Drupa – A touch of heaven for the
direct mail industry
As processing direct mail becomes increasingly high-tech and complex
in terms of design, printing, converting, logistics and shipping,
Manuel Mataré, Drupa’s project manager, explains why
a visit to the world's largest print media trade fair is so important
for direct marketing professionals! |
Manuel Mataré |
Why is Drupa 2008 so important for direct mail companies?
Manuel Mataré: Direct mail activities serve a billion-dollar industry
that is more technology-driven than any other printing segment. In the
past, technical innovations were developed using dialog marketing concepts.
But this situation forced lettershops and mail houses to constantly offer
highly innovative solutions and cutting-edge technologies.
Fortunately, Drupa provides them with all the information they
need to stay on top of things. As organizer of the largest and most important
print media trade fair in the world, we witness every four years how Düsseldorf
turns for a period of two weeks in May into a huge clearing house for everything
related to make ready, printing, converting and finishing.
What does the future hold for this market segment? How can direct mail
achieve above-average response rates?
Manuel Mataré: Impersonal mass mailings have long since been a thing
of the past. Thanks to a variety of innovative printing media, successful
direct mailings offer today highly customized and variable customer communication,
with an extraordinary diversity in appearance and design. To keep up with
the competition, a direct mail company should efficiently supply customers
with highly complex solutions.
Which areas should direct mail managers invest in?
Manuel Mataré: It is not up to the Drupa team to make investment
recommendations. Our job is to help a direct mail manager get a complete
picture of all existing and future technologies so that he can make the
right investment decisions. However, as Messe Düsseldorf is also a
major lettershop customer, we obviously consider very carefully which target
groups are reached with highly personalized information and which ones
are addressed in clusters. Ultimately though, direct mail should offer
both variants if it wants to be viewed as a full-service partner. Digital
and inkjet printing, with their diversity of options, stand apart from
other technologies and should be at the top of the list when it comes to
investment planning. Based on my experience, workflow and Web-to-Print
solutions, such as the ones we will have on display in the Innovation Park
at Drupa, are greatly underestimated. They focus on production efficiency
and I strongly believe this is just as important, for instance, as job
management in the areas of postal pre-sorting and postage cost optimization.
In what direction is digital printing going, as one of the key direct
mail technologies?
Manuel Mataré: The color trend is still going strong. You can expect
all digital printing system manufacturers to introduce a wide range of
innovative products at Drupa. In this context, electro-photographic digital
printing is competing more and more with inkjet printing, which is causing
quite a stir due to the significantly higher print speeds it achieves in
some instances. All the major manufacturers, including Xerox, Kodak, HP,
Canon, Konica-Minolta, Agfa, Epson, Infoprint Solutions (IBM-Ricoh) and
many more, will be at the trade fair to show their latest developments.
What is the potential of the entire converting and finishing process in
terms of creating added-value?
Manuel Mataré: I think it is definitely worthwhile to look further
afield in this case. The latest trend for newspapers is the development
of systems for managing reader-oriented inserts. As a result, more and
more advertising customers are requesting a wider variety of objects in
print communication. For instance, why not print catalogs that are personalized
by means of selective binding? Or mass mailings compiled to customer-specific
criteria? Some of these solutions will be on display at Drupa, particularly
in the post-press sector, which is able to handle all the necessary technical
processes for both hardware and software. Drupa will show you how diverse
the supplier industry really is.
In which specific areas could direct mail grow?
Manuel Mataré: Publishers of corporate publications are increasingly
turning to lettershop solutions. According to a survey carried out on the
members of the Corporate Publishing Forum, service providers’ sales
have risen 17 percent. This growth was primarily driven by the good old-fashioned
print products. In this segment, most new print products come from B2B
and staff communication. The mailing volume is certainly not as significant
but it clearly indicates that the online activities of the advertising
industry are not detrimental to print communication. They both complement
one another.
What does the future of print-based dialog marketing hold?
Manuel Mataré: To pursue a real dialog, the various media will integrate
sophisticated new features, aiming at a greater convergence of offers.
For instance, a given dialog platform can develop into an interface between
the individual media. Combining print products with the option of ordering
by telephone enhances it and gives it a new meaning.
Can you describe the direct mail industry of the future?
Manuel Mataré: Print service providers have added an important range
of services to improve the transfer of data to paper and are evolving into
full system service providers. Added value is generated with the understanding,
analysis and optimization of customer processes. Service companies today
offer more than just simple printing. They also provide a complete range
of solutions from consulting, data handling, layout, production to response
management and archiving. With a good knowledge of the market and constant
technological developments, the service provider is able to help his customers
improve their marketing communication and increase their level of personalization.
And to conclude?
Manuel Mataré: Drupa 2008 offers the perfect opportunity for direct
mail service providers to get a comprehensive view of the market and its
relevant technologies.
About the interviewee
Manuel Mataré (54) has served as Drupa project manager at Messe
Düsseldorf since 1995. This Düsseldorf native graduated from
the Hotel Management Academy in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then held various
positions in the hotel industry in Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Jerusalem,
Paris and San Francisco, while simultaneously pursuing a degree with Cornell
University's School of Hotel Administration in the USA. He has been a project
manager at Messe Düsseldorf since 1987.
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