Ricoh Europe will join forces with international business magazine Forbes  to showcase emerging marketing technologies at the second annual Marketing Rockstars Festival in Graz, Austria on 8 May, 2015. Throughout the event, designed to deliver an in-depth look at marketing of the future, Ricoh will offer attendees the unique opportunity to have a personalised front cover featuring their photograph. 

“We are delighted to be able to dynamically demonstrate how Ricoh’s hardware and software solutions can be combined to open up a world of creative direct marketing and personalisation possibilities,” said Benoit Chatelard, Vice President, Production Printing at Ricoh Europe. “These enable marketers to develop approaches that set them apart from the competition, delivering effective targeted solutions that achieve strong ROI.” 

Individual images of attendees, taken by a professional photographer, will be merged with the layout of the Forbes cover using FusionPro dynamic document composition software from Ricoh-owned PTI. The fully personalised Forbes cover, including the name of the attendee, will then be printed on a Ricoh digital colour printer. The cover will use Ricoh’s interactive print technology, Clickable Paper, to link the portrait with a social media profile such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Not only will the visitor be able to take their own personalised cover of the magazine with them, but the cover image will also be emailed as a PDF as a digital keepsake. 

Hermann Sporrer, Head of Sales & Marketing of Forbes Austria, adds, "This project required a partner that understands the world of digital printing and electronic workflows, personalisation and the marketing ecosystem - Ricoh has that expertise." 

Clickable Paper will also be used to make some pages of the official festival magazine clickable, as well as by other Marketing Rockstars Festival partners in their printed materials including Oracle. 

As well as the innovative collaboration with Forbes, recently launched in Austria, Ricoh, on one of the largest stands at the event, will show software technology and solutions that enable clients to better understand and target their customers. These include a third party developed data cleansing solution. Customer data analytics from partner SAS and marketing asset management software (MarcomCentral) will round out the exciting and informative demonstrations on stand. 

Thomas Haas, a recognised expert in Precision Marketing, is taking to the stage. Topics he will cover include data consolidation, data analytics and how easily data can be used to create truly personalised customer communications across multiple communications channels, including print.

Haas states, “The ability to effectively lever customer data is fast becoming central to any effective marketing effort. I will explain how that enables more relevant communications to be delivered across multiple communication channels. I will also present Ricoh’s Clickable Paper, a bridging technology that connects the world of print with relevant online content, making print an interactive and even more attractive communications channel.”

Findings from a survey Ricoh recently conducted in co-operation with the British DMA will also be detailed by Haas and supported by case study outlines from Andreas Heiz, Business Development Manager of Customer Intelligence Solutions for SAS, with whom Ricoh is a Silver Alliance partner. 

The event is already sold out with more than 1500 attendees expected from Austria and surrounding countries, including Germany and Switzerland. They will gain valuable insight from 50 expert international and local speakers. Joining Haas will be Sebastian Tomich (The New York Times), Jay Curley (Ben & Jerry’s), Clive Ryan (Facebook / Instagram), Jeremy Abbett (Google), Samantha Yarwood (Starbucks), and many other Marketing Rockstars.

Chatelard concludes, “Ricoh has both experience and expertise in effective and relevant customer communications thanks to its in-depth engagement with direct mailers and brand owners in Europe. We see direct mail and multi-channel marketing solutions as a key growth opportunity for our clients.”