Why not reverse this chain!

Why not reverse this chain!

Variable printing on large format technically almost applicable

By Ton Rombout

The strength of a workflow system lies in both the actual order processing and the management of the overall, i.e. graphic and administrative, production environment. This applies even more to Printing on Demand.

Printing on Demand (POD)
The main difference between a screen printing press and a large format printer lies in the fact that the former is generally used to produce lots of prints from one original. A printer can do the same but has the extra benefit that it can make each print unique, for example, by varying an image or piece of text. Printers can do this because they are controlled directly by a computer, which sends new digital signals to the printer each time, which are then converted into print.

POD principles
Printing on demand has been around as long as the graphic industry itself. Screen printers never start up their machines to print something randomly. Customers always know exactly what to expect (colour, black/white, format, print run). This way screen printing is ‘printing on demand’.
In fact we should perhaps refer to it as ‘printing on the basis of demand’. The demand relates to the fact that the print run is geared exactly to the customer’s requirements. This also means that, more often than not, the print run will be limited. However, the overall print volume could be huge and this requires a successful, linked administration system.

Oranjedoek.nl
A typical example of the POD method can be seen when visitors to the Orange Juice (a Dutch company) website enter their data and select the appropriate options, which will eventually produce a PDF suitable for publication for print in print run 1. For each order Orange Juice produces a digital job ticket and dispatch note with a unique number that corresponds with a unique printed number on the banner itself. The orders are immediately forwarded to the print queue for the Mutoh Vipers at the printing company. Customers have already paid via the payment system linked to the website. The strength of the system lies not the actual printing, but in the logistics linked to the order – graphics runs in parallel with the administrative side.
The actual printing and creation of the website are easy – the administrative and financial process is the tricky bit.

Better response
Why is POD beneficial when you want to communicate with a target group? The printing company’s client demands communication products that will maintain and enhance the relationship with his/her clients. In a study carried out a couple of years ago by the American Digital Printing Council on the response to direct mail, David Broudy and Frank Romano looked at the question whether the personalisation of information in print is actually a profitable method. Manufacturers of print systems for variable information always mention high response percentages. But, does this method produce truly interesting results for the marketers who have to bring in the order?
Research has shown repeatedly that personalised printing tends to be read more than unaddressed printing. A mail shot tailored to the interests of the recipient will be read and valued more than a mail shot that is a shot in the dark.
Broudy and Romano came to the only logical conclusion: the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In a comparable study they sent out four mail pieces using nine (9) different methods: static promotion, named, static in colour, named in colour, dynamic (i.e. with variable input from the database), dynamic in colour, static with discount voucher, dynamic with discount voucher, dynamic in colour with discount voucher. Two mail pieces were aimed at the business-to-business segment, two at the consumer market. In total the study comprised 36 different mail shots of 4000 items each.
The overall response was 6 %, 6.4% from consumers and 5.6% from business-to-business. The basic mail shot generated an average response of 0.46 %. Adding the name increased the response by 44 %. Adding colour led to an increase of 45 % with respect to the static mail shot. Name and colour generated 135%, whereas dynamic database information produced more than 500% more response than the static mail shot. Combinations of discount, colour and dynamic variables were sufficiently convincing to conclude that variable information over and above NAW printing has a rosy future and will definitely be in demand from marketers.

What the recipient wants to see
A personal approach of the recipient is high on the shortlist for most marketers. Expenditure on direct marketing and interactive marketing now amounts to more than 70 % of the total advertising budget. Direct marketing usually encompasses addressed printed material, which represents a significant improvement. However, the customer, whether it is an individual or a company, is not yet approached in person on the basis of one-to-one or one-to-few marketing.
We don’t know the customer’s (exact) requirements and that poses certain questions. Does the client know though? That would be the first question. "When I prepare food for my children without asking them for their preference – even if it is the same kind of food – they will not enjoy it as much than if they had told me that they wanted to eat that particular food.”
It is clear that, although advertisers are spending billions of euros on advertising, they haven’t got a clue as to why the results are waning. A few general trends are clear though. General advertising often doesn’t benefit the consumer at all. It exists merely because nothing better could be found.
According to other research 56% of external communication managers feel that they do not come up to the mark when it comes to accuracy and client focus. Almost 75% of marketers would like to see considerable investment in a chain reversal. Half of them are already involved in special projects on the subject. More than half of the marketers want to communicate more on the basis of consumer profiles and want to integrate communication channels. Slightly less than half want to set up or expand a database. A small group are resorting to increased use of call centres and e-mail marketing.
It is vital to gear the information to consumer demands. Companies that realise and understand this have the best chances of success. Print companies must analyse the role they can play in a reversed chain in which the customer demands and the company responds.

Trends & developments
What applies to the overall graphics market, applies to the large format printing-on-demand market in particular. Trends and developments are focused on smaller print runs and shorter delivery times, the desire for one-to-one communication and more integration with the client. Technically the RIPs are still somewhat problematic. But more on this at a later date.

The author Ton Rombout is Editor-in-Chief of SignPro Europe.