Recognizing the merging of media workflows is HUGE for Printers and their customers

I have reviewed the new Adobe Creative Suite 4 features and I have only one thing to say…AWESOME…INCREDIBLE….WOW!

Ok, that was more than one word, but Adobe has really outdone themselves this time. What is clear is that they have recognized that “Content is King” and the creators of the content need to move faster and be more efficient, while enabling them to move across different medium seamlessly. Consider It Done, Number 1!

In reviewing the key new features of the entire CS4 product line, I have some thoughts. I know that many of you will be surprised at that, but let’s discuss that at another time. My thoughts are below.

• Speed Enhancements: Photoshop really got a supercharged upgrade. Moving large file without having significant wait times is a big deal. None of us get paid extra for watching the screen refreshing. That just costs us time and money. Besides, we have a tendency to be bored and then our attention will wonder to Twitter (@ricklittrell) or check the local news on the economy (well, maybe not. I don’t want to get depressed). Also, adding real time Preflight lets us fix things while we are working on them and will help us down the road as these files get deeper in the process, where all changes are more expensive and could impact the final delivery. Multiple art boards in Illustrator shows that they recognize the reality that in integrated marketing has many parts and that they all may not be the same. Good Call!
• Image Editing: Content-Aware scaling is INCREDIBLE! When I first saw it in the announcement, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m sure that situations will arise that will cause some hiccups, but just making the scaling algorithm more “content sensitive” is very cool. I don’t know how they did that, but my hats off to them (whoever “them” is at Adobe). Additionally, enhancing the editing of 3-D images will make these tools a “must have” for those of us (and who would not qualify in the graphics industry) that provide solutions integrated with the internet. I can only image what type of Avatars will come from this feature set. This will be fun to watch.
• Video: They have clearly shifted into high gear with the video functionality. With video being one of the fastest growing areas on the internet, having more tools at your finger tips for video and audio editing and integration will be a huge time saver, as well as allowing us to better build the imagery that our clients push us to. Variable video will become easier to produce and deploy. By adding their new “Speech to text” abilities that will link directly to the metadata, will enhance our ability to search for specific scenes and make these clips more internet search friendly. The search engine optimization friendliness of this function is HUGE! Don’t leave home without it.
• Interaction between Adobe applications: They have completed (for the time being) the integration of Macromedia into the Adobe core product line. Bouncing from medium to medium, without losing significant features in the process, allows designers/illustrators/photographers to play in all mediums at once. This will not replace the skill sets required to excel in each medium, but this recognizes that being “multi-media” friendly is the new world (and very fun world) for the creative and graphics production community. Kudos to Adobe for giving us the ability and tools to do this more easily. This is a step forward with enabling us to produce cross media solutions quicker. It’s still a challenge, but the mediums have so much overlap in today’s marketing, graphics production, and creative world, it just got easier to do. NOT EASY, just easier.
• Collaboration: By bundling in with Acrobat Connect, they understand that everyone on the team for a project may not be in the same location. That is the reality today for most of us. Due to the complexity of the integrated campaigns that have become the norm, most of us partner with others to expand our abilities to support our clients in an expanding media world. NO ONE, not even the biggest companies, can have on staff the necessary skill sets to produce, at a high level, an integrated campaign without assistance from outside groups and individuals. With “the outside” being potentially beyond your country boarders, even on the other side of the world. We are in a worldwide economy (the past week’s events confirms that even more), we need tools that allow us to build best-in-class teams, from a selection of partners that potentially could be located anywhere in the world. We will still have the language and cultural issues that have to be dealt with, but the geographic issues just got reduced and we all are now closer and the better for it.

So, that’s my cut on the new Adobe Creative Suite 4. With Magicomm focusing on cross media solutions, that use variable data printing, customized emails, personalized url’s, and variable video (with social media thrown into the mix for good measure), we are very excited about this release. Many of you already know that I have been a HUGE (both physically and philosophically) supporter of Adobe for many years and with this released they have confirmed my support. Great job, Adobe! Now the challenge is…What do you do next to top this?

“See” Ya Later,

Rick Littrell

Magicomm, LLC

Now is the time to crank up your marketing efforts. The ONLY way to work (which is the key word here) our way out of a down cycle is to increase marketing efforts for your business This will help threefold: (1) You will get more leads into your sales pipeline, (2) You will enhance your relationship with your existing clients, and (3) You will refocus on defining your “REAL” value-add and develop ways to maximize their value in the minds of your audience. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to expand your business into new accounts/.markets or you get more business (share of wallet) from you existing clients. I know that this is all easier said than done, but we all have to try if we want to grow now.

