Heidi Tolliver-Nigro

With so few commercial printers comfortable with the technology, where can we go to ask about the future of AR and VR?

Technology leaders have recognized for some time that QR codes will play an important role in print marketing. As these printers attest, adding a QR code as a way for people to respond is becoming a mainstream marketing technique.

THERE IS no question that one-to-one (personalized) digital printing works. Just skim through the case study archives of the Print On Demand Initiative (PODi). Click through the case studies on vendor and printer sites. Read the articles and the blog posts. View the Webinars. Proof that variable data printing (VDP) works is everywhere.

IN THIS political season, it’s all about watching the front-runners. Front-runners have the buzz. They get the attention. They have the sense of inevitability. In the world of commercial printing applications, it could be argued that the role of front-runner has been taken by Web-to-print (W2P). Move over 1:1 printing—since personalization has become sufficiently entrenched, the excitement mantle has now transferred to the W2P up-and-comer. Not that W2P is new, but new in its current implementation. But W2P has its share of controversy. It has been suggested that W2P is not taking hold the way the buzz would suggest. In fact, it

EARLIER THIS year, The Industry Measure, an industry research firm, sent uncomfortable ripples throughout the printing industry when it released a report stating that adoption of Web-to-print had stalled among print providers. While clearly, Web-to-print has not stalled among corporate users—in fact, adoption in this marketplace is accelerating—the fact that the momentum has largely (if not entirely) switched sides has raised a lot of questions. According to “Web-to-Print: A Service Provider’s Perspective” (The Industry Measure, 2007), approximately one-quarter of print providers now offer some kind of Web-to-print solution, whether as a static online store, for creating customized/personalized documents, or for creation and dissemination

AS PRINT providers look to transform their businesses from primarily print-based to a broader range of marketing services, the Internet is becoming an increasingly important part of their business model. For some, that means adding Web design as part of their creative and design offerings. For others, it means adding Web-to-print, whether for ordering static documents or for allowing customers to customize—even personalize—documents based on templates. But while Web-to-print, as an umbrella category, has been getting a lot of attention, another Internet-driven application is rapidly gaining momentum—the ability to use cross-media technology to create personalized URLs (or PURLs), which send recipients of print

ONE OF the topics the industry has been hearing a lot about lately is Web-to-print. As the business world increasingly shifts its marketing tasks to Internet-based models, it is no surprise that print would move in this direction, as well. But is success in Web-to-print as simple as adding an online interface for print ordering? If it were, Web-to-print would have caught on years ago. So what’s different now? Certainly, something has changed. Many of today’s top printers are offering Web-to-print capabilities, and many leading-edge marketers, especially those in the financial and pharmaceutical industries, are rapidly embracing them. Has the ability of printers to

IT USED to be that, when a printer had a “Web-facing customer interface,” it was primarily offering file upload and transfer. Maybe online estimating, ordering and job tracking. Perhaps some digital asset management but, beyond the basic interface, there was little going on behind the scenes. Affordable, off-the-shelf tools were simply too limited. The flexible, robust solutions—not to mention customer-specific solutions—necessary for developing the kinds of Web-to-print applications we know today were reserved for larger print shops that could afford custom builds. Over the past several years, however, the playing field has changed dramatically. Software providers have developed Web-to-print solutions offering a wide