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Pennington, N.J. – Feb. 4, 2008 – Direct Group announced today that it will be the first company in the United States to install the Océ JetStream™ 2200 system, a very high-speed, fully variable, color inkjet, continuous press that provides some of the most advanced digital printing capabilities available in the world. The Océ JetStream 2200 system will enable Direct Group to support sophisticated direct marketing campaigns for its multi-channel clients.

 

In the face of rising postal rates and the resulting demand for greater campaign effectiveness, major marketers are increasingly shifting to more highly personalized trigger mailings that generate significantly greater response rates than traditional direct marketing techniques. The Océ JetStream 2200 system will help enable Direct Group clients to take advantage of this industry-wide shift.

 

Bruce Biegel, a leading direct marketing industry analyst and Senior Managing Director at Winterberry Group, said, “Trigger mailings, with their emphasis on targeted, data-driven communications, generate significantly superior response rates as compared to traditional batch-based programs. Tests have shown that highly personalized trigger mailings using fully variable color formats can produce upwards of 5 to 15 percent response rates, compared to the traditional direct mail channel, where 1 to 3 percent is considered a good return.”

 

Direct Group President and CEO Don McKenzie said, “The Océ JetStream 2200 system will enable our clients to leverage three significant and converging industry trends – the rapidly increasing adoption of trigger-based mailings, the availability of revolutionary digital printing technology, and the demand for more effective postal strategies to combat recent and future rate increases. The capabilities provided by the Océ JetStream 2200 system will allow us to deliver sustainably improved response rates for our clients, while significantly lowering total campaign costs for customer acquisition programs, including postal and logistics expenses.”

 

The Océ JetStream system is the latest in a series of investments Direct Group has made to leverage digital color printing technology for clients in both its direct mail and fulfillment areas.

 

“Virtually all direct mail today is carefully targeted, and more and more is extensively personalized,” said Chris Ryan, Direct Group Chief Operating Officer. “We are increasingly seeing marketers take this personalization even further into trigger-based mailings and beyond, including multi-channel messaging where the print message is followed up by message- and time-coordinated e-mail, collateral mail, telemarketing or other contacts. The Océ JetStream system fully supports this next-stage marketing strategy, which helps drive significant growth in readership and response to our clients’ direct marketing programs.”

 

The Océ JetStream system sets a new standard for ultra-high-speed, full-color inkjet printing, distinguished by outstanding color output and total flexibility, as well as its raw speed. The system operates at 500 feet per minute, ensuring Direct Group can support its customers’ robust marketing campaigns. With unprecedented versatility, high-quality color and ease of use, the Océ JetStream system will help Direct Group achieve variable messaging, quality color, mixed forms, commingled data streams, and affordable short runs, all within the same workflow.

 

Extending the Océ commitment to environmental sustainability to the very high-volume color inkjet market, the new Océ JetStream delivers a smaller footprint and economical use of ink with less waste. “We are proud that the Océ JetStream system will play an integral part in helping Direct Group take its business to a new level,” said Mal Baboyian, President, Océ North America, Production Printing Systems. “Direct Group customers will benefit significantly from more extensive opportunities to produce higher-impact programs by combining our technology with strategic multi-channel communications.”