Brimstone Hill Associates

Communications Beyond Words

Current Articles and Columns

We try to write at least one or two articles a month, many of which appear in other places, such as WhatTheyThink.com. Here's some of the latest.



A Pervasive Sense of Community

By Noel Ward

They number over 1,300 and have come from the U.S. and Canada, the UK and Europe, and the far side of the Pacific. They are gathered here this week in Orlando at the fourth annual Dscoop conference, the alliance of HP digital press and printer owners and some 65 equipment and software vendors. Pre-conference sessions on Thursday have been packed with people and the full conference doesn’t even begin until Friday. Some print providers have brought as many as eight of their team to learn and network with peers and even competitors. Many have been coming to this gathering that began with just 350 attendees just four years ago to be what just may be the single most engaging community of print providers and vendors in this industry.

The key word is “community.”



Sticking to the Plan
Kodak's continuing strategy of integration

By Noel Ward

In this age of ongoing and mounting uncertainty virtually every type of business is cutting back wherever they can. Thinner staffing and reduced expenditures in a variety of areas are part of the new normal and many printers have to be wondering how the support they need and expect from equipment and software vendors might change. The answer can vary substantially from one company to the next and no one can really predict how the changes will ultimately impact individual print providers.

It's probably safe to assume that overall service and support of installed or newly purchased systems will remain unchanged. After all, these are based on specific service level agreements and no vendor is likely to drop the ball on this core level of support. Another area, though, is how vendors will maintain their overall branding and go-to-market strategies over the course of this economic downturn. These days, those strategies are not just the positioning of a company and its offerings to print services providers, but how they reach out to printers' customers.

Reaching out.




Looking for Mr. GoodPrint
Gartner study indicates the decline of offset is underway

By Noel Ward

About a dozen years ago I was at a trade show in San Jose, California, eavesdropping on two printers who were peering at prints from a big full-color digital press.

"You can tell it's toner," said one.
"Yep," sighed the other, shaking his head with resignation, "It behaves like toner."

Unimpressed, they wandered off.

I wonder what those two guys are thinking today. If they are like many of the people Gartner talked with in the course of its latest research on print quality, they may be saying something quite different.

Take a look...



It's Not Your Father's Kodak: An Interview with Jeff Hayzlett

By Noel Ward

Late in 2008 Jeff Hayzlett was named Chief Marketing Officer for all of Kodak, moving up from the role of Chief Business Development Officer. Hayzlett, a longtime ambassador of print, has also been one of the most visible senior executives of any large American company today. 

Hayzlett comes to his new role in an uncomfortable economy, and faces numerous challenges as Kodak continues its transition from its legacy of cameras and film to digital printing, pre-press and keeping a foot in movie film, photography and consumer-oriented photo products. While he acknowledges the realities of the economy and the hyper-competitive markets in which Kodak plays, he is bullish on the potential for the company to excel, even in these less than certain times.

See what he has to say...





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