No Two Alike

PRINT TECHNOLOGY has allowed direct marketers to edge closer to the ideal of one-to-one marketing. Leading the charge is on-demand printing, which enables marketers to get customized messages into the mail stream with a very short lead time. Facilitating on-demand printing is digital prepress, which allows quick integration of prescanned images and text. This speedy processing prevents memory of a contact from fading before follow-up; it also allows a marketer to quickly modify a message in response to changes in environment.

“A lot of what [marketing consultants Don] Peppers and [Martha] Rogers talk about-a customer base of one, customization of the message-is more a reality now than it was a few years ago,” says Lee Webster, premedia technology manager at printer R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Chicago.

One case in which on-demand printing is being used to cutting-edge capability is a pilot program from Benton Harbor, WI-based Whirlpool Corp.

Inbound customer assistance center telephone operators prescreen “hand raisers” and gather information on the products a customer has expressed interest in.

Given a set of criteria, an operator can put together a custom brochure of up to seven digitized items that reflect a customer’s interest. (Beyond seven items, Whirlpool feels that its full-line catalog is the most effective method of conveying information.)

While there may be a lift in sales, Whirlpool will realize a more immediate benefit from the program: Mailing the smaller brochures, which average between eight and 10 pages, is much cheaper than sending out the full Whirlpool catalog. In fact, Amy Larson, Whirlpool’s brand loyalty manager, anticipates a savings on mailing costs of between 25% and 50%.

Uploads from Whirlpool’s customer assistance center to the printer are done daily. The customized brochure, including appropriate products, dealer locations closest to the recipient, a personalized letter from the operator and a special extension number at which to call back, goes into the mail within 48 hours.

The Whirlpool example illustrates the way on-demand printing can be integrated into a direct marketing campaign. But at C-E Communications, Warren, MI-which coordinated the program-the battle is only half won with the embracing of this printing technology.

Norma Downie, account director at C-E Communications, disagrees with people who say the technology is best suited for short runs.

“For a 40,000-piece run, you just need more machines, but if the ROI turns out to be worth it, you do it,” says Downie.

The technology also allows fast response times when changes in offers are needed. One firm announced technical changes in its product after 300 pieces had already been printed, according to Judith Jones, C-E’s senior vice president/director of operations. The printer made the change, the client approved it, and the presses were up and running within 15 minutes. With an offset printing press, plate changes could easily take up to 24 hours-assuming press time was still available.

R.R. Donnelley’s Webster says that only about half the business at his plant is offset. “By this time next year we will be 90% digital,” he claims.

Until recently, says Webster, most companies were using digital printing for regional versions based on pricing. Cutting-edge companies will use data on customer preferences to develop streamlined customized pieces.

Won’t this cutting of unnecessary pages eventually hurt printers? No, according to Webster. Given a large enough prospect universe, these improvements will allow marketers to increase their print counts.

Digital Prepress The other great piece of print technology, digital prepress, is as valuable for electronic commerce as it is for print. “The catalog page that is going to be printed has no relation to the Internet, but the data may be the same data that goes into the screen,” says Webster. “People who are operating their electronic commerce and print DM in separate silos are probably missing some opportunities.”

Webster admits, however, that many firms have to change their “attitudes and culture” about the printing process before they get up to speed.

Toys ‘R’ Us uses digital production primarily for traffic-builder postcard mailings built around trendy single items-like new Nintendo game cartridges. Digital prepress allows the firm to reduce cycle time, says Peggy Foxman, the company’s director of print production for Toys ‘R’ Us.

The company is just beginning to explore short-run custom mailings to names entered into its database.

“We do continuity mailings,” says Foxman. “Babies grow very rapidly. You want to mail offers appropriate for them every three months.” Which means having the flexibility to do short, seasonal runs, and to track and coordinate mailing efforts as children move from Babies ‘R’ Us to Kids ‘R’ Us and Toys ‘R’ Us.

But it will probably be 1999 before the chain rolls out any sort of full-scale effort. One reason is budgetary. “Our mailing counts have always been so high that it is not cost-effective,” Foxman says. Another reason is that the Toys ‘R’ Us database is still being assembled. However, when it’s finished, the database will lead to shorter, better-targeted mailings, which may bring costs down.

Taking full advantage of on-demand printing’s speed may require cooperation from another industry -the list business. Asked about potential stumbling blocks in using direct- to-plate technology in customized printing programs, Foxman notes that “time in the processing for lists has not been able to keep up with the production end of it. We always have to wait for our breakdowns.”

For cataloger Levenger, the switch to digital prepress has allowed it to begin bringing its catalog design in- house. Since midsummer, the company has done all of its own scanning, 99% of its separations and 90% of its retouching. This, according to production manager Vicki Ehrenman, has allowed Levenger to produce the final files by “ripping the ad straight to the plate.”

But the newness of the process has not allowed Levenger to realize all the potential advantages. Levenger anticipates shortened production time, but the company is still too new to the process to be fully confident in its schedules. However, “right now we have a nice framework,” says Ehrenman.

One immediate benefit that Ehrenman sees is the preciseness of direct-to-plate printing. “We have better registration and less waste,” she notes. “We pay for whatever paper is used. We are not paying for what we are not using.”

The digitized photos are doing double duty for Levenger. “We are using PDF (portable document format) files to allow other departments to look through the final catalog and approve products and colors,” says Ehrenman. Furthermore, customer service representatives can call up the images on their computers while talking with customers, just as they can with merchandise files.

One disadvantage that she sees with shorter-run print cycles is that they tend to be fitted into print schedules at odd hours, which can cause havoc with her work hours. “I’d love all daytime press runs,” she says. “I’d get a night’s sleep once in awhile.”