Heidelberg Graph Expo Demo Jobs To Illustrate HEI Flexibility in Action
Posted: 8/29/2012 | By: Press Release | Heidelberg
Kennesaw, GA, August 29,
2012 –Heidelberg will
take to the HEI wire for Graph Expo 2012 to present a simulated retail
promotion campaign designed to deliver the best product to the print buyer by
means of a production process that takes the “digital or offset” question off
the table, and makes cross-platform color matching its centerpiece.
It sounds ambitious because it is. As the only print technology vendor that can
take a file from web-to-print input and move it seamlessly through all
subsequent stages of production, gathering and updating cost data at every
stage, Heidelberg will encourage printers to look beyond individual machine
specifications to grasp the bigger picture and bottom-line benefits of
end-to-end production integration. Visitors to the booth will see these
benefits clearly demonstrated, not only to the printer, but also—and equally as
important—to their clients.
The Problem
The client in the hypothetical promotion is a high-end clothing retailer
with a small marketing department and big plans for a targeted print marketing
campaign aimed at boosting its market share and customer loyalty. The retailer
needs a service provider that can manage its database, print its marketing
collateral using offset, digital, and wide-format inkjet equipment, all while
managing its corporate color across multiple platforms.
The Solution
Market research comes first. The service provider begins by developing a
custom storefront using Heidelberg’s Prinect Web-to-Print Manager to conduct
in-store and on-line surveys of 500 participants. The surveys are designed to
collect data on the company’s customer base by gender, age, buying power, and
clothing preferences. As an incentive, participants receive an accessories
brochure with an instantly redeemable, 50 percent-off coupon. The high-quality,
coated brochure covers are printed on a Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor press, and
glued and finished on the Stahlfolder TH 56. The coupon also is tipped in-line
on the Stahlfolder.
Next, the service provider utilizes data from the Prinect Web-to-Print Manager
storefront to create a multi-touch, targeted campaign with variable data. In
the first mailing, the customer receives a personalized thank-you letter with
an invitation to visit their local store for a fashion consultation and to
receive a thank-you gift. To save money on the letter, the customer chooses
existing, pre-printed letterhead that can easily be imprinted on the Linoprint
C901 with contacts and addresses. Mailed with the letter is a personalized,
eight-page catalog based on the customers’ initial survey answers. The front
cover of the catalog will be printed static offset on a Speedmaster SM 52 with
Anicolor. The inside pages will be variable, based on participants’ survey
responses, and printed digitally on the Linoprint C901. Finally, the contents
are combined and stitched in-line on the Linoprint’s Bookletmaker accessory.
When the customer arrives for their one-on-one personal fashion consultation,
the consultant uses the customer’s original survey answers to make fashion
recommendations based on the customer’s personal preferences, fashion trends,
and body type. Customers also pick up a free gift: men’s cologne or women’s eye
shadow in a high-end carton produced on a Speedmaster XL 105 with UV drip-off
coating, die-cut on a KAMA ProCut, then folded and glued on a KAMA ProFold.
Based on the in-store consultation, each participant receives a customized
consultation via tri-fold mailer, produced digitally on the Linoprint C901,
then folded and perfed on the Stahlfolder TH 56. Customers earn 25 percent off
their total purchase by selecting an item or items from the consultation.
The Benefits
With color management via Prinect Color Toolbox, the customer reinforces
its brand identity through the pitch-perfect reproduction of its corporate
colors on everything from large-format in-store signage and point-of-purchase
displays (produced on a Rastek H652 UV flatbed inkjet printer), to high-quality
tags and packages used for clothing and accessories, regardless of the printing
process used.
Thanks to flexible integration and process standardization via Prinect, the
marketing story this promotion tells is greater than the sum of its individual
components. Across-the-board integration means that all work processes—whether
offset, electrophotographic or digital inkjet—are set up for maximum verifiable
efficiency and cost control. Best of all, the service provider that made it
happen not only gains a satisfied customer, but locks in a major competitive
advantage, along with higher profits.