Marketing can be a fun job, suited to creative people who enjoy the excitement of positioning new products and getting the upper hand on your competition.  It's a continual game of one-upmanship and counter-positioning. 

A good marketing campaign builds upon your core strengths, positioning them in a way that demonstrates unique value to your customers.  It's a magical thing when done well.

Over the last few years, the energy and focus going into environmental-based marketing has ramped up dramatically, which is a good thing if the products really benefit the environment.  I don't usually like to talk badly about our competitors (that's not my way of marketing), but recently they've gone just a step or two too far and I just have to call them out on it.

To compete with Kodak's Thermal Direct plate, Agfa has been touting their "Chemistry Free" messaging since the launch of Azura.  As absurd and deceptive as that message is (the plate system is neither free of chemistry, nor is the chemistry itself free), they're banking on the precarious argument of what exactly is "chemistry".  Sure, the chemicals might be different and more dilute, but they're still chemicals - especially if you consider the dissolved plate goop that builds up throughout the bath life: it has to be handled like chemistry - because it is chemistry. 

At IfraExpo a couple of weeks ago, Agfa defined Chemistry Free as "only use of non aggressive chemicals." Huh? In the same presentation, they say "Chemistry Free means 'No Developer/Replenisher.'" International Paper's Pocket Pal, arguably the industry standard for definitions of graphic arts terms, defines "developer" as "in lithographic platemaking, the material used to remove the unexposed coating." Agfa's marketing literature clearly says that the purpose of their clean out gum for Azura is to wash away the non-imaged areas of the plate. But it's not "developer?" If it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.  :)

Lately, Agfa has even extended their messaging to start calling Azura "Processless." So now they have a "Processless" and "Chemistry Free" plate that requires both a processor and chemistry... go figure.

It appears that redefining the words "chemistry" and "developer" (and even "free"!) are the only ways Agfa can find to position their plate against Thermal Direct.  Now although we call Thermal Direct a Non Process plate, we fully disclose that it's a "Develop On Press" plate.  The action of removing the unexposed coating still happens, but because it happens automatically and seamlessly as part of the normal make-ready process on the press, in effect there is no separate processing step or processing equipment required.  No matter what you call it in marketing-speak, the full value is clear:  total elimination of all processing chemistry and disposal, all processing equipment, all maintenance, and all developer-related variation in the system.  As Shakespeare said, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".  Or I guess in Azura's case - it would still smell like chemistry. 

Enough said.  We're ready for the next round... bring it on!

11-18 Update: this post has created a lively discussion on the PrintPlanet forum: http://printplanet.com/forums/computer-plate/16238-azura-plate-chemistry-free

Years ago we introduced a wonderful "little" technology to the CTP market called SQUAREspot - a 10,000 dpi thermal laser imaging system.

This uniquely high resolution enables clear differentiation between "exposed" and "unexposed" edges, producing dots on plate with greater consistency and measurably tighter production tolerances than coarser Gaussian laser imaging technologies.

SQUAREspot provides unparalleled quality, resolution, stability, latitude, and process control for making digital offset plates. This technology helped pave the way for thermal plates to become the dominant technology for CTP, especially in high-volume and high-quality printing markets worldwide.

The benefits of SQUAREspot for our customers were well recognized - both in terms of quality and cost efficiency.

Now that Kodak's Graphic Communications Group is made up from some of the best companies in the industry, with some of the most innovative technologies, even the SQUAREspot message no longer captures the total value that we can deliver to our customers!

What our customers need to ensure their long-term survival and profitability is pretty simple: stability and process control, right from the beginning of the software workflow, through to the last printed dot on press. With the drive towards automation throughout the printing process, Stability isn't just a nice thing to have - it's mission-critical.

The biggest challenges our customers face - saving costs,being more efficient, and cutting waste - are exactly the ones we help solve,with products that deliver higher quality more consistently, with less investment and less impact on our environment.

Rather than focusing on just one small part of the process like plate developer (like some of our competitors are doing), bigger opportunities can be found across four key areas of the Production Cycle: Imaging, Prepress, On-Press, and the Environment. For a more in-depth view, visit our micro-site for Kodak's Offset Stability Program at http://www.kodak.com/go/stability . We'll help you find ways to improve Stability throughout your production environment - whether you choose Kodak products in the end or not.

Sometimes we have the luxury of playing with technology just for the fun of it, but when it can have such a huge impact on your business' profitability - and even survival - it must be taken a lot more seriously. Look at the full opportunity for Stability improvement in your print shop, and Kodak will gladly help you find some great ways to achieve it.

Achieving gray balance in presswork is the major mantra in today's print production world. It is the paramount metric - now defined in unambiguous CIE L*a*b* values - for the G7™ calibration method to align press and proof color as well as for achieving presswork that conforms to GRACoL® 7. That being said, one must keep a "balanced" view on gray balance as a metric in presswork. While it certainly has value - interpreting that value requires some understanding of the peculiarities of the press room as well as a bit of history.

1. As far as I can determine there has never been a formal study of gray balance targets measured in press sheet color bars and how they relate to the live image content of the press sheet.
2. Press operators do not "make color" on press. They concentrate on what a press is designed to do - lay down a consistent film of ink approximately one micron thick on the substrate.
3. Press operators use densitometers - not to measure color, but to indirectly measure ink film thickness.
4. The deepest study that has been done on gray balance was by System Brunner using densitometers rather than spectrophotometers to measure gray balance.
5. The ISO specification (e.g. ISO 12647-2, ISO 2846-1) defines gray balance as "neutral" - a very vague term.
6. A press lays ink down in a series of zones which run from the lead edge to the tail of the sheet. If a specific process color (C, M, Y or K) is not require in that zone because of image content, that ink zone is switched off and gray balance is no longer achieved in the color bar.
7. Image content that requires a substantial increase in solid ink density in some colors (e.g. a sunset scene) will result in  gray balance no longer being achieved in the color bar.
8. The correlation of gray balance distortion (i.e. color bias) vs perceived color shift in quarter, mid and shadow areas has not been studied. It is probable that it is very non-linear. That is to say that the shifts we see in the gray balance target in the color bar may shift quite a it, however, we will not necessarily see an equal shift in highlight or shadow color.
9. Gray balance targets are likely too sensitive to normal color fluctuations on press to be of practical use. Just like a car's speedometer would be useless information if provided 3 decimal place readouts of speed (e.g. 50.392/kmh, 50.471/kmh, 50.148/kmh).
10. It is dangerous to apply gray balance principles derived from scanning and proofing to the pressroom since the mechanics of how color is achieved is radically different.
11. The job of the press operator is to align the "live" image area of their presswork with the proof by achieving the appropriate solid ink densities since printers sell the live image area of the press sheet - the color bars go into the recycling bin.

Gray balance targets in presswork color bars certainly have some value - but interpretation of the information they contain must always be considered in the context of the mechanics and chemistry of the press itself.