Magicomm is doing it by enhancing our web site landing page (if this is the first time you visited, you won’t know this) and we are “beefing” up our demo platforms, interactivity, and high value content such as samples and case studies. We have some pretty good stories that we are going to share. You will see many changes over of the next couple months. It’s a rolling effort, because we have more ideas then resources and we still have to continue to service our existing clients to “keep the lights on.” Additionally, we are evaluating new markets, products, and services that we can “quickly” expand our business with. Opportunities are everywhere, just sometimes they are not out in the open.

It’s easy to cut marketing budgets to save costs. The proof of that thought process is everywhere around us. But maybe we should look at the competitive and economic environment around us to find where growth exists. It does exist, you know. Learn how marketing techniques and tools have changed. The “traditional” ways of marketing are being challenged. The shift is towards leveraging the internet (web site, email, and personalized url’s), integrating the web with print and communicating more relevantly. Databases, personalized communications, social media strategies, and the ability to have measurable results are becoming increasingly important. Real time feedback to our prospects and them having “instant” access to information has high value. Time IS money. Cross media marketing strategies, including use of viral techniques, are coming to the forefront in our marketing thought process. Mass marketing is becoming less important. Finding the right person and communicating with them in the way they want is the game we are in now. The consumer of the information is increasingly able to control the conversation with corporations. It’s becoming more of a “pull” communication process than a push the message out to them process. Deal with this new reality. Don’t delay.

The sands are shifting and we cannot deny it! Why would we (The truth is a defense)? It’s summer time and it’s fun to play in the sand and the sun (equating sun with new business opportunities…I wanted to make sure that you got that connection. LOL). It’s more fun trying to grow business than it is trying to cut costs to profitability (or oblivion?). Don’t be a stay at home couch potato when all the fun is outside. Come on in and join the fun. What’s the worse that can happen? Getting a sunburn? That doesn’t seem so bad, now does it?

The biggest issue that we ran into during installation was the compaibility with the audio chip (which we needed for the interactive video message) on the mother board and Windows Server 2003 (which is a requirement for installation of a Pageflex Server). After much discussion, research, and “googling” we determined the audio chip and the Windows Server software was not going to play nice with each other. So be it…brought in a Windows XP machine, set up as client to server (which we should have thought of sooner), and viola…Sound was happening on our interaction video messaging component.

Link for this cross media demo will be posted soon, once we complete installing and testing the server (and application) here at Magicomm. I think that you will enjoy the video component.

Final thoughts….Drupa was good, ink jet was everwhere, On demand apps were “cost of doing business”, worked with many dedicated people, and learned lots about servers and networks. Got a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Had several members of the “Wurst” family of meats during my meals. How could I be so lucky? Inquiring minds would like to know…or maybe not.

Spent most the first two days setting the cross media demo up and practicing with the team assigned to the area. There were a few bumps and bruises along the way and it is finally running like a top this morning. The biggest pain was getting the audio running on the server (which we never did). Had something to do with Windows Server 2003 and the audio chip. Eventually, we brought in a XP machine and used it as the client to run the demo and NOW we can hear the sound of the interactive video message that was included in the demo. That got everyone’s attention. And the VDP posters that we printed from the demo looked great. They all love the demo!

Coming to shows like this is always a pleasure because I get to see many of my old friends and make some new ones. The Agfa booth is across the aisle and got to reconnect with many of my international friends.

The show was slow yesterday (first day of Drupa) and in the ride back to the hotel, the taxi driver was telling me that it appeared the attendance was down, based on his lack of business and the hotels having vacancies, which is very unusual for this show. I guess it indicates the economic times and how the printing industry is coming under pressure from other media. Everyone here is trying to be optimistic, but they all realize the times are changing. Print is getting pressured by other media options and no one expects this to change long term. Print has its place, but it is smaller than it use to be. That’s the reality of the world today.

Got to go and finish morning set up, so….

Every time we get to this point with a project (putting the final parts together for release), it becomes a “frenzy”. Magicomm was hired by Canon Europe to design and program an interactive cross media demo for their booth at Drupa, which opens May 29th in Dusseldorf, Germany. We included VDP print, customized emails, Personalized URL (PURL), and an interactive video. The interesting thing about this one is that there is NO database to start with. Part of the objective for the project is to gather prospect info as they get their demo in the Canon booth.

With this many moving parts and different media that is being used, it is challenging to move fast as the revisions to the components are implemented and reviewed with the customer. We have done a pretty good job on this one so far, considering we are working with four companies, including Canon, at four different locations (three countries, and two states in the US) with approximately 15 individuals working on the project. We use a project management product called Basecamp (by 37signals) that has really helped in the communication and organization of the project. It is a web-based platform that includes project management and asset management functionality. This was critical in helping us keep up with everyone’s comments and the ongoing revisions of the various components of the project.

