As a true Product Marketer l have a particular fondness for customer quotes. There's this weird equation that exists whereby anything that my customer says is instantly ten times more believable and more powerful than what I say - even if we use the same words. Funny that! So, when I have a new product launch coming up and a press release to write I'm always on the lookout for great customer quotes.

So here are my criteria. They should be:

1. Positive (of course)
2. Short and to the point, and
3. Preferably convey a sense of emotion.
4. Oh, and here was my dilemma recently, they have to be clean and printable!!

I was asked for customer quotes a week or so ago to include in this week's Kodak press release announcing enhancements to the Flexcel NX System. We've been doing some really interesting things recently in wide web flexo with Flexcel NX Plates looking at that age old issue of smooth and consistent transfer of solvent inks on flexible substrates and have seen some pretty phenomenal results. The new DigiCap NX Screening feature we just announced applies a micro screening pattern to the surface of all printing elements on the Flexcel NX Plates (tones, lines and solids) and as a result dramatically improves ink transfer - without compromising highlights!! It means you can get higher densities, with less ink, retain highlight detail and use more combination plates.

Sound too good to be true? That's what I thought. But it works, it really really works. So much so, that the results of some unbelievably challenging process color tests recently with designs that would normally have demanded split plates have generated some fairly emotional customer quotes.

My favorite was from a press operator during one of these trials a few weeks back. His two word utterance, as the color just came right in beautifully on start up, said it all and inspired the title of this blog. Loosely translated I guess he was trying to say "Gosh, darn it, I'm really quite surprised. This looks pretty spectacular." Okay, so it loses a bit of impact on transIation and of course I didn't get to use it in the press release .......... but it still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that a new product feature can inspire such strength of reaction in a user. It's what makes all the hard work worthwhile.

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