In spite of the challenges that are inherent in anything new, the fun part of mobile marketing is the opportunities it presents. Laptops have now become “handtops” giving marketers the ability to engage consumers in ways that haven’t been done before.

Read "Mobile Marketing - It's a Whole New World" by Frank Defino, Jr. at 1to1media.com.

I have been fascinated by a show on the History Channel called America, The Story of Us, which shows how Americans created new tools, structures, and machines to blaze forward. In my opinion, mobile marketing is very much like the inventions and great ideas of the past that have changed the way we do business, live, and communicate. In spite of all that has been written about the benefits of mobile marketing, we are still explorers in this new frontier. And no different than in the past, it brings challenges and opportunities that are being discovered every day.

Read Mobile Marketing: Today’s New Frontier at DirectMag.com

The May 26, 2010 Gadgetwise column in The New York Times is devoted to a review of  Tukaiz’s PixyMe app for iPhone and iPod.

PixyMe is simple to use. Choose an image and add your message, and it is ready to be sent by text or e-mail. For an additional $1.99, you can also have the image made into a real postcard, which Tukaiz will mail to the address you choose.

Read "A Rack of Custom E-Cards in your Phone" by Roy Furchgott at nytimes.com.

Check out the latest review of PixMe, Tukaiz's image-personalization app for iPhone and iPod, appearing in the CNY Life section of syracuse.com.

Postcards are dull and boring. Wouldn't you like to send one with your name in lights? Or with your name and greeting photographed on a gingerbread cake?
...
My name in lights was the first thing I tried. I got Elvis -- OK, "Elvis" -- to help out and got top billing in Las Vegas. I tried the cake, too. It's been 37 years since anybody wrote my name on a cake; PixyMe did it readily.

Read “PixyMe puts your name in lights” at syracuse.com

In the Expert Opinion section of 1to1 Media, Tukaiz vice president and managing director Daniel Defino discusses evolving from web-to-print to online marketing management.

Advancements in technology are making it possible to move from a simple Web-to-print solution to a true online marketing management system that gives corporations the ability to produce marketing materials that drill down to specific demographics, cultures, and even the most local of environments being served, while keeping the company's messaging and branding intact. Even better, the ability to add specific business rules or provide intuitive templates make it possible for those closest to the customer to create marketing materials that can be strictly controlled with respect to brand and legal issues.

Read "Moving Beyond Web-to-Print" at 1to1media.com.

Deliver Magazine, in a February 26th article, discusses the success of WGN Radio's marketing campaign attracting advertisers to a 2009 Cubs Opening Day event.

The mailer, a 6-inch by 9-inch card die cut in the image of a baseball glove and delivered in a clear envelope, featured the recipients’ first and last names and included a call to action to visit their own personalized Web address to RSVP to the event.
...
WGN executives ... were thrilled with the mailer’s response. “The campaign was hugely successful,” says Wendi Power, director of sales for WGN Radio. “The personalized invitations really set us apart, and our clients were very impressed with their own personalized URL (PURL) to RSVP.”

Read "A Radio Station Mixes Marketing Channels to Lure Advertisers" online at delivermagazine.com

PixyMe Gains Overwhelming Popularity in First Thirty Days on the Market

Franklin Park, IL, February 16, 2010 – Tukaiz, a leading provider of results-driven marketing communications services, rocked the social networking application category with its creation PixyMe™, introduced less than 30 days ago. In this short timeframe, PixyMe was chosen by Apple to be listed in Apple’s “What’s Hot” section; and also continues to rank in the top 25 of the “Top 100 Paid Social Networking Apps” in the App Store.

PixyMe’s popularity is due to the fact it is the first postcard messaging application of its kind that uses true-to-life image personalization technology to create and send personalized postcard via email, text message, Facebook or an actual printed postcard through the mail. Users are enjoying the ability to connect with family, friends, and other social networks with attention-getting images that actually integrate the name or short phrase into an object within the photograph, making it appear as if it were photographed that way, such as a name written in leaves on a sidewalk or as fireworks in the sky.

“PixyMe is a natural extension of the innovative marketing production services Tukaiz is known for,” said Frank Defino, Jr., vice-president and managing director of Tukaiz. “We recognize that as mobile phones are fast becoming the primary Internet device they offer an innovative way to drive interactive and print applications. We are confident that people’s fascination with the PixyMe app will pave the way for more innovation in this area and are thrilled to have reached such notable heights within our first month of launching the PixyMe application.”

For more information and to watch the video tour, visit the PixyMe Web site at www.pixyme.com .

