Written By Bill Michael
Marketing Analyst
Xerox Corporation

You know them: hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste. At drupa, each of your senses will be put to great use, as you will:

• Hear: The excitement of the 1000s of attendees in the print industry having conversations on a variety of topics.
• See: Technology and software that represents the future of our industry
• Touch: Printed samples with specialty media, innovative finishing, and special toner
• Smell: toner, ink and paper in the air as you walk by every vendors stand.
• Taste: German cuisine (maybe for the first time) and perhaps a few brands of German beer with some friends and colleagues.

At the Xerox stand (Hall 8b), your senses can best be used by seeing and touching the applications that we’ll be showcasing live in our stand, including many Best-of-the-Best winners. These winners include: IOS (Digital and Offset), Mediaware (Digital Packaging), MBA Group Limited (TransPromo), Telemail, S.L. (TransPromo), Easy Print (Photo Publishing), Printshop (Photo Publishing). Three additional winners include:

	DG3 Europe Limited (Best Overall Solution, case study) The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the largest youth charity in the UK, wanted to enable their award winners to create and order personalized Achievement Packs online. They approached DG3 Europe Limited, who mapped out an end-to-end solution using FreeFlow Process Manager™ and the iGen4 with a Xerox FreeFlow™ Print Server – resulting in a 637% increase in usage of the achievement pack.
	De Budelse (Digital Packaging, case study) Recognizing the growing area of digital packaging, De Budelse built FotoChoco.nl to enable orders of personalized boxes of chocolate. Using the iGen4 and FreeFlow Print Server, they were able to sell over 11,000 boxes of chocolate. (your sense of taste!)
	CopyCat (Direct Marketing, case study) Using the Xerox Color 1000 Press, CopyCat used clear dry ink and personalized cross media to drive new business. The campaign generated a 10% response rate and helped bring in 20 new orders from new customers.

Please stop by Xerox Stand in Hall 8B to see and touch these great applications. We’ll find other ways to exercise your other senses!

Written by:
Joel Basa
eMarketing Manager
Xerox Corporation

Once in a blue moon, a print application will cross my desk that catches my eye. The reasons differ: stunning design, elaborate finishing, personalization, or maybe its vivid color. However, a particular photo book titled, “Anthony’s Prayers,” caught my eye because of the simplicity of its design and more importantly because of story and the content within. I’ve always believed, “content is king.” This was proof.

The Author, Anthony Torrone, has an intriguing story. Anthony is developmentally disabled, the result of a flu-like sickness when he was a young boy.  One day, he decided to write about all those things for which he was thankful.  His writing is simple but so profound and the photo book pairs his writing with photos that have been taken of Anthony through his interesting life.

I could put my “print industry” hat on and comment on the quality of the finishing and how Color House Graphics did an outstanding job of creating a high quality application using the iGen4 but for me Anthony’s story and the writing he has developed is the bigger story. Color House Graphics and others were enablers for Anthony and his amazing story.

Content is king. Creating bodies of work that capture amazing stories is what makes the print industry so appealing. We are very privileged to not be just print operators, marketers and graphic designers but story tellers and dream makers that enable others to tell an even better story.

Have any other examples of great print applications that tell a story? I’m sure you have many…please share your stories.

Written by Christy Buchman, Marketing Services at Lexinet Corporation

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.”

Fast forward to marketing in the year 2011.  Lincoln’s quote might be something like this, “The things I want to know are all around – on numerous web pages, in books, in blogs and in the emails I receive every day.  My best resource is the one who gets all of the new and relevant information in one easy place to read and understand.”

There are so many exciting and innovative tips and tools that can be incorporated into multiple channel marketing campaigns today – QR codes, personalized URLs, search engine optimization tools, crowd boosting tools, social tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now Google+.  How can you keep up with it all?  And, more importantly, how do you determine what makes sense for your marketing campaigns?  And do they work?

There’s no need to panic.  Just as Abraham Lincoln wanted to find a great source, you should do the same.  Find a source of information that gives you valuable resources for free.  Start with one and then if needed, add to your collection.  An example of a valuable customer resource center can be found at http://www.lexinet.net/CustomerResourceCenter.htm.

A valuable customer resource center should include industry relevant articles, case studies and industry reports that illustrate new technologies and tools and report the results of campaigns that used those tools.

Another valuable resource is an online user group.  LinkedIn has thousands of groups in their network that join people in the same industry or looking for the same information providing a forum for sharing and gathering information.

Don’t worry about all of the blog posts, web pages and emails that you “ain’t read.”  Simply find a single source of valuable information to provide you with the knowledge you crave.

