Print+ Messenger Color Inkjet System, which was unveiled last year, is the result of collaboration between Pitney Bowes and inkjet printing technology leader HP and provides high quality, 100% variable data printing on envelopes in full color.

In an interview with PrintWeek, Grant Miller, Pitney Bowes VP, global strategic product management and North American sales, Document Messaging Technologies, said, "We actually have nine different install locations, mainly in the higher end transaction sites. But what we haven't stepped into - until now - is the direct marketing space, which brings in different types of advertising and is much more about getting splash and lift.
 
RIval solutions have been able to provide at least some color messaging on envelopes, most notably through the use of self-mailers. "What they haven't been able to do is match the print quality of what's inside," Miller said. "This has good color fidelity, good resolution and print bars that are big enough so you can cover the entire envelope if you want to."

The big question for marketers is whether high quality four-color print messages, logos and other images on envelopes will actually boost response rates above the 1%-2% industry average. Miller expressed confidence that this will be the case, noting a March 2010 survey by Leflein Associates on behalf of Pitney Bowes, in which 69% of consumers said that they would be more likely to open a direct mail piece with color text and graphics before opening a plain white envelope without messaging.

But Miller also suggested the ability to deliver high-quality customized messages on envelopes could provide other benefits, including potentially cutting postal costs. "We're talking adding fractional grams of ink that won't drive you over the ounce rate or two-ounce rate in the postal stream," he said, noting that messaging on the envelope could mean direct marketers would be able to eliminate a page or two from the inside, cutting the weight and presumably the postal rate of their mailers.

Miller also suggested that other direct marketers are showing interest in Print+ Messenger color inkjet for envelopes, which allows for personalized marketing messages, four-color graphics, company logos, mailing and return addresses, and postal barcodes directly on to many variations of envelopes during high-speed mail finishing.

Miller also noted the company is having success marketing Print + Messenger internationally, citing two installs in France. "This is a global rollout so we also have prospects in Asia," he said. "The markets are obviously different, but this technology can be leveraged in all of them."

Wilen Direct declined an interview request from PrintWeek, but in a statement announcing the install, Wilen Group President Darrin Wilen said, "Many of our clients have gone through the necessary expense of developing databases that allow for the most relevant messaging to their prospects and their customers.

"Manufacturing inefficiencies have prohibited the ability to fully leverage data by speaking to consumers through four-color imagery and messaging due to cost and speed. Pitney Bowes' technologies and systems answer both of those issues and will be key in grabbing attention in the direct mail space."