DIGITAL digest
Kodak Fills Its Plate in China
XIAMEN, CHINA—More than 300 people, including Eastman Kodak executives, customers, distributors, industry leaders and government representatives, recently gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Kodak’s newest printing plate manufacturing facility, located here. The plant, a $50 million investment, will produce both digital and conventional printing plates.
Along with the new manufacturing facility, Kodak is creating a dedicated China Technical Applications Group (TAG) to provide technical support to customers in the Asia Pacific region.
Branding Rises at VDP Conference
PHOENIX—“Everyone is still learning,” is how one panelist summarized the state of the market at the recent PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference. The event’s theme was “Leveraging Variable Data for Success,” but a number of the sessions focused on the bigger picture of how providers should brand and market their businesses rather than the technology.
One example was the keynote address given by Steve Cone, noted author and executive vice president of strategic marketing services at the Epsilon marketing firm in New York. According to Cone, it’s a company’s ENA, not DNA, that matters. Successful marketing requires three things: creating Excitement, News and a compelling call to Action, he said. Marketing campaigns must tell people why they should respond and communicate that message with intimacy, attitude and personality.
The marketer is a proponent of employing a personality—real or fiction, human or otherwise—in marketing pieces. “Ninety percent of magazines have people on the cover because they get attention, but only 1 percent of brochures have people on the front,” Cone noted.
He is also a big believer in using drive-time radio advertising, which has the added benefit of being a cost-effective tool for campaigns with a small budget. “Sound is 100 times more powerful than sight for getting attention,” Cone explained, adding that he doesn’t believe there’s any problem with a printer using radio because people won’t make a connection to it being a negative comment about the value of print.
