DIGITAL digest

2010 AppForum Focused on Growth

LAS VEGAS—More than 350 digital printing professionals recently attended PODi's 2010 AppForum. "Attendance was up almost 20 percent from the 2009 conference, an excellent indicator of the health of the digital printing industry," observed Rab Govil, PODi president and CEO of Caslon, the event organizer.

According to real-time, interactive polling done during the conference, more than 66 percent of attendees saw significant growth in digital printing, even in 2009's tough business climate. Almost 20 percent garnered increases of more than 25 percent, while only 4 percent saw their offset printing revenues grow by more than 25 percent.

Govil also addressed the growth in digital printing during his keynote presentation, noting that offset printing still accounts for the vast majority of pages produced. Transferring just 25 percent of offset pages to digital would lead to 125 percent growth in the digital printing market, he says.

Using the healthcare segment in his example, Govil discussed the process of analyzing a growing industry to identify the most promising and profitable opportunities. He cited research that found patients only retain 50 percent of the information they are given at a clinic, and half of what they can recall is remembered incorrectly. Printed communications—especially personalized ones—can help to eliminate unnecessary care, improve outcomes for patients and increase efficiency, in addition to being favored in HIPPA regulations, Govil adds.

Next up were brief case studies of the top 2010 PODi Best Practices Award winners. The best practice winners include:

• Marketing Resource Center Category—Move Inc. and QuantumDigital Inc. produced a real estate agent lead-generation mailer that achieved a 3 percent average response rate.

• Direct Marketing Category—Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus Pine Council and Allegra Print & Imaging collaborated on a "Support the Sash Campaign" donation campaign that had an 8.2 percent total response rate.

• Self-Promotion Category—OTC Systems is a marketing portal for automotive dealerships that produced a cross-media promotion campaign for its service, which achieved a 23 percent response rate and 11 percent conversion rate.

Breakout sessions were offered throughout both days in four tracks: sales and business strategies, direct marketing, leading-edge applications and print-on-demand. The first day ended with time to visit the Vendor Fair, featuring more than 20 exhibitors, followed by a lively "Innovations that Drive Print" general session. Barb Pellow of InfoTrends moderated this panel discussion featuring companies already exploiting new marketing opportunities, including QR codes, augmented reality, social media and mobile/SMS channels.

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