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Thinking Digital
(Part 2)
Convergent Technologies towards TransPromo
by
Ricky Muñoz
This is part two of my series on
Personalization, and here I’ll cover a few more aspects that are a more
technical in nature that tell you about databases and how they can be used to
create a single print job where everything piece is unique. More importantly, we
should consider the growing trend towards Transactional Promotional printing (TRANSPROMO)
– the inclusion of high quality full color marketing messages directly into a
statement based on database information.
Variable data printing works with databases, that is, it uses information from
files to create pages using software designed for the purpose. This allows you
to create a page that can change on each piece and make unique documents that
speak to individuals rather than a single piece that everyone reads.
Studies have shown that including even a little bit of personal data in the
piece can dramatically increase the response from the reader, and lead to better
results from direct mail campaigns. By adding more information, you also
increase the interest of the reader so it pays the marketer back with a lower
cost per response. This is an important point to consider, since your prints
will always cost more by adding a process than normal. There is a table at the
end of this piece that helps illustrate this, but let’s discuss databases first.
What is a database anyway?
What is a database anyway? We often hear this term, and in many industries,
databases are the lifeblood of their businesses. Banking, Finance, Insurance,
Transportation – you name it – are all dependent on good databases, in fact,
these businesses cannot function in the modern world without them.
Databases are collections of information. They are organized like tables in
which the first line of information contain headings for all the data underneath
such as “First Name”, “Last Name”, “Address” and so forth. The first three
mentioned are probably all you may need much of the time if you are doing direct
mail, but you can also see other information in these such as “Gender/Sex”,
“Age”, “Birth Date”, “Educational Attainment” or even seemingly irrelevant
information such as “Favorite Sport.” These headings are important since it
gives us a way to understand the information. More importantly, they also allow
us to sort and search the data effectively so that mere information can be
analyzed and turned into useful information and knowledge.
An excel sheet can be a starting point for understanding this. Spreadsheets can
be set up with the first row of a table containing header names, and the rest of
the columns the information to be used. In fact, it’s fairly easy to convert
database information into spreadsheets. It’s important to understand though that
you cannot break this structure without the information becoming garbage, and
spreadsheets are notoriously easy to change (they are an analysis tool after
all) so this is not the best possible way to store information reliably.
For databases to be secure, some sort of database software is necessary to make
sure that the information is preserved and organized. There are a number of
these available such as those from Oracle, but many firms such as Microsoft and
IBM also offer their own versions of these. We won’t get into details here, but
it’s important to bear in mind that you may have to understand these more if you
will be dealing with more complex data.
It
starts with the right software
So can a commercial printer take advantage of these information sources in order
to create variable information printing? Of course, but here’s the important
thing, you will need software, and it won’t be something off the rack that you
can just load into a PC. But the good news is that this can come pre-configured
with most digital front ends of a digital printer.
EFI’s Fiery systems, for example, usually include these as an option for their
lower end systems. The free version, called FreeForm, while more than sufficient
for simple information, cannot handle the much larger amounts of data that can
accompany a real serious database, and it lacks the programming tools to best
take advantage of these.
Again, I won’t go into details, but the software will have to allow for data
streams coming from more complex systems, but you should look out for an
alphabet soup of acronyms like AFP, IPDS, LPDS and others. It’s best to ask the
vendor on what software you will need in order to process these. There is a
whole world of database software that has up to now had no relevance to graphic
arts firms, and understanding these will be critical to entering into true
database driven variable data printing.
But
don’t forget design
More important is your choice of design tools. These should be able to assist
you in setting up a variable data job without extensive programming, and yet
allow for programming to take place if you want to increase the number of
database sourced decisions and logic to make truly compelling pages.
Printshop Mail from Atlas Software does this fairly well. From here you can take
advantage of both drag and drop ease of design, as well as create small scripts
for decision making for image and text-based optional data. This is still fairly
low-level however as it cannot allow for full-scripting (little programs to
manage prints) and in order to do this, a bigger investment in coding will have
to be necessary. Again, your printer vendor should be able to help you in making
the decision on design tools, as well as help get you started on these.
One tool already very popular for a number of years in the U.S. and Europe is
Darwin from Creo. This allows you to do your variable information printing from
directly inside a design application such as Adobe InDesign or Quark Express,
something that many graphic designers like since they are already familiar with
these tools, and also because Darwin provides a higher level of scriptability
than PrintShop Mail. But this will only work with Creo Spire servers, so when
considering this alternative, it will be important to ask your vendor if they
support this.
