Today I’d like to take the opportunity to share with you the story of how a leading digital print solutions provider based in Rochester, New York helped a small online photo book publishing company in Ashburn, Virginia continue to grow their business and increase their revenue. ColorCentric Corporation is the spotlight of this week’s blog, as we take a look at their 2010 Xerox Best-of-the-Best winning Photo Publishing submission.
I was first made aware of MyPicTales Inc. in 2008 as I was working on the Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging Awards (PIXI, for short). We had received a ton of outstanding work in the Books and Manuals category that year, and the judges were drawn to a submission sent by a small printer in Ashburn, who was churning out incredible looking photo books on their Xerox DocuColor 242. The quality of the books were phenomenal, and in our judging sessions they were holding their own against books produced on the Xerox iGen3 as well as Xerox DocuColor 5000 Digital Press and DocuColor 7000 Digital Press. I knew instantly that this was the true mark of a company completely dedicated to customer service and passionate about fully utilizing their equipment to output the highest quality product possible.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBb6OamR-88[/youtube]
Fast-forward two years, and imagine my surprise to again see amazing quality work from MyPicTales arrive at my desk for submission into our Best-of-the-Best Award Contest. The difference, however, was that the work was being submitted by ColorCentric Corporation on the behalf of MyPicTales, and was now being printed on an iGen. As you can imagine, the holidays and various other special occasions present the busiest workload for an online photo book publishing company, and MyPicTales was no exception. They made the decision that with the amount of jobs they were running, they had outgrown their DocuColor 242 and needed to move towards a larger production digital printer. This was fully realized during the bustling holiday season, when demand is always high and turnaround time incredibly short.
To help them handle the workload while still producing the highest quality product possible, MyPicTales turned to ColorCentric Corporation and their Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press. By working with ColorCentric, MyPicTales was able to outsource their many photo books, calendars, greeting cards, and scrapbook pages to ensure outstanding quality and timeliness, while giving them the opportunity to focus on specific jobs at their shop with their DocuColor 242. To further increase productivity, ColorCentric was able to do all finishing in-house without the need to outsource.
The piece that had won an award in this year’s Best-of-the-Best Contest was from a professional photography studio who had contacted MyPicTales to have their portfolio book produced. The book was full of vibrant images of cosmetics, and required superior image reproduction and color consistency in order to properly represent the work of the photographer. ColorCentric was able to produce a photo book that thrilled the end client, which strengthened the relationship between MyPicTales and its customers.
In fact, over an eight-month period, ColorCentric was able to help MyPicTales increase their revenue by roughly 15 to 20 percent. This in turn meant that ColorCentric sees even more jobs from MyPicTales, as the relationship amongst everyone involved continues to blossom. The portfolio photo book is so eye catching that ColorCentric is also able to use it as a marketing tool to show current customers and prospective clients of the work they are capable of producing.
If you’d like to receive a complementary 2010 Best-of-the-Best Case Study spiral bound book printed on our iGen4, be one of the first 5 readers to add your comments below!
And be sure to stay tuned for another outstanding customer success story to be featured next week!
To see more successful photo publishing campaigns, and to learn more ways to get involved in this new and exciting industry, I strongly suggest checking out our Photo Publishing section on the Digital Print Hot Spot Blog.
If you’d like to learn more about this success story featuring ColorCentric Corporation and MyPicTales Inc., please read the case study.
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10 Comments
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Great case study to share with customers wondering if their 242/252/260 can produce high enough quality to compete in the photo book market.
Ralph – Couldn’t agree with you more! It’s always amazing for me to see the awesome quality photo books being produced on the 242/252/260 family. Sometimes you hold them up and thumb through the pages, and would swear it was done on an iGen!
It really comes down to the quality of images you initially have to work with, and then what you do with them in the end. If it weren’t for the incredibly high demand for their products, MyPicTales could very well still be using their 242 today!
Thanks a lot for featuring us on your blog today. Its such an honor. The docucolor 242s are amazing. They can handle heavy stock and still produce at good speed. What I like more about them is that their print has a 3d quality to it, due to the way toner lays on the paper. With iGens or even Indigos, the print can be flatter. The 3d gives a perception of depth that happens with chemical printing. So it is a unique selling point when selling photobooks.
We have also printed several photo books for a Scottish photographer on iGen 3 and the results have been first class. We also had Xerox engineers in tuning the igen as we were competing with a Indigo for a large insurance companies brochures and I am pleased to say there was little or difference between the two despite many printers suggesting Indigo was superior.
Its so encouraging to read an ecouraging succeeful story about ColourCentric. Will are happy with the tools Xerox provide to small companies to become mediums. We use Dc 250 and we change the way company profiles looks in our City so far look next week when we will post our company profile and what we achived in a short possble time with our lovely DC 250
I am currently working with 2 customers on a 252, this book would of great value to me.
Lot’s of great feedback here!
Bill – so glad to hear that you’ve found the iGen3 to help your company meet business imperatives and successfully compete in the marketplace! I’d love to hear more about your work with the Scottish photographer and other ventures into the photo world, and how those are impacting your business.
Zelwe – we would be thrilled to learn more about your company and everything you are doing with the DocuColor 242/252/260 family! The right content and operator can go a long way in ensuring a polished final output.
I think the customer success story of ColorCentric/MyPicTales really helps shine light on all the outstanding work that is produced everyday on entry level production equipment, but also shows how the larger, more production-driven equipment nicely fits into the picture. It was the outstanding quality of work being produced on the DC242 that allowed the migration of work onto the iGen to be possible!
Richard – Thank you for your interest! If you are planning on attending Graph Expo in Chicago, IL – please stop by the Xerox Booth #600, and we will have the award-winning book on display for you to see. In fact, all winners of the 2010 Best-of-the-Best Contest will be available for you to take a look at.
Just to reiterate, while MyPicTales originally produced their photo books on their DC242, they have since migrated production onto the iGen3 due to large demands.
Very interesting! The photo book industry is so interesting — it seems like every company is either on the very low side of the quality spectrum or the very high side of the quality spectrum and the price range coincides with quality, leaving no middle of the road consumer solution. Definitely a company to take a look at. I’m hoping to make it to Graph Expo, and will hopefully check out their booth.
Sara – great comments! Content and intended audience is so critical in the photo industry. Depending on who you are targeting, there are definitely different levels of quality. A book comprised of point-and-shoot pictures on a lower megapixel camera from a family reunion has a completely different audience than a portfolio book shot by a professional photographer…yet both can be equally as successful and well-received.
A lot can also be said for the printer, and how committed they are to making the most of the content and providing the best final output. I know that MyPicTales and ColorCentric aren’t always working with world-class images, but the quality of the final output is always top-notch. And I think they would be the first ones to tell you that they’re thankful they aren’t always working with world-class images, as it shows the diversity in the consumer-base, and how the photo industry is growing as more types of people are getting involved.