Given the increasing pressures on printers to control, if not reduce their costs, during these trying economic times, I felt that the time was right to provide them (including dealers and independent services organizations) with the ability to extend the usefulness of their existing equipment. Many will decide to purchase the latest and greatest technology available, because that is what they have always done to maintain their competitive edge. But most will want to spend their limited resources in new growth areas that will provide them a higher margin and expanded business opportunities while maintaining their existing infrastructure and core business (Can’t kill the cash cow, ya know!). Replacing an existing platesetter with one that is shinier, faster, and more automated may not provide them with the biggest bang for their buck. Purchasing a system that allows them to automate and connect their internal processes may be a better place to spend their money. Or, expanding into fulfillment…Or, providing a web-to-print portal for their clients…Or, purchasing a digital press that is variable data capable…Or…Or….Or…You get the picture.

Additionally, the existing manufacturers of this equipment have gone through significant cost reductions (laying offs) and there are many highly qualified technicians that are looking for ways to support their families. Many are providing support to the clients that they had worked for through the years by servicing them directly, which would mean that they need a resources, besides the manufacturer, to help them with access to quality parts. AND, there are no organizations that will provide used parts (which means lower cost) available to them today(that I know of).

I know that many are leery of used parts, which is why we have provided a warranty that is even better than what you get with purchasing some new parts from the manufacturer. How do we do that, you may ask. Well, with our access to used equipment, we can use their parts at a fraction of the cost for us than by purchasing them separately. Also, we have extremely low overhead that is difficult to the larger manufacturers to match. It just seemed like a service like ifix.com that was right for the times, therefore we decided to take advantage of this changing environment that printers, dealers, and manufacturers are experiencing during these difficult economic times by providing them with a needed service that is not available anywhere else. A tsunami is hitting our industry and when it is over, we will look extremely different that we were back in the “good old days”.

What am I doing with Magicomm?

iFix.com is a natural extension of Magicomm. I hope to do many more of these type of business ventures in the future. With Magicomm being a innovative marketing solutions provider that is focused on leveraging all media and building integrated marketing solutions, I felt that by starting a ecommerce company that would provide a much needed solution to the graphics industry was a “no brainer”.

I was talking to a buddy of mine last year about the need for a resource that he could purchase reliable laser imaging parts for his clients platesetters….thus the idea began. We decided to use the resources of Magicomm to build the site (still working on it, but it is good to go now) that the industry could trust to purchase BOTH NEW AND USED PLATESETTER PARTS from. Took us almost a year, with no marketing, to fine tune our internal processes and sources for parts before we decided to “formally” launch the company. I have working in the industry for over 30 years and have been lucky to get to know people in the industry from all over the world, printers, dealers, and vendors. So, by leveraging my industry insight and experience with my contact base and what I have learned with Magicomm, it just made sense to start this business. I expect to be expanding into other areas, such as used equipment and software solutions, in the near future. Magicomm with ALWAYS be at the center of these efforts, because of the resources that we have and the knowledge we have developed during our marketing efforts in the graphics industry.

I will continue to look for opportunities to partner with other companies and individuals to develop new businesses and revenue streams for Magicomm. After all…Isn’t the goal for us all is to “Make money while we are sleeping?” and the ONLY way to do that is through the Internet and through the use of automated workflows. Stay tuned for the further adventures of Rick Littrell, Magicomm, and iFix.com!

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

1st Strategic Marketing Beach Bash
The date is Final: Friday, July 11, 2008
Begins at High Noon and lasts until…there is no reason to stay anymore.
Salisbury Beach in Salisbury, MA (at the beach below the intersection of Ocean and Railroad Streets…Beach Path #2)

Bring all that you need to enjoy a day at the beach. You should include beach chair, blankets, food, drink, and SUN SCREEN, at the very least.

Don’t forget your “Burning” Question” or “Great” story to share with the group.

Whatever is a ‘Strategic Marketing Beach Bash” you may ask. Magicomm came up with this idea and is organizing this event for three reasons: (1) The second quarter was extremely busy for us and we got the opportunity to work in some new areas and learn new things. It was fun, but many questions were raised as we drove ahead with developing interactive components and strategies of a direct marketing campaign using viral techniques, variable data print, dynamic emails, personalized url’s and variable video’s. We would like to meet others that are working or interested in these areas and technologies that work out of the Boston/Southern New Hampshire. (2) Meeting on a beach, feeling the sand in your toes, and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your body, would not present an enormous burden on any of us, and (3) We all deserve a break from the normal, day to day chaos of work and life. Besides, it’s summer time and most of us work inside all day and only get to look at the sun through of windows, if we have windows at all (We are lucky at Magicomm because we are in an old Mill building, with HUGE windows that look over the Pow Wow River. It’s not so shabby!)

Therefore, we decided to organize such an event for the good of mankind (or should I say “person”kind?). This is a “BYOE” event (Bring Your Own Everything). We are going to set up our beach chairs, blankets, food, drinks, and umbrellas on the beach in Salisbury, MA. We will be set up near the boardwalk, just outside the reservation beach. Go into town and park near the beach, would provide you the closest parking. If you go into the beach reservation to park, you may have to walk a little way on the beach towards the town center to meet up with us.

Salisbury is on the Atlantic coast between Newburyport, MA and Seabrook, NH. We will be on the beach by noon time. Once we all set up our “best spot”, we can begin our discussions with you on YOUR (or Ours) burning question. Oops, I forgot to tell you that you had to bring a “burning” question or a great story to share with the group. All topics relating to marketing and media are on the table for discussion. I expect a lot of discussion on personalized communications, integrated marketing, viral marketing, and social media. Of course, leveraging the internet while not completely abandoning the traditional mass media and print will be looked at from all angles.

But, you may ask yourself “What day is it going to be?”. Legitimate question, but that is the tricky part. We are planning to have it sometime the week of July 7th. But, we will not finalize the date until we are SURE that the weather will be good for a superior beach experience. Therefore, we will continue to watch the weather and will make the call when the weather picture becomes clearer. At this time, it appears that the end of the week is going to best the best weather. So keep an eye on our calendar page for the final determination. We will update daily, at least, as we watch The Weather Channel. Right now, Friday, July 11th looks like the best day. Definitely not promising for the first of the week.

Looking forward to it and I hope to see you there.