August 26, 2003 -- Heidelberg will offer Schober’s “intelligent address” service and support customers in their quest to become media service providers.... Heidelberg is expanding its portfolio to include direct marketing solutions from the Schober Information Group AG (Schober), following the signing of a cooperation agreement between both companies. Digital printing and variable data printing are becoming more and more synonymous, meaning printshops must gain expertise in these areas and market this knowledge to their end customers. To support this process, Heidelberg will shortly be offering its digital printing customers further variable data printing services. “Intelligent address” from Schober will be one of the main areas of focus. Schober will assess the addresses in terms of potential and risks. In this respect, regional buying and even payment patterns are examples of important criteria. The information will increase the efficiency of personalized print media as coverage waste and other risks can be minimized. Heidelberg’s digital printing customers can either have their own or their customers’ addresses analyzed by Schober through direct access or they can retrieve pre-analyzed addresses. The service also includes, for example, direct market training, analysis of potentially important customers for a media service provider and even an evaluation of the competition in a given region. “The cooperation between Schober and Heidelberg enables our digital printing customers to become real media service providers. They are now in a position to manage their client’s direct marketing campaigns much more efficiently and to offer them a wider service portfolio, extending far beyond printing. Furthermore, we hope that the cooperation will constitute a further step towards the widespread use of variable data printing,” states Holger Reichardt, Marketing, Sales and Service Director at Heidelberg, commenting on the signing of the contract. Thanks to this cooperation, Heidelberg customers will benefit from a wide range of direct marketing solutions from Schober. The new service will begin as a pilot project in Germany and Switzerland and will be available from the fourth quarter of 2003 through Heidelberg’s sales organizations. Likewise, an international rollout of the service is planned in the medium term. Klaus Schober, owner of the Schober Information Group commented, “The Heidelberg initiative – delivering direct marketing know-how to customers – is an immense step forward. As a result, the print media industry will profit in the long term from the great opportunities for growth associated with this marketing strategy. We are pleased that we are able to contribute to this development thanks to our extensive experience which extends over more than fifty years.”