Some overachievers seem born with a predisposition to go the extra mile. Others discover the compulsion later in life.

John Maeda, Professor at MIT Media Lab, and a classic overachiever in the field of computational technology and interactive experimentation, conversely looks for opportunities to teach the merits of underachievement.

“We know that working hard does not always equate to working well. I read somewhere that your reaction time improves by 89% after you’ve returned from a “real” (unplugged) vacation…but in order to get it I need to commit to temporarily underachieve by taking time off my work.”

Regardless of how one earns “overachiever” status (you know who you are and if you’re not sure, your coworkers will have a very clear opinion on the matter), Professor Maeda makes the point that while it’s good to work hard, to avoid burnout, occasional periods of true rest are critical.

A Paper and Purl mashup campaign coupling personalized URLs (Purls such as www.JaneDoe.Enter2Win.com) and companion micro-sites with user-centric variable data printing (VDP) provides measurable marketing results.

Integrated Paper and Purl cross-media efforts often report response rates of 20-30%. These campaigns offer the ability to segment mailings, generate qualified leads, capture information, and start or follow up a dialog with potential clients.

According to a recent DMA study, 33% of direct mail recipients prefer to respond online. And the 2007 Vertis Consumer Focus Direct Mail study reported:

• 85% of women ages 25-44 read printed direct mail marketing pieces

• 63% of all adults have responded to direct mail collateral offering a percentage discount on merchandise, up from 54% in 2005

8 Cross-Media Paper and Purl Elements to Consider:

1. Database, 2. Database, 3. Database
A well-defined, up-to-date list is imperative to success.

4. Create a Reusable Template Design
To re-purpose in a variety of communications.

5. Offer an Incentive
Make it worth their while.

6. Track Campaigns
Learn what’s effective and what’s not.

7. Use A/B Testing
Identify the best performing creative.

8. Segment for Success
Use the power of VDP to create target-specific messaging.

A well-planned cross-media campaign generates measurable, documented results that allow you to hone your marketing efforts for the best return on your investment. Handy information come budget time.

To help meet the quick-turn needs of their clients, many print vendors are now accepting print-ready PDFs in lieu of final art files.

To ensure the best results when providing a PDF to your printer:

• Use the proper software to create a PDF/X-1a file
• Follow all printer specifications
• Always use CMYK colors for text and images, never RGB
• Call out any spot colors by noting proper PMS numbers
• Place images at 100% to keep file size to a minimum
• Embed all fonts and images

These simple steps save time and money by creating prepress-ready files that are often small enough to email.

When the World Wide Web (www) was initially created, documents had rudimentary formatting options such as bold, italic and underline, and font, size and color were set with font tags. Everything was embedded within the HTML (hypertext markup language). Changing the background color, font or the width of a page required editing every single page of the site. More complex sites used tables, but they too were clunky, with nested tables that buried content, making it difficult to update as well.

Web developers soon realized that content and formatting serve quite different purposes and set out to separate them. They created Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), a set of rules that tell a web browser how to display HTML content. CSS set the background color, size of headers, paragraph font, color of navigation links and the indentation for block quotes, bullets, etc. Since formatting generally does not change from page to page, an entire website can reference the same CSS, and global formatting changes can be accomplished with one edit.

HTML now defines only the basic elements of a site—navigation and content—and is changed only when content is updated.

HTML and CSS are clean, lightweight and intuitive, making both website content and formatting easier to update and maintain.

Communicators everywhere rejoice. Featuring an interface designed to ape the Periodic Table, The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods offers a guide to nearly every diagrammatic visual aid imaginable. The chart’s interactive roll overs make visualizing your next chart or graph an elemental exercise indeed.