Exciting New Way to E-Mail, Text or Print Personalized Greetings and Postcards Leaps to the Top 100 Paid Social Networking Apps

Franklin Park, IL, February 8, 2010—Tukaiz, a leading provider of results-driven marketing communications services, has launched PixyMe™, an iPhone and iPod touch application that is the first of its kind using true-to-life image personalization technology to create and send a personalized postcard via email, text message, Facebook, or an actual printed postcard through the mail. PixyMe’s fast rise in popularity to the Top 100 Paid Social Networking Apps stems from the fact it is unlike any other postcard messaging application on the market today. PixyMe connects you with family, friends, or other social networks by artistically placing the recipient’s name into an image to appear as if it was photographed that way, such as the name spelled out across the horizon over a lake at sunset or written on the snowy windshield of a car. The power of PixyMe is its one-of-kind creative approach to picture personalization that is designed to elicit emotion and smiles.

Some of the key features of the PixyMe application are:

• Loaded with over 100 images (visit the supporting page for a preview or to try the technology) broken down by categories such as travel, holidays, celebration, kids, and more
• The ability to key in a name or greeting and watch as the text gets transformed as part of the image with amazing realism
• Provides several custom frames that wrap the personalization around photos from your camera or photo library
• The ability to add a personal note on the postcard and share it via Facebook post, email, text message or by print
• Fast production of image personalized printed postcards
• Fast delivery of printed postcards anywhere in the world including a real stamp mailed First Class

The process is quick and effortless. Users simply visit the App Store from their mobile device or on iTunes and purchase PixyMe for $1.99. The postcards, which are 4.25" x 5.625", are printed on gorgeous card stock and mailed anywhere in the world with an actual stamp included in the price. There is a charge of $1.99 per printed postcard mailed in the U.S., and $2.99 for postcards mailed to all other destinations.

“You have to experience this app to realize that PixyMe is specifically designed for people who want to reach out to others with a greeting or message that will really wow them,” said Frank Defino Jr., vice-president and managing director of Tukaiz. “Once a user shares the PixyMe experience with friends or colleagues, they find it is definitely attention-getting and like no other postcard messaging app on the market. We are excited that PixyMe is the first app of its kind to hit the App Store and that it is catching on so fast.”

For more information and to watch the video tour, visit the PixyMe Web site at www.pixyme.com.

New Technology Offers Streamlined, Fast, Cost-effective Way to Create and Produce Targeted Localized Marketing Materials with Global Brand Integrity

Franklin Park, IL, February, 2010—Tukaiz, a leading provider of results-driven marketing communications services, today announced the launch of Backstage™ by Tukaiz, a proprietary online marketing management system and production process that offers a streamlined, cost effective way to produce more effective marketing materials. A convenient online system, Backstage provides the functionality needed to allow marketing and business users to order and create variable or static materials with highly customized messaging for a specific initiative or audience and have them printed and shipped within 48 hours.

Backstage is the perfect solution for creating such customized materials as it goes beyond basic web-to-print capabilities. Now enterprises can produce a host of POP/POS materials developed for local markets and franchises from approved creative or customized materials for distributors, sales forces, and corporate chains across the world that can be strictly controlled with respect to brand and legal issues. The online ordering system and production process is also perfect for any direct mail campaign since materials can be created with variable messages and image personalization technology and then printed, finished and mailed right from the Tukaiz facility.

Additionally, the software supports the analysis of a company’s marketing efforts with robust reporting and administration capabilities allowing the luxury of instant market research from each campaign to best determine the direction of future campaigns. Flexible and scalable, Backstage can be customized to meet business user’s marketing and budget requirements.

“Providing marketers closest to the customer the ability to customize messages and materials with the assurance they won't compromise the integrity of the brand in the process is a huge advantage for companies that want to incorporate targeted messages in their marketing materials that vary from region to region,” said Dan Defino, vice president and managing director of Tukaiz. “We are very excited about the benefits this technology is bringing to our customers. Backstage is an end-to-end solution that saves time and money with the ability to have customized materials created, printed, finished, and fulfilled within 48 hours from a single site facility.”

Virtual inventory and fulfillment capability is another great convenience that Backstage delivers. Most marketers are purchasing smaller volumes of printed materials to avoid the expense of warehousing them. Backstage makes it possible to print personalized, comprehensive marketing materials on a variety of substrates that can be targeted to smaller, carefully selected audiences, which ultimately means less inventory and less waste.

An article written by Tukaiz Vice President and Managing Director Daniel Defino entitled “Online Print Management—the New Web-to-Print ” is appearing in the  2010 Forecast issue of Printing Industries of America: The Magazine.

Reprint follows: