Confronting the mayhem in Media and Marketing

Print09: What’s Missing? (for good or bad)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Ryan McAbee • 0 Comments



What is missing from these two booth diagrams from Kodak and manroland? You guessed it – printing equipment!

Manroland, for the past couple of years, has decided to forgo a live, demonstrating press at the show. The company’s headquarters is close enough to McCormick Center that customers and prospects can see a demonstration and be shuttled back before the start of the show each day. Although this may irk the GASC and other vendors, this approach makes logistical and financial sense.

Kodak, on the other hand, does not have a primary location near the Chicago area so their motive is different. Could Kodak be starting a trend that other vendors will soon duplicate? I think so. According to their press release, Kodak’s booth will center around two key areas – the K-Zone and the Pipeline of Innovation. The Pipeline is an interactive, 24 foot display which streams images featuring Kodak innovations. If the display offers the same kind of interactivity as the CNN “magic wall” or Microsoft’s Surface product, the experience could be truly revolutionary. The K-Zone is an equally out-of-the-box spin on the traditional trade show guest lecturer or panel discussion in that it is formatted like a talk show. Hopefully the zone will offer the entertainment value of The Late Night Show with the aesthetic and  authority of Oprah Winfrey. As an added benefit, the K-Zone segments will be streamed live over the internet for those not attending.

With vendors cutting costs and attendees being more selective in attending shows (or simply not going), there is much more of a marketing push to extend the message beyond those who attend. Whereas Kodak is streaming talk show segments, Xerox is creating a virtual trade show that will launch the last day of Print. After registering for the virtual event, users can gain access to demonstrations and events recast from Print ’09. The experience of the virtual show will probably have a similar 3D feel like Second Life. You can see an example at the host company, Inxpo.

Whether these new approaches are a success or failure is almost irrelevant. The fact that key industry vendors are experimenting with new layouts and technologies, means that the changes are here to stay. The trade show experience is evolving and becoming geographically insignificant and cheaper in the process. Now, if we could only solve the problem of personal interaction that real trade shows offer.

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Update: Social Media with Kodak’s 4 E’s

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Ryan McAbee • 1 Comment

Update: Don’t miss Jeffrey Hayzlett’s (@JeffreyHayzlett) chat
about “The Power of Social Media” on Sunday, September 13th, at
Print09! Get the full K-Zone schedule here.

Now that the Print09 media days held by the GASC have ended, I wanted to see where some key industry players were in terms of marketing, specifically social media marketing. A search into the social media efforts of 11 graphic arts vendors shows that less than half maintain a blog and only 36% have officially sponsored Twitter accounts.

Graphic Arts Social Media by the Numbers
(click for larger image)

Which vendor stands above the rest? The picture is resoundingly clear. Kodak is currently ahead of the other industry vendors in terms of social media saturation and online brand recognition. The company maintains various blogs, podcasts, and Twitter accounts. Kodak’s commitment to all-things-social extends beyond the normal efforts to include a “chief blogger”, Jennifer Cisney (@kodakCB). Jeff Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett), the Chief Marketing Officer, also has a Twitter flock of 6,600 users. Both recently attended the 140 Characters Conference in New York City which explored “the disruptive nature of twitter, 140 characters at a time.” During his keynote speech, Jeff used the crowd sourcing technique to coin the phrase Twanker for all of those who “do things wrong on Twitter and social media.” Very funny!

For the Graphic Arts business unit, Kodak maintains an active Twitter account and blog. Brian Nizinsky is the face behind the graphic arts tweets from @kodakidigprint, whereas any subject expert at Kodak can post articles to the GrowYourBiz blog. Both connect not only to the Kodak user base and other graphic arts professionals by posting links to relevant articles, blogs, and retweets.

Conclusion

Kodak seems to understand that social media is more about enhancing the user’s experience and sense of community than making a profit. The company has coined a phrase for this understanding, the 4 E’s – engage, educate, excite, and evangelize. Being responsive to their user’s needs should ultimately increase customer loyalty and sales.

Many print vendors, and even more printers, have not jumped into the social media scene. Some fear the technology. Some don’t understand the purpose. Some cannot justify the cost to benefit ratio. Some think it is a fad. These roadblocks are present from the introduction of any disruptive technology. The Macintosh, CtP, digital printing, personalization, Web to Print, and more, have had a profound affect within the printing industry. The early adopters breakdown the price and knowledge barriers while extracting a profit. The mainstream adopters implement the technology to remain competitive. The rest fall into the digital abyss. Which adopter do you want to be?

Disclaimer: m-Bossed is not employed by Kodak and did not receive any financial benefit from Kodak or its affiliates.


Links
m-Bossed’s: Inteview with Kodak’s Social Media Team – Part 1
m-Bossed’s: Inteview with Kodak’s Social Media Team – Part 2
Kodak’s GrowYourBiz Blog
140 Character Conference

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Print09: Tweetups – An Excuse to Go Offline & Get Some Face Time.

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Ryan McAbee • 0 Comments


Tweetups are informal (most of the time), in-person gatherings of Twitter users with similar interests. The word is a mashup of the word meetup melded with the cutesy “tw” from Twitter, as is common in the Twitterverse. Since there is a sizable group of print professionals using Twitter, some companies are sponsoring tweetups during Print09. Interestingly, both tweetups are at the Hyatt bar on different days. Whether you are interested in printing, social media, marketing, networking, or to just say you attended a tweetup, you are guaranteed to find others with similar interests. At minimum, both tweetups offer an excuse to not wait in the long taxi line!

Tweetups:

  1. InfoPrint is hosting a tweetup on Friday, September 11th at 5:30pm in the Hyatt McCormick Center bar.

    RT @InfoPrint: Don’t forget about our Tweet Up @ PRINT! We’ll be @ the Hyatt bar @ 5:30 toasting 1st day of the show. Come join us! #print09

  2. Xerox and Printing News are hosting a tweetup on Monday, September 14th at 4:30 pm in the Hyatt McCormick Center bar. To RSVP to this tweetup, visit the registration page.

    XeroxCorp: @PrintingNews & Xerox Tweetup part 2 at #Print09! Mark ur calendars for 9/14 at 4:30. RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/g6mbod #myPrint View Tweet …

  3. Pat McGrew is offering a tweetup at the Kodak booth (north side) after her chat in the K-Zone on Saturday, September 12th at 3:30 pm. DM @PatMcGrew on Twitter if you would like to meetup. I’m sure she would love to talk transpromo.

    Remember Prin09 is coming up! How about a tweetup at the #KODAK booth at 3:30 SAT after my CRAWL/Walk/RUN talk at the KZONE! DM me!

Details:

  1. The Hyatt McCormick Center bar is located on level one to the right of where the taxi queue normally starts.
  2. Learn all of your “tw” words at twittonary.com. I personally like “twanker.”

Note: If there are any tweetups that are not on the list, DM @mbossed, and I will add them to this post. See you at Print09!

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