Pittsburgh, Pa., October 1, 2003—In a recent Quarterly Market Survey by GATF/PIA, 42% of printers selected variable data printing as one of the technologies that will have the greatest impact on their future. In an effort to minimize the learning curve, the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation and the Printing Industries of America are presenting the second annual Variable Data Printing (VDP) Conference, "The Anatomy of the Personalization Project," November 3–5 at the Doubletree La Posada in Phoenix, Arizona. While the conference will address critical issues through over 20 sessions and roundtables, it is the case studies that will allow attendees to go behind the scenes to see how specific applications were created, designed, and produced. In each instance, a printing executive, their client, and designer or database manager will come together to offer different perspectives on the same application. The following questions will be addressed: Why did the customer decide to use variable data printing and what were the results? What challenges did the printer face in designing the project or performing database analytics? What workflow issues had to be overcome to actually produce the project? What impact does variable data have on the future of the company’s business model and profitability? The case study by Bates Jackson, a 100 year-old commercial printer in Buffalo, New York, features an account utilizing personalized direct mail and marketing collateral material. Perhaps the most valuable part of this case is how an old-line traditional printer, with roots in letterpress and engraving, recast itself to become a cutting-edge, value-added provider of personalization. In the second of three case studies, Daniels Graphics, a 50-year-old printing company in Asheville, North Carolina, will discuss their use of a more sophisticated level of personalization, including variable images and database manipulation. Daniels will illustrate how they began with a very simple variable imaging project with a customer and, after an initial success, grew the business into a profit center. The final case study by DocuGlobal of Norcross, Georgia, will showcase what is currently being achieved at the highest level of personalization. The application requires full-web integration with complex swapping of images based on database rules. This case study is not from a printer, but from a software development company that understands the potential of offering variable data print capability as a value-added service. DocuGlobal offers a complete program of personalization services from database management, mailing, interactive web applications, and print. Keynote presentations will be delivered by Charles Anderson of Charles S. Anderson Design Company and CSA Images and by Andrew Conville of Ford Motor Company. Anderson, well known in design fields for his award-winning work, will discuss how variable imaging is being incorporated into his designs. Conville will share why the Extended Service Plan (ESP) area of Ford Motor Company has found it beneficial to use personalization in its communications and the measurable results it has attained because of these efforts. The conference is co-sponsored by the Digital Printing Council (DPC)—a special industry group of GATF/PIA. Formed specifically to provide users with a source to develop, exchange, discuss, and evaluate information on digital printing, the DPC is lending top industry experts on personalized printing to the event. Packed with all the information needed to be successful with this technology, the GATF/PIA Variable Data Printing Conference is being offered at a GATF/PIA/DPC member price of $795 ($995 for other firms). For more information, contact Jim Workman, GATF’s director of training, by phoning 800/910-GATF extension 111 or by emailing [email protected]. Or visit the Training and Meetings module at www.gain.net.