May 11, 2005 -- Last week's interchange between Bernd Blumberg and Michael Josefowicz steered the original discussion about making print more appealing to high school and college students in a somewhat different direction. Brad Lena of Daniels Marketing joins the discussion this week. Unspoken here is the need for print providers with employees who can do more than put ink and toner on a page, but must blend and internet presence and market feedback and analysis. What do you have to say? Let's continue this dialogue about how our industry is changing and how the successful companies are adapting--and even fomenting change. Dear ODJ: Those print providers who survive the ongoing shake out will have less resemblance to their industry forefathers as they will, of necessity, be conversant in all digitally driven communications. I've read the exchange between Mr. Blumberg and Mr. Josefowicz, as well as the latter's original remarks, with interest. My take, based on my market experience, is a little different. For me, printing --excluding information publishing such as books, manuals, etc.-- exists only to facilitate a transaction of some sort. In this instance, a transaction is defined as a sale, a request, a telephone call, a web hit, a reservation/registration, etc. These transactions could of course include the production of other printed products. 1:1 is in essence, just an additional tactic to stimulate a transactional response. Those print providers who survive the ongoing shake out will have less resemblance to their industry forefathers as they will, of necessity, be conversant in all digitally driven communications. An emerging issue, and one overlooked in Mr. Blumberg's and Mr. Josefowicz's commentaries, is an unanticipated by-product of the integration of the data-driven personalized print and the Internet. Driving traffic to a web site with VDP and granting access via PIN # allows for the capture of critically important market feedback in real time and the track back is to an individual or at the least an identified market segment. The combination of these two mediums provides marketers with the following answers: Did my direct mail work: yes or no. If it worked, and they went to the web site, did they stay or did they bail out? If the stayed, what did they look at and what did they ignore? Did the desired transaction take place? Providing this sort of analysis, simultaneously with the marketing campaign, extracts significant productivity from marketing expenditures. (Driving value to the bottom line is the touchstone of modern communication/information objectives.) We get clients' attention in a heart beat when we begin to lay out a campaign with these capabilities. Brad Lena Director New Business Development, Daniels Marketing Support Services 828.712.4585 www.dmssg.com