While digital printing delivers the ability for every impression (or page) to be different, it also unlocks conventional boundaries and enables other digital technologies to be integrated with print. If you can put it on paper, then you can print it, digitally.
Take mashups, for example. While the term usually refers to web applications that combine data from multiple sources into a single integrated application, there’s no reason why you can’t extend the mashup concept to print. And print providers already are.
A handful of printers are creating printed products from Web 2.0 communities such as MOO, which has integrated with the social networking site Bebo, photo-sharing Web sites Flickr and Fotolog, and virtual worlds Second Life and Habbo, along with various Weblog publishing services. By integrating into these social communities, MOO and others, offer consumers an expanding portfolio of related print products, enabling customers to share their digital content when they are offline and have something tangible that expresses their identity.
Absolutely. In fact, there are a number of print providers that already have. Many printers are incorporating customised maps in direct mail campaigns. Take shoe and boot manufacturer, Wolverine, for example. They sent out a DM piece to 50,000 Sears customers a few years ago, offering them a discount on a new Trecker shoe brand. A joint collaboration between marketing service provider Trekk and print provider Yoffi, this partnership was able to leverage simple data that they had on a customer, their name and address, and transform the piece into a highly relevant mail piece which ‘featured’:
That’s quite a lot of customisation—not bad when you consider the only recipient data available was a customer name and address. While the creative was fairly dry and wasn’t the most imaginative, the campaign delivered results; the shoe quickly became the best seller in it’s category (at Sears) within one week of the mail drop.
Following this campaign, many other print providers have lifted the concept and integrated with local mapping service providers to create similar campaigns for a host of different audiences and markets, including casino, retail, marine and auto stores among others.
While such use of mashup in digital printing deserves kudos for innovation in leveraging customer data, it does beg the question “why bother?” Sears is a very large and familiar department store chain across the US, the reality is that most locals know where their local Sears store is, and how to get there. Or a nearby casino for that matter—surely, both would be significant landmarks. Also, you’d have to strum the privacy guitar, as it may seem rather intrusive to receive a mailer with your house flagged on a map. What next, an aerial photo?
OK, perhaps a more relevant application would be in the rental/housing market—particularly in Australia—where the population continues to grow at a considerable rate (of 315,700 last year, 56% of which were overseas migrants, source: ABS), and that’s not even including existing residents who relocate to new suburbs and states. With this continuing boom in migration and relocation, surely there are host of retail services that would benefit from this type of DM application. Think about the opportunity for neighbouring furniture and hardware stores, bank branches and much more.
Or look at tourism. If you’re targeting would-be holiday makers, why not target them with a personalised map, indicating local restaurants, attractions and activities near their prospective hotel? This could take away their pre-trip homework headache and wrap in some added value in the process.
I’m sure personalised maps have their place in DM, and can be effective without being intrusive.
We just need to start using them. Properly.
