store-based credit cards and Internet transactions, that percentage of cost reduction is expected to grow.
Cost reductions are also evident at GBF Graphics, Skokie, Ill. Producing millions of pre-approved credit line mailings, travel brochures and loan applications, President Dick Kuntz said his equipment can reach speeds of 1,000´ per minute while personalizing two-sided documents with two colors simultaneously.
Said Kuntz, "We print for teachers, boat owners and people with pre-approved credit lines. There's just no limit today with the variety of lists available."
Kuntz conceded, however, that keeping the most up-to-date equipment can be challenging.
"Equipment designed for variable printing becomes almost obsolete once the learning curve for it is over," observed Kuntz. "We thought we had the latest technology after we put in a Scitex VersaMark two years ago, but discovered at last year's DRUPA show that more sophisticated equipment is already out there."
What to Expect
Accepting such rapid advancement for variable printing, as well as its need for hefty financial obligations is crucial for distributors preparing to offer it, cautioned Kuntz.
"It would cost manufacturers close to $2 million just for very basic personalization equipment," said Kuntz. "And that winds up being reflected in quotations presented to the distributor.
More education and longer sales cycles are also inevitable. According to Prettyman, when introducing an unfamiliar product to clients it's bound to take a while for them to completely embrace it.
So how much training is in-volved? According to Willis, EPX's distributor salespeople go through a two-day program which helps them recognize where opportunities exist and the processes they need to get projects started.
"Salespeople don't have to be technically competent, they just need to know the right questions to ask and be aware of the benefits variable data can offer to them," said Willis.
By Sharon R. Cole