Variable Data Information Printing

I always learn something new at the Committee meetings and today was no exception.
There was an interesting discussion of the evolution of Variable Data Information Printing.
This is the first time I had heard of this. From what I am told there are some really cool systems out there that will allow clients to ‘build’ their own ads from a preselected options of images and text and actually create the printer ready files for the print house. The example given was for Chevrolet working with their agency to offer this ‘self service’ option to their dealers around the country. Another example was a network of hospitals that had their budgets dramatically cut. This type of system allowed their agency to keep them as a client.
One committee member had just launched a ASP based product called Ad Builder. The cost was $7500 to set up and then about $1000 a month to run. He said this was a very robust system that allowed the client to swap out creative as well as text and was meant for producing ads publication. Other systems mentioned that offered this kind of functionality were Saepio, BrandBuilder, Pica9. Other systems were mentioned for direct mail application variable data in the 50,000 to 250,000 print run size was iWay. He said this cost about $1000 to set up and then ran about $150 a month. This sounds interesting and I will continue to investigate.