I leave on a plane on Monday (Memorial Day in the US, which has caused a little stress at home as you can imagine) for Germany and we are still updating the files. But, this final frenzy is the FUN PART! This is where you see it all come together and the fruits of your labor are exposed. It’s glorious when the vision becomes a reality! It’s a little scary at the same time, because you end up getting feedback and then you think of how it can be improved, but you have to control your natural impulse to keep changing things. It’s only software, how hard can it be? When you hear that phase, a cold chill should run up your spine if you are the project manager, because you are now entering the “Never Ending Valley of Change”, which can kill a project. Now is the time to wrap it up, confirm that you have a solid technical structure, and that the creative direction has fulfilled the promise of the experience. Now the true test of a campaign/project is revealed. It’s sink or swim time!

Have to leave now to finish my pre-trip routine and review the project for a final time before I get on the plane. If you at are Drupa, stop by the Canon booth at the Cross Media Station and check out what we designed. We hope that you will enjoy the experience and will let us know your thoughts. There’s always opportunity to improve it…After all, it’s only software, how hard can it be?

My cut on this GREAT bit of information confirms that we are in a galactic shift where growth is in the new media and away from the traditional mass media. We all have to think differently when developing a strategy to help a company grow. No big surprise there, when you consider that we have been told for several years now, that the messaging which marketing services companies and ad agencies are developing for their clients’ needs to be more relevant and targeted. Using databases driving the messaging has become the new craft in our industry. Communicating to fewer, while providing more value is key!

More changes in thinking are required to succeed. Considering the impact of social media (such as blogs and social networks) is growing, corporations need to accept the loss of control of medium used for delivering the message. Not just focusing on selling their wares and making the message one directional. If what they are presenting to me is of no interest, I not only throw it away, but I discard it quicker the next time I see their name on something that is sent to me (whether it is email or print…won’t matter). They don’t know me and don’t care to understand what my interests are. They are more interested in pushing their products on me, as opposed to understanding how they can add value to my life. This creates a situation that forces marketing services companies to build bi-direction communications strategies. Pushing information to their target markets is not good enough anymore, the information must be relevant and an avenue for direct response becomes more important in developing trust and a relationship with the consumer.

Traditional print is not the only way and surely (Don’t call me Shirley!) using mass communication techniques (newspaper, radio, and tv) must not be the only strategy going forward. Using an integrated direct communications cross media strategy (now that is a mouth full) to establish a conversation (more touches equals higher response) will provide better results AND provide for increased customer satisfaction. It only makes sense to think this way, doesn’t it?

This is why marketing jobs are growing, because there are more options and companies are looking for answers. The “new” kids (whether it is veterans looking for new adventures (like me) or new college graduates) entering the marketplace “get it” and those that have this line of thinking are finding opportunities. Those whose only answer to a company’s marketing strategy is “run more ads” are going to be the losers and they will find out of the market quickly. It’s much more that developing “pretty pictures” and getting more eyeballs…SOOOOO MUCH MORE!

A lot of businesses have made the initial move online with some sort of company website however few have made the leap into the blogosphere. Hopefully by the end of this post you will see the benefit of maintaining a blog for your company.

First let me introduce you to the elephant in the room that is Social Media. The internet has changed the way we communicate from emails to IMs but within that last couple of years we’ve started to see communities of people emerge from the interweb. These communities encourage a whole new train of thought as to how we interact and ultimately trust each other. Social Media marketing involves giving back to the community in hopes that people will ultimately look to you for answers to industry specific questions. Now there are a couple of ways to accomplish this.

First there are Social Networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo where anyone can join an online community and immediately connect to thousands if not millions of other users. Within these communities you’ll tend to see alot of guerilla marketing and spamming while people try and make their brand known. The successful social media marketers are the ones who only give positive feedback to other people’s questions and ultimately become a resource to the community. Its all about establishing yourself and your company as leaders and experts within your field.

Another popular approach is through Social Bookmarking sites. These dynamic directories of information change based on the general consensus of the greater population. To have your company, or blog post, featured on the front page of one of these sites is guaranteed traffic in your companies direction.

Now both of these social media marketing approaches work on their own however there is one key component missing that helps retain your online following, your blog. A blog is pretty much an online journal where you are putting out information into the web. There are popular blog directories and indexing sites that will take your blogs RSS feed and share it with the rest of the world. The great thing about RSS feeds is that they are cross media ready. They allow for people to easily subscribe to your blog so they can view it with their favorite feed aggregator, wethere it be online, on their desktop, or on their phone. Over time you will see your subscriber base grow and as a result more business opportunities will begin to unfold.

Now the key thing about blogging it to be sure you are putting out quality, on topic, content and that you post regularly. This may seem like quite a chore but in reality it should only take up a half hour of your day.

One concern many companies have about blogging is how to control unwanted comments on their blog. Well, ultimately you can delete these entries however i would consider addressing them. This could be a great opportunity to clear the air on a touchy topic within your industry.

