Did you know that digital book production is expected to grow 15% to 20% per year for the next 3 years? Or, that 30% of all books printed worldwide are touched by Kodak technology? Kodak has been a leader in the book market for years with solutions that include offset plates, CTP, proofing devices and Prinergy Production Workflow and services.

Here are some interesting statistics about book printing:

• More that 60% of books are printed in run lengths of 10,000 or less
• Trade books total over 70% of books produced in the US
• Less than 5 % pages are digitally printed today

With the rising cost of returns and waste, publishers are starting to examine alternate business models. Printing books digitally provides the following benefits:

• Lower break-even
• Lower capital lock up
• Minimal wastage of unsold/obsolete books
• Reduced warehousing/shipping costs
• Ever current titles
• More current marketing activities

Kodak provides solutions that deliver greater revenue opportunities and improved profit margins for printers and publishers worldwide, whether producing 1 or 100,000 copies.

Run a quick check of the internet using your favorite search or decision engine and you will find that strategies for using data in customer-facing communication are the buzz. The role model success stories for both direct mail marketers and transaction print producers have been rolling out in blogs, articles, and in conference presentations for the past several years. The question: Is data-driven communication integrated into your 2010 customer communication strategy?

Let's start with a definition of data-driven communication. The baseline is the use of data in communication to your customer. In the case of transaction communication the data flows from customer transaction data bases and may be directly placed in the customer document (what you bought and what you paid). It may also be used to trigger formatting changes or the insertion of informational, educational or marketing messages. In direct mail the database provides the address, but in the best of situations is also being used to trigger different offers to different targets.

These are simple definitions, as current practitioners of data-driven communication will tell you. They do, however, lay the baseline. Once we agree about what is included in the definition of data-driven communication, the next step is to understand that it is a multi-channel communication technique. In the best of integrated customer communication strategies, the use of data to tune offers, alter formatting based on the gender or age of the recipient, and track trends is customer interaction is part of the plan.

That brings us to the question: what are you planning for 2010? Have you brainstormed with your Kodak team to see how we can help you communicate more effectively with your customers? We have team members ready to come and talk to you about how adding a data-driven communication strategy can add value to the services you offer (internal or external clients) and maintain your status as a partner to your clients.

If you haven't talked to us recently, come talk to us now!

Have a story to share? Drop me a note: pat.mcgrew@kodak.com - we'd love toshare your success story!

With a weak economy and many companies fighting to keep their heads above water, attending a 4 day conference might not make the "to do" list of a  lot of Print Service Providers. Yet nearly 300 attendees are on hand this week for Kodak's Graphic Users' Association event in Orlando, Florida to learn how workflow and software solutions from Kodak can be crucial to the success of their enterprise.

Keynote speaker Andrew Paparozzi, Vice President and Chief Economist of NAPL, praised attendees for making such a strong commitment to their businesses. "Are we asking the right questions or are we hoping everything works out?", inquired Paparozzi in his keynote address this morning. "How do we establish, company wide, that the biggest threat to our industry is not the recession, it's not China... it is complacency, the status quo, and assuming that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. Because in an industry being redefined by structural change, a rising tide no longer lifts all boats and no risk is greater than doing nothing."

For more of Paparozzi's speech, please watch below. And stay tuned for more from the 2009 GUA conference as the week unfolds.