Dscoop (Digital Solutions Cooperative) announced today that the 2012 Dscoop annual conference will focus on educating members on brand strategy for their customers. Print service providers (PSPs) are in a unique position to speak to the creative or marketing directors at a company and meet their spectrum of marketing needs—everything from direct mail to e-commerce to signage to packaging. Dscoop7, taking place March 22-24, 2012, at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in Washington, D.C., will focus on helping printers understand the range of services they can provide by either partnering or growing their business.
 
“As print becomes commoditized, today’s economy demands that PSPs evolve and add more value,” said Eric Hawkinson, executive director of Dscoop. “Whereas our members might have focused on one channel in the past, Dscoop7 will enable them to see the bigger picture as well as give tools and share the latest trends to take back to their customers. Featured speakers Chad Dick and Josh Linkner will share how, in today’s economic environment, branding can differentiate your customer and be the edge they need.”
 
Dick is a partner at eatbigfish, a specialized consultancy with a unique focus and expertise in challenger brands, and he will lead a session about “How Challenger Brands Succeed.” He joined eatbigfish in 2007 after a 15-year career in marketing, innovation and general management working with PepsiCo, Campbell’s Soup, Nestle and General Mills. Dick holds an MBA in marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Linkner is the best-selling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity. Using his background as an entrepreneur and musician, he is on a mission to make the world more creative. He will speak about “Unleashing Creativity: The New Currency of Brand Success.” Linkner is the founder and chairman of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world.
 
More conference information is available at www.dscoop7.org.