PALO ALTO, Calif. – HP today announced L&D Mail Masters (www.ldmailmasters.com), a lettershop based in New Albany, Ind., is using a combination of HP technologies to advance its business with high-quality, high-productivity mailpiece production.

L&D is using HP Indigo, HP SmartStream and HP Specialty Printing Systems (SPS) solutions including thermal inkjet imagers, the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press and the new HP SmartStream Director end-to-end workflow solution. L&D selected its new press and workflow based on HP's two-decade history as the trusted provider of the inkjet inks used in L&D's lettershop imprinting lines, as well as the consultative, business development offerings available from Digital Solutions Cooperative (Dscoop), an independent, HP-sponsored users' group.

Driving growth with HP solutions
The HP Indigo 7000 and HP SmartStream Director workflow solution enable L&D to capture new opportunities in the fast-growing market for full-color, personalized direct mail, extending L&D's reach to a broader range of customers. Despite an economic environment that reduced business from its traditional client base, the successful diversification into digital color has helped L&D set a pace to grow its annual revenues from $22 million to $40 million within four years.

"Lettershops are seeing unprecedented change in their businesses, but these changes include unprecedented new opportunities with digital print," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "After the 20 years in which L&D Mail Masters has trusted HP for its essential inkjet imprinting supplies, we are now helping this firm continue to expand with fast-growing applications driven by the HP Indigo 7000 and the HP SmartStream Director end-to-end workflow."

Peer education leads to innovation
After seeing the HP Indigo 7000 at Graph Expo in the fall of 2008, Diane Fischer, owner and president, L&D Mail Masters, attended the 2009 Dscoop conference, where she was able to learn from other print service providers (PSPs) selling digital printing. Fisher likened the conference, and the level of beneficial information shared among PSPs, to what was once shared among her peers at lettershop industry gatherings – something she feels is rare among lettershops today because of longstanding competitive pressures.

Shortly after the conference, Fischer purchased and installed an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press, and also became one of the first PSPs in the nation to install the new HP SmartStream Director workflow solution, which is being linked to L&D's mailing management information system through Director's software developer kit.

L&D's customer base includes insurance and financial firms, as well as a number of smaller, start-up companies eager to establish themselves with smart, targeted marketing campaigns. Today, the HP Indigo 7000 has enabled L&D to expand its digital color capabilities beyond what it was able to achieve using a lower-volume print device from another vendor. The company is meeting and generating increased demand for variable-data-driven, full-color postcard campaigns, leveraging the HP Indigo 7000's 12.48-inch x 18.26-inch size format and 120 pages-per-minute speed, which allow for high throughput and fast turnaround.

Fisher's company continues to utilize proven HP inks for addressing and other imprinting needs on the company's offset press and envelope inserting lines. L&D Mail Masters owns several printers from HP SPS original equipment manufacturer partner Kirk-Rudy Inc. and runs those printers using HP water-based thermal inkjet inks.

"L&D Mail Masters recognizes that diversification is the key to growth through an economic downturn, and that means securing new clients and, just as important, more capacity in the service areas where we see new potential," said Fischer. "HP's ability to consult with us on directions for expansion, plus the invaluable experience we had learning from HP Indigo users through Dscoop, proved that an already trusted supplier like HP could deliver solutions like the Indigo 7000 and SmartStream Director to help take L&D to the next level."

The HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press's offset-quality imaging and variable-data printing capabilities allow L&D to create more-compelling, relevant high-response postcards. This, in turn, gives L&D's clients the option of reducing waste and maximizing the effectiveness of their marketing dollars by using data to target likely respondents to an offer instead of sending low-response, non-personalized static mailers to a larger number of people.