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The much-heralded technologies of digital presses and variable printing have proven that they can really set marketing pieces apart. You can use them for small tasks, such as a single text substitution, or extensively, with multiple substitutions for both text and graphics.

Ultimately, variable print technologies allow good data and good creative to really work together and shine, but it’s a team effort and everyone must go in with both eyes wide open to avoid undesirable, and often embarrassing results.

Substitutions, be they text or graphics, are data driven. That is to say, the field contents on the database will be used by the digital press in order to determine what words or images should be used in the variable areas of the piece. This will result in finished pieces that look similar, but are distinctly different.

For those that are not familiar with this technology, imagine a corporate newsletter that is being mailed to clients that belong to different branches of a credit union. The pieces could be personalized with name substitutions within the copy, and a photograph of the branch manager could be varied for each of the different branches. And, when we speak of name substitutions we’re not just talking about “Dear Dave”. We could also have substitutions like “Dave, as a long standing member since 1993, we certainly appreciate your loyalty and the faith you place in us.”

These are impressive technologies and they can help you to connect with clients in very a insightful way. However, to make it work, you not only need good creative in design but also solid, reliable data and consistency within the images that are to be substituted.

When you look at your text data, you must examine each field to ensure that it is populated with appropriate values. For example, you don’t want to see “D., as a long standing member since 1993/05/20, we certainly appreciate your loyalty and the faith you place in us.” You must also decide what to do if some fields contain no values. This can be a time consuming exercise, but it is certainly worthwhile given the potential for embarrassment.

On the graphics side, you will want to ensure consistency of sizing and resolution of the images that are to be substituted. Using the example of varying the pictures of branch managers, you would not want to see a 1” X 1” image in an area set up for a 2” X 3” picture. Nor would you want to see rastered images within the newsletters. In cases where you might be acquiring images from various sources, you will need to have a pre-defined specification in order to ensure consistency of your images.

Variable print is a powerful tool and we can all imagine many different ways that it can be used. It takes foresight and planning, but it also allows you to connect with your clients in a sincere and insightful way and it might be worth a try.

As always, if there are any questions, do not hesitate to give us a call here at Highland Marketing.