Kodak Graphic Users Association Sees 50% Growth in Attendance Over 2007

Independent User Association Draws 314 Member Attendees at the Wynn in Las Vegas

By Cary Sherburne

May 6th, 2008 - Last month, I attended the Kodak Graphic Users Association at the Wynn in Las Vegas on behalf of WhatTheyThink.  This is one of the oldest independent users groups in our industry.  Although it has undergone a few name changes, and there was some trepidation on the part of the members when Kodak acquired Creo, the group has not lost any of its vitality.  This is the first year the media has been invited to attend, and I was joined by four other journalists from the United States and Canada. The meeting was well organized, and the Wynn, of course, is an outstanding venue. Members of the media were free to attend any of the sessions, except the elections and Executive Bullpen, a frank exchange between members and the Kodak executive team.

A high point of this event for the users is the ability to interact with Kodak engineers, researchers, executives and developers, to provide direct feedback, have their questions and concerns addressed, and learn where the products and solutions upon which their businesses—in many cases—depend.

Tom Clifford, of RR Donnelley, the group’s president, has been a member since 1997 and on the Board for four years.  The group has seen a bit of decline in attendance in the past few years, with last year seeing 206 attendees.  This year, the Board aggressively marketed the event to its 6,000 or so members worldwide, using a cross media campaign managed by Board Member Susan Kinney of Castle Press and reaped the rewards of their hard work.  Even though the economy is a bit uncertain, and the users group meeting was competing with drupa and an early IPA conference, there were 314 members in attendance, a 50% increase over last year.  The campaign involved more than 59,000 direct marketing pieces between mail and email, and 23,000 of those incorporated pURLs, with some 400 hits back to the pURLs.  In addition to increased attendance levels, GUA membership is up 11% over last year.

In addition to the journalists, there were about 100 Kodak folks in attendance as well, and the First-Time Attendee reception held the first night had quite a turnout.  In an environment of declining print shipments, when we sometimes seem to be a little down at the mouth about the future of the industry, it was nice to be among such a dedicated and enthusiastic group.

A high point of this event for the users is the ability to interact with Kodak engineers, researchers, executives and developers, to provide direct feedback, have their questions and concerns addressed, and learn where the products and solutions upon which their businesses—in many cases—depend. This conference did not disappoint in that regard, and members took advantage of the hands-on lab and many and varied sessions to have those conversations.  The other highlight, of course, is the ability to network with peers and to catch up with old friends.  That behavior was very much in evidence as well, as members took discussions offline between sessions and during the evening events.

One of the most popular sessions at this conference is the Rules-Based Automation tutorial sessions, featuring a one-student, one-computer ratio.  Even though capacity for the sessions was expanded, there was still a waiting list as each session approached.

Phil Faraci, President and COO, provided a Kodak update for the group, pointing out that the company has turned the corner in terms of its digital transformation; 70% of the company’s revenues now come from its digital businesses, and 60% of its revenues are B2B

The Kodak attendees were very positive as well.  Phil Faraci, President and COO, provided a Kodak update for the group, pointing out that the company has turned the corner in terms of its digital transformation; 70% of the company’s revenues now come from its digital businesses, and 60% of its revenues are B2B.  Analog/digital revenues crossed over in 2005, and profitability crossed over in 2007.  The company is now strategically focused on growth across all of its businesses, having left the drag of restructuring behind. From the perspective of the Graphic Communications Group, which represents about one-third of Kodak’s revenues, STREAM technology, Kodak’s new entry into the inkjet market that will be shown publicly for the first time at drupa, is a key enabler.  Faraci admitted that Kodak is not quite sure how far it will go, whether the cost can be brought low enough that it will be a viable solution for commercial printers, but the company believes this technology will have the ability to siphon off volume from offset.  Two implementations will be shown at drupa, the first being the STREAM Concept press, which will run in excess of 500 feet per minute; the other will be in inline printing applications with offset. 

Software and workflow was obviously a focus of the conference.  Kodak unveiled an Integrated Campaign Manager product that will be available in the first quarter of 2009 and will also be shown at drupa and Graph Expo.  This looks to be a very promising offering.  Kodak has done a nice job of integrating a set of tools in a very easy-to-use interface that may go a long way toward alleviating concerns many commercial printers have about getting into the data business.  For those that would rather ease into data-centric businesses more gradually, a Kodak-sponsored initiative headed up by DME’s Alin Jacobson, the Direct Marketing Alliance, was also unveiled.  Jacobs describes his group as a “virtual sales force” for print service providers and offers the resources and expertise required to sell and implement cross-media projects.  In partnership with DME and Corporate Express, the group can secure and implement deals with the print service provider producing the work, or can actually produce the entire project turnkey with a fee paid back to the print service provider.  Kodak also previewed the Kodak Graphic Community, an evolution of the company’s Market Mover Network.  The Kodak Graphic Community is a Web 2.0 deployment that leverages the Internet to build relationships—sort of a Facebook for printers, as it were. 

Members will be able to browse the community, see who is out there, connect with each other, develop business relationships and exchange content to continue to develop and evolve the vision of being the most efficient deliverer of content, print and ecommerce.  InSite is the backbone of the community, and members will come from the installed base of some 1,000 InSite users, including print service providers, marketing service providers, agencies, and enterprises.  There are 15+ enterprise customers that came with Kodak’s Design2Launch acquisition that will be part of community when in launches later this year.

Members can search for business partners around the world, and create their own networks.  Kodak provides the vehicle and the businesses work out all the details in those peer-to-peer networks. 

Lots more was discussed, including updates to Prinergy, InSite Storefront, ColorFlow and more.  There was much emphasis on automation, hybrid offset/digital production, and the transition from print service provider (PSP) to marketing service provider (MSP) that many printing firms are aspiring to—and a few have already accomplished.  One of the general sessions featured a demonstration of lights-out web-to-print workflow, featuring an InSite Storefront user and his customer (from the travel business) in what was billed as a Zero-Touch five-step process. In another session, Kodak’s Director, Business Development Services, Bob Barbera talked about the five steps to Stardom in the Digital Age (see the image) required to successfully make the PSP/MSP transition.

Overall, the conference was well done, had lots of great information and insight for the members, and demonstrated an overwhelming enthusiasm both for where Kodak is taking its business and for the way it is managing its interaction with this independent group.  The GUA Board is looking to expand on its marketing efforts, both to recruit new member and to drive up attendance for next year’s conference.  It sure looks like they are well on their way.

Cary can be reached via email at cary@sherburneassociates.com, online at www.sherburneassociates.com and by telephone at 603-430-5463.

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