Recent Xerox Thought Leadership Workshops focused on two of the most lucrative opportunities in the graphic communications market - photo publishing and relevant, customized direct-marketing campaigns that increase return on investment.
 
Representatives from commercial printers, imaging centers and professional and retail photo labs traveled to the Xerox Gil Hatch Center in Webster, N.Y. to learn about the financial impact of on demand high-quality photo specialty products. InfoTrends predicts the U.S. photo merchandise market, which includes photo cards, photo books, photo calendars and specialty photo prints, is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent from 2008 through 2013, with revenues surpassing $2.5 billion.
 
Photo publishing experts, Xerox executives and customers offered tips to enter this market and highlighted the digital printing solutions available to capitalize on the growing demand.
 
A separate workshop focused on the power of using customer data to create personalized marketing campaigns that create higher response rates and increase return on investment. Attendees heard from industry experts and Xerox customers about how to transition from a print provider to a marketing communications agency and best practices for creating relevant direct-marketing campaigns.
 
Attendees also heard how big-name companies, such as Reader's Digest, found success with relevant direct-mail programs and the help of Xerox's 1:1 Lab - a variable print testing ground for Xerox customers.