Xerox Honors Keiger Printing With ’Best Of Show’ 2007 Printing Innovation Award

CHICAGO.- Sometimes showing off can be a good thing. Keiger Printing created a sample book showing off its printing capabilities that not only led to new business, but also the top award in a national competition held by Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX).

Keiger beat out more than 500 entries to take the “Best of Show” honors at the 2007 Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging Awards.

The PIXI competition recognizes innovation and excellence in digital printing applications. This year marked the first time Xerox held one worldwide contest instead of separate regional contests. Keiger Printing, a commercial printing company in Winston-Salem, N.C., won for its “Digital Imaging Sample Book” submission, created to increase awareness of Keiger’s capability to run a variety of paper stocks, finishes and colors on the Xerox iGen3™ Digital Production Press. Keiger is also a Xerox Premier Partner, which is a global network of 635 Xerox-equipped, digital print services providers.

This year’s PIXI Awards competition attracted entries from around the world including entries from the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Norway.

Keiger Printing’s winning sample book did more than just demonstrate the capabilities of the iGen3 press. It also generated ideas for the company’s clients, increasing the number of requests for innovative digital print jobs. Using different paper stocks and finishes, the book demonstrated the breadth of options beyond smooth white paper.

“With this marketing piece, the paper became an element of design, dispelling doubts about any perceived limitations of what can be done on a digital press,” said Louis Crockett, president, Keiger Printing. “The iGen3 press has truly broadened our digital capabilities. Our self-promotional collateral has proven to be a great marketing tool not only for us, but also for our business partners.”

First, second and third place awards were presented in four categories: collateral, digital books and manuals, direct mail and promotional/transactional. Awards were presented to the print provider, creative agency and client to reinforce the importance of partnerships in the creation of digitally-printed materials. PIXI Awards were also presented for best of region, most innovative use of Xerox technology and the best use of Xerox supplies.

“These aren’t just aesthetically pleasing documents; these innovative applications are generating new business and revenue for our customers and their clients,” said Valerie Blauvelt, vice president of marketing, Xerox Production Systems Group. “The creativity in the PIXI entries always reminds us of the abundant opportunity in digital printing through book production, direct mail, transactional documents such as financial statements and more. None of this is possible using offset printing technology. Xerox’s continuing advancement of digital printing is helping our customers differentiate themselves in the marketplace and add greater value for their customers.”

Best of region
Milenyum Printing House in Turkey was recognized with the best of region award for developing markets for its “Milenyum Digital Catalogue” submission. Printed on the iGen3 press, the catalog compared digital and offset printing. It was created to increase sales for the printing house and demonstrate the capabilities of digital printing and its productivity.

Georg Kohl GmBH - Datamanagement.Print in Germany was recognized with best of region in Europe for its “Projekt KUBI” submission, a direct-mail piece for mobile phone service provider debitel AG. Printed on the iGen3 press, the multi-page direct mail pieces were fully customized with images and text according to customers’ preferences.

Collateral
First place went to dsicmm, U.K., for its “University of Surrey Variable Prospectus” submission, a fully-variable school prospectus sent to prospective students inquiring about university offerings. The piece, printed on the iGen3 press, took into account the profile of each person, customizing course content, accommodations and native language for international students.

Second place went to PrintManagement LLC, Cincinnati, for its “PrintManagement Cross-Training Passports & Certificates of Completion” submission and third place went to De Budelse b.v., Netherlands, for its “Colour (Y)our Future” entry.

Digital books and manuals
MyPhotoFun in the Netherlands was awarded first place for its full-size “iGen3 Photo Book” submission, a sample book printed by Ted Gigaprint BV and created for Photokina in Germany, to demonstrate the unique paper size and photo quality of the iGen3 press. Printed with a Xerox FreeFlow™ DocuSP™ Print Server, the book was composed entirely of variable text and images.

Blitzprint Inc. in Canada took second place for its “Blanket Full of Love” submission designed by Starrytime Keepsakes, while De Budelse, Netherlands, was awarded third place for its “PersonalGifts.nl” submission.

Direct mail
Toyota SAV in France was honored with first place for its “Toyota: An Extraordinary One-to-One Printing Campaign” submission, a campaign that included 450,000 personalized mailings printed by Dupli-Print on the iGen3 press for more than 250 car dealerships, each of which contained 80 multi-level variable fields of text and images in one document. The campaign was so successful that more than 90 percent of the dealerships continued to use it.

EarthColor, Moonachie, N.J., took second place for its “Bermuda Department of Tourism” submission. Trendcommerce Group, Switzerland, won third place for its “GM Suisse ’After Sales’ Programm Saab/Opel Dialog Design” submission.

Promotional / transactional
CTT - Cesa, Portugal, was awarded first place for its “Banco Cetelem Statement” submission, a monthly customer statement with personalized information about the Banco Cetelem’s products and services, partner offerings and promotional sales messages based on each customer’s account activities. The full-color statement was printed on the iGen3 press with a FreeFlow DocuSP Print Server and the Xerox DocuColor™ 12 Copier/Printer.

Custom Solutions from Smartmoney of New York City was recognized with second place for its “Putnam Annual Checkup” submission and TeleMail of Spain, received third place for its “Credit/Debit Card Statements” submission.

Best use of Xerox supplies
Imprimerie L’Empreinte, Canada, was recognized for the best use of supplies for its “Red Bull FlugTag” submission, an authentic looking flight logbook to promote a contest. Printed on the Xerox DocuColor™ 8000 Digital Press, the document was created using matte-finished Xerox Color Xpressions+ 32/80 lb Bond/Text paper.

Most innovative use of Xerox technology
American Greetings Corporation, Cleveland, was honored with the most innovative use of Xerox technology for its “Party Goods Ensemble” submission, which included party hats, cups, plates, streamers and more. Each piece in the ensemble was printed on a Xerox DocuColor 12 and then sent to the prototype artists for creation of the actual product.

The winners were announced yesterday at an award ceremony held at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. Winning entries will be showcased in the Xerox booth, No. 1219, at Graph Expo, the printing industry’s annual exhibition in North America, held in Chicago Sept. 9-12. They will also be displayed at the Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation in Rochester, N.Y., the world’s largest permanent showcase of digital products for the graphic communications and production printing markets.

A complete list of all the winners, honorable mention awards, production notes and recognized teams can be found at www.xerox.com/pixi.