Editor’s note: Beginning this month, contributing columnist Rosemarie Monaco’s column has been renamed “Reinventing the Newspaper,” reflecting the opportunities facing newspapers as they strive to attract readers and keep advertisers satisfied.

“The Mac will never be able to deliver quality typography.”

“It’s impossible to move printable images over the Internet.”

If you weren’t around to remember these cries, then speak to anyone who was. He or she will tell you that nonbelievers were so adamant that whole organizations were formed just to debate the issues.

Yet today, these protests have become part of industrial folklore, along with, “The automobile will never replace the horse and carriage.” So believe it when we say that very soon print will not be the preferred method for receiving the news. In fact, we are pretty nearly there already (see my column, Newspapers & Technology, January 2006).

 

If newspapers want to pull the advertising curve out of its downward plunge and swing it back upward, they will have to reinvent the newspaper product. This is why from hereon, I will devote this column to the technology, techniques and mindset required to become an advertiser magnet.

Similar to digitizing the workflow, reinvention does not have to be an all or nothing scheme; you can do it one section at a time. This idea for a revitalized Real Estate section, for example, comes directly from Adobe’s Web site (http://www.adobe.com/products/ vdp/casestudies/main.html) where you will find the full story and other case studies to spark your imagination.

Meeting of the minds

The study profiles how three companies collaborated on a variable-data project to produce one of the most successful issues of NRRE (National Relocation Real Estate) magazine.

The idea to customize more than 30,000 covers of the publication came from eNeighborhoods, an Internet information site for real estate professionals. In an effort to promote the site’s new ability to instantly access aerial photographs of any neighborhood, eNeighborhoods Vice President of Marketing Greg Robertson approached NRRE publisher RISmedia with a proposal to customize each subscriber’s cover with a photograph of his or her neighborhood.

RISmedia needed convincing that the margin of error when combining this level of individualization with high-speed heatset printing could be overcome. eNeighborhoods brought in variable-data expert Hogue Printing Solutions. It was the cooperation among RISmedia, Hogue and publication printer Banta Corp. that turned the project into a huge success.

Hogue preprinted the inside covers on its offset press, then used a digital press to produce the variable-data outside covers. Hogue accessed the NRRE subscriber database from Banta. Using XMPie variable-data software, Hogue matched the names with the aerial photographs in eNeighborhood’s GlobeXplorer database to produce the unique covers, while Banta printed the inside pages.

According to RISmedia, this was the highest response cover to date with some people saving the issue as a coffee-table book.

Imagine being able to promise advertisers that you are delivering a vehicle the consumer is likely keep around for awhile and exhibit for others to see.

If you do not want to limit this kind of customization to your database of home-delivery subscribers, an alternative would be to change image by ZIP codes. Partnering or consulting with a variable-data expert, as eNeighborhoods and RISmedia did, is certainly an intelligent first move.

The possibilities for customization are endless and they give you ways to attract both readers and advertisers.

Rosemarie Monaco is president of Group M Inc., a marketing communications and consulting firm specializing in the graphic arts. Send comments and questions to rmonaco@groupm.org.