Getting from Website to Print
By Mark Vruno -- graphic arts online, 4/1/2007
Web-to-print production is catching on like wildfire, rivaled only by the pace at which incoming jobs get preflighted, proofed, imposed, printed and shipped. Perhaps in danger of becoming a generic term, Web-to-print is actually a U.S. trademark registered on Sept. 18, 2001, by label printer Belmark of De Pere, WI. Today, at least 60 different vendors play in the “W2P” arena—many are exhibiting at this month's On Demand show.
The W2P trend is evident in the roadshows and open-house demos staged by printers for their customers, and by industry suppliers for print firms—which are flocking to see the latest iterations of new offerings.
Through last month, for example, Printable Technologies partnered with HP for the second consecutive “Go Digital” event, a 12-city road show that began in mid-December in Dallas and ended on March 22 in Phoenix. True multi-channel marketing campaigns—including personalized, cross-media and one-to-one communications—were showcased during the four-month tour. An emphasis was placed on how integrated marketing begins with a deep understanding of customer behavior, preferences and motivation; and how it incorporates multiple media to communicate personally with each customer as an individual.
Printable's FusionPro desktop, online and server-based VDP applications manage cross-media campaigns, perform high-speed data merge and generate production-ready output data streams.
Meanwhile, some 170 participants came to Las Vegas in mid-March to attend Printable's 2007 User Group Conference, which was kicked off by NAPL chief economist Andrew Paparozzi. “The general sessions reinforced the strategy change our company made two years ago—to become a complete marketing information company,” says account manager Grady Barnard of Cross Media, Dallas, which executes marketing campaigns.
Learning opportunities included “Database Cleansing and Manipulation” and “Sales Strategies for VDP and Web-to-Print Services.” In addition to HP, co-sponsors AccuData, Adobe, Canon, EFITM and Pace Systems displayed their products and services at a mini trade fair.
W2P for offset, too
Komori America brought nearly 100 customers to a March open house, devoting the morning session to W2P. Julie Shaffer, director of PIA/GATF's Digital Printing Council, pointed out the six types of W2P applications: e-commerce storefronts, templated storefronts, customer-branded portals, one-to-one marketing-oriented sites (PURLs), production portals that link to prepress and the pressroom, and print procurers (auctions and brokers).
Four W2P vendors demonstrated their wares at Komori's U.S. headquarters outside of Chicago. EFI showed its Digital Storefront product, as did Pageflex, whose customers were lauded at February's PODi event in Anaheim, CA. Press-sense says its iWay product is installed at nearly 500 North American sites; while XMPie/Xerox focused on its variable-data offerings.