The one piece of software though that is making huge waves is XMPie. This suite
of tools allows a designer to not only produce compelling graphics via Adobe
InDesign plug-ins, but can also generate dynamic Internet content as well as
send emails and SMS. This allows for entire promotional campaigns to be mapped
out and executed automatically both in print and electronically. XMPie Is very
marketing oriented should be able to provide you with a new set of applications
your customers will find useful. There is a standalone version of this called
uDirect which does not need InDesign as a base platform and may be used for
printing only, and this may be a very good introduction to this software.
But none of these are Transpromo yet since transactional database printing
brings in a whole new spectrum of software tools which require some programming
knowledge but almost no design knowledge – Trans-Promo.
So
are you finally going to tell us about TransPromo?
Okay, let’s finally tackle this hot topic: Transpromo. Old style statements of
account, we all know these because we get several every month, used to be the
sole preserve of IT Departments and their favorite Service Bureaus. Yes I
italicized that for a reason, we are going to get into a problem of nomenclature
with this convergence – since we in the Graphic Arts tend to think of that term
as Pre-press. In the wonderful world of databases however the term applies to
digital printing services specializing in statement printing. Who gets to keep
the term? I say let’s drop it altogether and just call any digital printer a
Digital Printer. Now what was that question again?
Transpromo links graphic arts and databases by providing high quality graphics
right into a statement of account. Why? I hear you asking – because we actually
read statements of account, not always in detail but we look at the bottom
number at least – a very important one – “Amount Due.” Compare this to your
usual marketing promotional flyer – we may or may not look at it depending on
how attractive/ friendly/ compelling the message is. And the fact that it’s now
available in color certainly helps. This has created a new medium for
advertisers to place product messages in a compelling format with sure eyeball
capture. And more importantly, they can now strategize towards better product
placement by choosing the product or image based on database information.
This sounds easy in principle, and technically it is, but the difficult part
will be in strategizing an approach to best make use of the technology so that
the supposed gains from the higher printing costs can be realized for the
advertiser. Yes, it will boil down to a higher cost per print in exchange for
advertising space and you and the advertising manager will have to justify this
to prospects. So always bear the phrase “cost per response” in mind when
initiating discussions – and be ready to be able to explain how variable imaging
can lead to more targeted demographic groups.
What Printing System then?
What about what printing system to use? Is this important? In fact, almost any
digital press should be capable of delivering variable information prints, and
you decision in this regard will boil down to making sure that your digital
press can handle the information being pumped out by the databases. So it will
be important to consider those systems that can handle this information either
pre-installed or as an options upgrade. As well you will have to calculate the
volume of potential prints as well as security issues when dealing with
databases that contain sensitive information. There is a whole sub-industry
associated with IT that already does this effectively so learning their business
of planning a partnership with one may be necessary.
There are however two broad categories of printing systems that you should be
aware of both for monochrome and color, and not surprisingly this is something
similar to regular commercial offset.
Cut
Sheet or Continuous Feed?
And in case you haven’t figured it out be continuous we mean the equivalent of
“Web Offset.” I sometimes use the word Web when describing these to commercial
printers but I prefer the acronym CF (let’s get something back to IT for giving
up ‘Service Bureau’ shall we?) So CF printers use longs streams of paper just
like web offset as opposed to sheets of paper.
There are advantages to one method over the other, but like web offset, CF
really shines where you must have a lower cost per print as well as higher
speeds. This is at the expense though of acquisition cost (they are much more
expensive) as well as that for converting equipment you will need (cut sheet may
go directly into mailing envelopes) and this investment will have to be
factored-in when calculating a true ROI. As a rule, you will have to look into
print volumes in the millions in order to justify a CF system whereas cut sheet
can look at numbers of around a million prints per month.
Is
there a magic bullet?
Is there a magic bullet that makes this easier? No, but the knowledge you will
need is not hard to come by, and most vendors will be very happy to teach you
about this. It’s important to consider a vendor with expertise on this matter
and this will always be a primary consideration beyond equipment and software
performance – and there will be fewer fallback opportunities once the decision
is made, so choose your supplier wisely.
Mr. Ricky Munoz
is a graphic arts consultant and marketing communications officer for Fuji Xerox
Philippines, Inc. He is currently a trustee of the Philippine Printing Technical
Foundation.
ricky.munoz@phl.fujixerox.com
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