Get even more valuable tools by registering for the InterACT! Virtual Conference & Expo held on August 23, 2011 from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.  Register by clicking here.

Written by Joel Basa, e-Marketing Manager at Xerox Corporation

Welcome to our live blog from  the Gil Hatch Center for customer innovation. We’ll share the story of three customers Associates International, QuadGraphics and LitheExcel.

[11:00] – Running a little late here. The customer panel discussion will start in I’m guessing 20 minutes. I’ll keep everyone posted.

[11:20] – Not started here yet….sorry for the delay.

[11:30] – Waleed Ashoo (CEO, LitheExcel Communication), Eric Cosway (CMO, Quantum Digital) and Karen Keenan (Director of Marketing Associates International, Inc.) have taken the stage for our customer panel. Here we go!

[11:34] – Question to all panelists “What are the biggest change you’ve made with your company in today’s world?” Quantum’s response points out that 30% of their business is focused on IT and data. Associates responds by pointing out the challenges that their company worked through to combine their “digital” business with a conventional business and create a workflow that works. Again, a good percentage of their staff is IT based. A changing dynamic. LitheExcel points out that staffing needs have changed. They are looking at those with marketing backgrounds and specifically looking at individuals with vertical market experience.

[11:38] – Question to the panel: “Are there particular verticals that took to change much easier?” LitheExcel’s response: the gaming industry (casinos, etc) have taken to the changing dynamics of the print industry. Also, the healthcare industry (specifically managed health)

[11:46] – Interesting comment from our audience, “Is the average printer able to change its dynamics to become a specialist in data, personalization, etc? or is it too late?” Waleed responds by saying that the advantage an average printer has is that it can leapfrog to incorporate the new areas such as data, technology, analytics, etc.

[11:48] – Great conversation occurring here. Lots of comments about the importance of specializing in data to be successful in today’s business environment. Seems like many printers are realizing this need and are investing resources in this area.

[11:50] – Question to Waleed, “Do you believe to make a transition to a Marketing Service Provider that specialization is required (niche marketing)?” Waleed agrees that specialization is much better to be able to make the transition from traditional printer to a full service marketing shop. The business model is very different now.

[11:52] – Great comment about Workflow automation. Automation allows a printer to create efficiencies that can allow them to re-allocate resources to grow from traditional printing to full service providers.

[11:54] – Great comment, “Its not about the box. Its about helping our customers be more successful and provide a set of full services.”

[11:56] – All three customers are talking about moving away from a “Quoting” model. IT and Marketing is the true focus and to move away from the “printed page” approach.

[12:00] – “Are there offerings from Xerox that helped you be successful?” AI and LitheExcel responds: Process Manager, ProfitAccelerator, and BDCs have helped them be successful. Quantum adds the color consistency of the iGen4 has allowed us to be successful.

[12:02] – Wrapping up here with this great discussion. Wish I could of just streamed this content out as there was so much that hard to capture in this format. What I really took away from this was that traditional printers need to make a transition to a full service provider and much of this starts with moving away from the “printed page” model and moving towards services that focus on data (IT) and marketing.

[12:04] – Thanks to Waleed, Eric and Karen for helping lead this great discussion!

Written by William Michael, Marketing Communications Analyst at Xerox Corporation

Premier Partners – Have you ever wanted to play the role of judge and help determine a winner in a Xerox Award Contest? Well, now you have your chance!

With the entry period for the 2011 Xerox Best-of-the-Best Contest recently closing, our panel of judges are busy evaluating the stunning work from all our entrants. But now it’s your turn to make your voice heard and help determine the winner! For the first time ever, Premier Partners have the exclusive ability to view the work of their peers and select the entrant most deserving of this year’s Printers’ Choice Award.

Whether it’s a cross-media campaign using PURLs and QR codes that drove booth traffic 50% higher at a tradeshow through personalized calendar fulfillment (as was the case with EU Services submission), or a stunning Web-to-Print personalized digital packaging submission (submitted by K-PRINT of Japan) – the decision of who to vote for is now completely up to you!

To read the stories of all the entrants and to cast your vote, simply visit the Best-of-the-Best Gallery by April 29. Other details:

1. Voting is restricted to Premier Partners only.
2. You must be registered and logged in to the Best-of-the-Best website to vote.
3. You can cast a maximum of five votes per day.

Vote today for this year’s Printers’ Choice award-winner!

Written by Natalie Serrato, Technical & Social Marketing at Lytrod Software

Have you seen the new California Driver’s licenses? With fraud on the rise more than ever and the high demand for California ID’s in particular, the new licenses have more security features than they do person Identification information.

