Vivad to revive space-themed stand at PacPrint

Web-to-Print (WtP) early pioneer and Vivad owner, Ewen Donaldson explains why the company's space-themed stand at PacPrint is a must-see for future-focused businesses.

For those who missed Vivad’s “awe-inspiring" space-themed stand at PrintEx in 2019, Donaldson says the full ship of new highlights will again touch down at PacPrint this year for visitors to experience what was previously described as “the most incredible stand” they'd seen in their “long history attending exhibitions”.

Creating out-of-the-box stand designs is nothing new to Donaldson and his team –  at PacPrint 2017, they compiled an underwater themed stand to launch the new Vivtrack 2 Web-to-Print portal.

“It came complete with an inflatable submarine, and a ship themed meeting room clad with aquatic portals containing live fish,” Donaldson recalled with a laugh. “It was quite the attraction, so it gave us plenty of opportunity to give one-on-one and group demonstrations to visitors, showing off all of the features of the portal – plus we plied people with free coffee and bribed them to provide us with their details by giving away UE Booms, iMacs and $1,000 print credits!”

It was a bold strategy, but it worked – Vivtrack 2 made a splash at PacPrint in 2017, introducing the industry to web-to-print, and over four days, Vivad registered 375 new users, giving it the beginnings of a user base.

While it made a great splash, so to speak, Donaldson admits the adoption rate in those early days was slow, despite the promise the product offered for a better, more productive and more profitable world.

“I think many people were just reluctant to give up on the back-and-forth communication  associated with ordering through traditional channels,” he said, “but not everyone fell into this camp and we saw a small number of innovators who were willing to participate in the ‘bleeding edge’ of web-to-print technology.

“Having real user feedback from those early adopters was invaluable in teaching us what worked with the portal and what didn’t – and that allowed us to go back to the drawing board to significantly rewrite Vivtrack for its next iteration.”

Donaldson says that Vivtrack 3, released in 2019 at PrintEx in Sydney, was slicker, more powerful, more intuitive and user-friendly, featuring new innovations such as trusted groups, which allowed teams to collaborate and track each other's jobs.

It took the software to a new level and, to mark the launch, Donaldson and his team did the same with their exhibition display, with an ‘out of this world’ space theme experience.

“We thought, what better way to launch new software than to go with a space theme and, never the company to make a half-hearted attempt, we built a stand complete with an inflatable rocket and UFO, dynamic lightbox and command module,” he recalled.

The Relaunch of Vivtrack in 2019 at PrintEx marked a new phase of growth for the portal.

“At the same time, the advances in Vivtrack 3 saw many of our trade clients discovering how they could use Vivtrack as an extension of their own business. Clients can receive instant quotes, pre-flight check artwork and book jobs online, allowing them to be responsive to their own customers and, in effect, turning them into the print service provider.”

These developments drove what Donaldson refers to as a ‘definite paradigm shift’, with Vivad’s user base growing through word of mouth referrals from the initial 375 users following PacPrint in 2017, to well over 2500 active users today.

Despite this rapid growth, Donaldson believes the industry is still in the early adoption and early majority stages of the technology adoption curve, with many businesses still to benefit from this game-changing technology.

“It will be interesting to see how buying behaviour of print progresses over the next five years and we certainly look forward to showing some of those still ‘on the fence’ about web-to-print just how the latest innovations in Vivtrack can transform the way you do business, making it easier to provide superior service, deliver an outstanding product…and build your business profitability and success,” he said.

“As visitors to PacPrint will see, Vivad continues to push the technology to its limits – and we look forward to continuing to participate in this emerging and vibrant space well into the future,” he added, inviting PacPrint visitors to visit Stand B90, where he says they can receive a personal demonstration of the Vivtrack web-to-print portal, grab a free coffee and register to go into the draw to win an iPad Pro, one of four $1000 Print vouchers, or one of four UE Booms.

PacPrint, Visual Impact Melbourne and the Label & Packaging Expo will run from 28 June to 1 July at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. Register online or go to www.pacprint.com.au for more information. Find out more about Vivtrack by watching the video here.