Local company counts success by lives saved 5A Burnsville Costco on schedule to open Nov. 24 8A Local ‘Maverick’ to be featured in documentary 9A
LAURA ADELMANN JESSICA HARPER JESSICA HARPER
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DATE ##, 2009 OCTOBER 7, 2010
VOLUME 30, NUMBER # VOLUME 31, NUMBER 32
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Print and digital age meet over squiggly symbols Local print shop offers 2D bar codes that allow businesses to augment advertising with multimedia, efficacy tracking by Aaron Vehling DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Print shops in the digital age: The idea is a delicate tension among tradition, adaptation and obsolescence. To be in the business of paper during the era of digital ubiquity may seem a shaky endeavor, but Doug Pennington, owner of Lakeville-based Goldmine Dezine, thinks he has found a way to abolish that anachronism: bar codes. Wait, bar codes? “Bar codes are boring,� Pennington said one afternoon with a solid laugh. “Who wants to know about bar codes? It’s what they can do for you.� The types of bar codes Pennington talks about are “2D� and allow your camera-enabled smart phone to scan them top to bottom, in addition to the sideby-side reading your traditional UPC receives. Let’s say a realtor sends out a postcard showcasing a house for sale. The URL is on the card, but who’s to say the recipients will take the time to check it out? But what if on that postcard sits the square, 2D bar code replete with dots and squiggly lines? The recipient can pass her cell phone’s camera in front of it and reveal a digital, interactive tour of said house: She could see the intricacies of the property and browse a map poised to guide her to the real estate. Or maybe you are waiting in line at the movie theater, uncertain of which movie to see. You scan the bar code on the movie poster and instantly that movie’s trailer begins to play on your phone. In a matter of seconds you can determine whether you want to check out the latest Affleck flick or spend a few hours with Gordon Gekko.
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Independence Party candidate Tom Horner stands little chance at beating Dayton or Emmer in gubernatorial race. PHIL KRINKIE 4A FORUM
Photo by Aaron Vehling
Doug Pennington of Goldmine Dezine has found 2D bar codes to be the bridge between the print and digital realms. The barcodes allow cell phone users to access virtual tours, websites, coupons and product reviews.
DAVID OLSON
We need to support the public, not public institutions, when funding higher education. Funds should be more transparent. 4A
BUSINESS 101
Business leaders should take steps to create an environment that is conducive to a multicultural organization. HAROLD TORRENCE 6A BEST PRACTICES B
One foot in the future It sounds a bit space age, perhaps even a stretch: Who is going to use this technology? Will Pennington’s clients actually request this technology, and will their customers actually take the time to scan a bar code? But if there is one thing the 30-year printing veteran prides himself on, it is his prescience. “If you stay ahead of technology, you’ll do fine,� he said. “But
lag ag behind too far an and you’ll et lost in the dust.� get He could be right, too. Globall smart phone sales were up 14 i the h second d quarter off percent in 2010, according to Gartner, a Connecticut-based information technology research and advisory group. This amounts to about 326 million units sold worldwide, with the United States comprising a major share of that number. To top it off, Pennington said, his clients want the new technology. “When I show it to people, nine times out of 10 they want the technology,� he said. The reason for this is fairly simple: efficacy.
Take, Tak for ex example, a target-marketing et-marketing mail piece, which Pennington nington said is Goldmine’s primary revenue driver. He pointed to a mailer for one of his clients, a high-end salon in Florida (a majority of Pennington’s business is national). It is targeted at women who earn $75,000 a year or more. Recipients of those mailers can scan the bar codes to access digital coupons and directions to the business. This serves the customer well, but behind all that
KEVIN STIRTZ
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How a business handles customer complaints can greatly determine whether it will have a repeat or one-time customer. 6A
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