From ID’s to parking permits to event ticketing to certification credentials, it’s becoming clear that more and more documents need to be protected with multiple security features. Xerox has developed a unique, award-winning technology: FreeFlow VI Specialty Imaging. Lytrod Software’s DDC templates make use of this technology by marking digital documents with standard toners and without post processing.

Through this technology, you are able to embed variables into your security features, which add even more protection and personalization to your document. A major factor in the ease of duplication of security sensitive documents is the repetition of the security features on each document. By making each security feature unique to its particular document – it becomes that much harder to duplicate, especially in mass production.

Baseball season is here and for all those die hard sports fans, tickets to these events are a must! With every new season come scalpers with close-but-not-quite tickets ready to be sold to unknowing fans.  Check out the image of the baseball ticket featuring specialty imaging effects to deter fraud:

• 2-layer Fluorescent Mark effect, which displays one layer of text in natural light and a second layer of “hidden” variable text that is only visible under fluorescent light.
• Variable MicroText, a font so small that it can only be read under magnification.

Adding variables and Specialty Imaging to your design is easy, just a few clicks of the mouse, in Lytrod’s Proform Designer VDP software. See how easy it is by viewing the video below. Additional videos can be found at  www.youtube.com/lytrodsoftware.

Aside from sporting events, what type of documents do you come across that you feel should be better protected with security features?

Written by Prathibha Polapragada, President & Owner of MyPicTales

Foreword written by Bill Michael

The submission deadline for the 2011 Xerox Best-of-the-Best Contest has just recently passed, and we have been very busy collecting and prepping all of the outstanding submissions for judging. I took this picture to show just how many of our Premier Partners have entered their outstanding work…it represents a single days worth of mail (UPS and FedEx are on a first-name basis with me now!).

As we look to recognize the 2011 winners in the coming months, I wanted to take one final opportunity to reflect on a company that left favorable impression on our 2010 judges. MyPicTales, an online photo book publishing company, entered the portfolio book of a client into last years Best-of-the-Best Contest through their partnership with ColorCentric. The piece featured rich and stunning abstract images of cosmetic products, all of which needed to be produced to the highest quality. Because of their strong partnership with ColorCentric, and confidence in the Xerox iGen, MyPicTales knew that they could exceed the expectations of their client and deliver a top-notch photo book.

Not only was the photographer thrilled, but the piece allowed MyPicTales and ColorCentric to gain recognition as winners of the 2010 Best-of-the-Best Contest Photo Publishing Category. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Prathibha Polapragada, President and Owner of MyPicTales.

Xerox: Please give the readers some background information on MyPicTales. What would you like us to know about you?

Prathibha Polapragada (PP): Being the youngest of 7 kids, I always had an innovator / rebel / risk taker spirit in me. It had been a goal of mine to own my own business before I turned 30. I have always been an avid traditional scrap-booker. And when I looked around to find a way to transition into digital scrapbooking, I did not find much at that time in the way of the creative process or printing of my digi layouts. So I built a product and service to solve my own problems and I was lucky enough to capture loyalty, and make profit out of this venture, such that our customers just kept coming back again. In today’s world, opportunity is just about everywhere, if you can focus on getting it right. With internet, you can start a business revolving around a hobby or a passion and make a successful business out of it. MyPicTales is rated among the top three photo publishers in the US in the scrapbooking market for the past two years in a row. We hope to soon be number one in both photo publishing and scrapbooking segments.

Xerox: Your work won an award in the Best-of-the-Best Contest last year. What made you decide to enter into the program?

PP: As a start-up, we are constantly looking for notoriety. The more people know about us, the more business we get. And when a company wins an award, the positive attention and press that generates from such an event, can help in a number of ways. A) It is a testimonial to the superiority of our products and services B) It is a seal of approval from the Industry leaders C) Our customers can now purchase not just products, but “Award Winning” products, which is a huge factor that weeds the competition out.

Xerox: How has winning this award impacted your business?

PP: Now we have award winning products. Customers look at such crucial information before making a purchase decision. We have seen increase in business. And more customers are willing to spend extra to have our brand. Also, it helped us raise capital during our first round of funding. It is easy to sell your concept, when it is tastefully embellished.

Xerox: How have you used your success in the Best-of-the-Best Program as a selling point for your company?

PP: We raised more capital to fund our programs. We have the award displayed on our website, communications, and marketing campaigns. We are able to partner with other premier vendors because now the trust factor is high.