BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Jan. 23, 2004 – Progressive Impressions International (PII) has purchased six DocuColor iGen3™ Digital Production Presses from Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX), making it the largest DocuColor iGen3 installation to date.
Five of the digital presses will be located in the United States, with the sixth in PII’s Netherlands facility. The full-service marketing communications company expects to more than triple its digital color printing volume within six months.
According to Jamie Huff, chief executive officer of PII, the DocuColor iGen3 allows his company to produce more efficient direct marketing campaigns.
“With true one-to-one marketing, you can target specific customers with tailored messages at a precise time, making those messages more effective,” said Huff. “The DocuColor iGen3 allows us to create high-quality materials with a level of personalization we were previously unable to achieve.”
Progressive Impressions International produces marketing materials, direct mail pieces and sales collaterals for customers worldwide – including A.G. Edwards, Bosch Corporation and Caterpillar – and 75 percent of its customers are on the Fortune 500. With the DocuColor iGen3, PII will convert some offset printing jobs to digital, allowing for more flexibility in the printing process, as well as target new customers seeking personalized printing capabilities.
“The value is so strong that you don’t need to launch a million-dollar campaign to see a good return on investment,” Huff said. Before the DocuColor iGen3 was even installed it was helping PII generate sales. “We were getting orders through word of mouth that we were going to purchase the digital press.”
New customer applications being run on the DocuColor iGen3 include:
- Customized calendars for A.G. Edwards. Financial consultants are able to customize calendars from a template on the Web and personalize it with their photo. Primarily a retention tool, the calendars are sent to clients, keeping the consultant’s and firm’s name in front of customers all year long. PII will do 1 million impressions a year with various calendar programs.
- Print-on-demand fulfillment for Bosch Corporation. PII produces product manuals and point-of-sale sheets on an as-needed basis. By using the DocuColor iGen3’s print-on-demand capabilities, Bosch is able to prevent the overprinting of documents that sit on shelves and are wasted. This type of innovation saves millions of dollars by printing only the materials a customer needs, when they need them.
- Web-based marketing program for Caterpillar. Sales agents use a Web-based program hosted by PII to create and order marketing materials, which are then printed and shipped usually within 48 hours. Agents can specify the specific materials and quantity they need, eliminating waste. By using an approved Caterpillar template for the design, Caterpillar dealers are able to leverage powerful brand equity while maintaining the corporate identity.
Huff said he looked at competing products, but he believed the 100 page-per-minute DocuColor iGen3 had better image quality, was easier to use, and had better range and flexibility of paper stocks.
A Xerox SmartPress Consultant, part of Xerox’s customer business development team, spent time on-site at PII to ensure the company took maximum advantage of the DocuColor iGen3’s capabilities, and to assist in identifying volume-building and revenue-generating opportunities.
Progressive Impressions International is a global full-service direct marketing solutions provider, with variable-information printing – also known as personalized or customized printing – accounting for nearly all of its work. The company also operates a Xerox DocuColor 6060 Digital Color Press, a DocuColor 12 Copier/Printer, and four DocuTech 6135 and four DocuTech 6180 Production Publishers.