WELCOME

Jun 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Scott Bieda Publisher, PRINT & MEDIA BUYER

At $11.50 per seven-ounce bag, the personalized M&Ms on our cover are bit pricey, but they serve as an excellent illustration of a larger trend: Mass production is giving way to mass customization.

Way more than 57 varieties

Courtesy of Heeter Direct (Canonsburg, PA), you can even personalize your Heinz ketchup bottle at www.myheinz.com.

While these food items are novelties, neither would be possible without the Web. The Internet allows customers to interact with companies to specify unique requirements, which are then manufactured by automated systems.

Another tool, the personalized URL (PURL), is bridging the gap between print and online media and pushing direct mail in an exciting — and effective — new direction.

PRINT & MEDIA BUYER's sister publication, AMERICAN PRINTER, conducts an annual seminar on variable-data printing called Variables. We asked two past Variables panelists to share some advice with PMB readers.

David Minnick, chief technology officer, Consolidated Graphics (www.cgginc.com) stresses the importance of communicating with your printer well in advance of delivering files. “There are many design elements that can influence production time and cost. Reviewing early in the process can save both time and money.”

Do your homework about the data, advises Joe Metzger, president, Metzgers Printing + Mailing (www.metzgers.com). “The better and more accurate the data, the better the results. For some, it might be important to know who ‘owns’ the data and the information or additional data that is gained with the results of the direct marketing effort. Get good data, and make sure you know where that data came from.”

Metzger further suggests “an easy point of entry for the customer to access, gain or leave information behind. A 1-800 phone line might be great for some demographics, however, an e-mail address might be better for some, while a fax machine or a Web site would be best for others. This leads into personalized URLs (PURLs) for direct marketing turnkey solutions to gather information and drive direct marketing responses connecting sellers and prospects faster than ever before.”