What you are doing is putting a face to your company. Your giving your company an existence that can act and react and it will give your business the human touch that social media revolves around.

Please feel free to comment, rant or complain and I’ll be glad to converse with you :)

January 14^th issue of BtoB Magazine: ?Social Networks starting to click? This article discusses the growth of Web 2.0 usage among marketers and how they are becoming more focused and relevant to a targeted group. With this comes a loss of control over content by the traditional publishers and advertisers. The individual can now comment on a topic/company/product and that thought will be broadcast worldwide in nanoseconds. This scares many, but there is no way to put that ?horse back in the barn?. This will force us all to reflect more on how we present ourselves to the outside world and it will force corporations to rethink how they manage their relationships with their customers. These relationships can be established faster due to the enhanced ability to generate a dialogue between the corporation and the individual.

January 15^th issue of Marketing News Magazine (published by the American Marketing Association): ?2008: The Year Ahead- What to look for in the coming year from social, mobile & experiential marketing? Their focus on social, mobile and experiential is telling. As the communication channels continue to evolve, it will become increasingly important for corporations to consider how they spread their marketing resources around. More channels make for more competition for each channel to prove their value and ability to deliver the message and the revenue opportunities. That will be no small challenge for some of them. The ?mass blast? same message to all is becoming decreasingly a consideration, especially when you layer on top of it the requirement for being able to track results to revenue. Branding is still important, but making more revenue in a down economy is critical to survival. Take my word for it, being a small company we are striving to grow in the difficult environment.

February 15^th issue of Marketing News Magazine: ?On the Map- Location-based marketing targets consumers where they are with what they want?. Another illustration of the requirement for mobile communications and that marketing strategies take into account that consumers will pull their content and that using a pure ?push? marketing strategy may weaken over time. This will also play well into the social networks, with their basis being to have their participants ping into them when they feel motivated to respond, regardless of their location.

March 10^th issue of BtoB magazine: ?New technology, emerging channels hot topics at DMA?. Blogs and podcasts are more than a fad, they are becoming a way of life for marketers and we are all trying to understand how to best monetize them and leverage them for their true power of building relationships with consumers. When you have a member of the IBM team discussing the impact of blogs and podcasts on purchasing decisions, can we say that this way of thinking is entering mainstream marketing disciplines? Inquiring minds want to know.

And lastly, for the purpose of this train of thought, the Boston Globe published an article on March 24^th titled ?Ad networks form to take on big Net firms? that discusses traditional media companies building ad networks that take advantage of the proliferation of blogs and helps their customers purchase ads on them. This move shows that the power of these communication vehicles have been noticed by the more traditional publishers. These new ad networks will identify the specific blogs that are relevant to a topic and then group them for a broader based media buy. Their power to communicate is expanding into the more traditional markets, which this article clearly identifies.

So, what does this all mean, Mr. Wizard? I believe that we are seeing more than a fad in thinking but this shift in resources from mass advertising and stand alone marketing channels will accelerate in the future. Print will still play a part, but it will increasingly become a component in an overall marketing strategy that will use the web for order fulfillment and social networks to enhance brand awareness and customer relationships. Those companies that remain in the Dark Ages in their marketing thoughts will become road kill on the highway of progress. Too many forces are coming into play for us to ignore them and these forces are on a cultural level and not related to only one industry or group of industries. It is becoming a life style decision for consumers, as well as a business decision for the organizations that want to service them. Where are you going to play in the future? Inquiring minds want to know!

Well it seems as if there are multiple cross-media technologies emerging from the web to help engage, interact and even entertain the user, therefore increasing conversions. We’ve seen how XMPie can personalize images with its powerful VDP engine, but what if the user could change their name at runtime? Furthermore, what if the users name wasn’t in an image, but in a short movie? This is the future of PURLs and will be a hit in the social media world.

I received a link through Twitter for a website about a TV Show on FX and I was amazed at what they had done. Here is the PURL someone made for me. This type of PURL has both a viral marketing factor to it and a huge fun component. Everyone wants to be the star of their own movie and show it off to all of their friends. Personalized video could very well be a key component in the future of PURLs as VDP in images becomes all too familiar.

Another key component will be the “on demand” factor. General URL’s are limited in how they perform once you leave the realm of your database. So how do you appeal to the masses with personalized landing pages? Well, why not have the website change at runtime. Here’s something my own company put together. Basically I wanted the user to be able to interact with the flash movie in real time from outside of the movie via the web-form. Using JavaScript, I was able to insert the users name into the newspaper at runtime and it’s had an amazing response. Using this method there are endless possibilities to creating unique personalized experiences where everyone has their own PURL.

People need a break from their everyday activities and these fun side trackers give them this opportunity and not only will these methods produce higher responses, but they’re great for PR. So the future is about Interactivity and Engagement, have fun!