Kodak Customers Earn Top Honors at 2009 PODi Best Practices Awards

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Kodak customers captured top honors in the Digital Printing Initiative (PODi) 2009 Best Practices Awards. These customers used KODAK Solutions with Variable Data Printing (VDP) capabilities to enhance their digitally printed marketing materials.

Honoring digital print innovation in Collateral Management, Direct Marketing, Self-Promotion and TransPromo, the annual PODi Best Practices Awards recognize some of the most innovative uses of digital print across the world. These highly anticipated awards recognize outstanding examples of digital print and variable data strategies.

“Variable data printing is a powerful one-to-one communications tool that helps increase return on marketing investment,” said Kevin Joyce, Worldwide Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Digital Printing Solutions, Kodak. “The success of our customers at this year’s PODi awards speaks volumes of the importance and effectiveness of VDP in integrated marketing campaigns. We congratulate our customers on these well deserved recognitions and will continue to deliver innovative solutions to meet their needs.”

Best Practices Winner: Collateral Management Company — General Motors Canada

* General Motors of Canada Limited (GMCL) received the Best Practices Award in the Collateral Management Company category, using the KODAK DigitalColor Server as part of its online collateral solution to build an enterprise-wide customer communication tool that allows more than 675 dealers to design and order customized sales and marketing collateral online. GM Dealer Direct, the web-to-print solution created by CM2 Solutions Inc. for GM, enables dealers to create targeted direct mail campaigns, easily track results, and plan future efforts. Production runs are handled by The Helicopter Group, which printed the application on the KODAK NEXPRESS 2500 Digital Production Color Press.

Best Practices Winner: Self-Promotion Category – Hansaprint

* Hansaprint’s new product, Magazine 2.0, uses targeted advertisements and articles to guide readers to a customized landing page containing content, advertisements, services and questionnaires that fit the reader’s profile. They were selected as the Best Practices Winner in the Self-Promotion category for excellence in printing, using the KODAK NEXPRESS 2500 Digital Production Color Press.
* Honorable Mention: Self-Promotion Category (tied) – Action Mailing and DMM, for programs printed using the KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Color Platform of presses.

Best Practices Winner: TransPromo Category – ING Australia

* ING Australia, one of Australia’s leading fund managers, life insurers and superannuation providers, was named Best Practice Winner in the TransPromo category. Working with Vectis, Digital Alchemy and HPA (a Salmat Company), ING utilized the KODAK VERSAMARK VX5000 Printing System to create a structured side-by-side test to prove that customized color mailers (4.8% response rate) outperformed the usual black and white personalized communications pieces (0.6% response rate).

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