EPOCA LAUNCHED; PROCRAFT PHOTOBOOKS COMING; CUSTOM ALBUM LAYOUT AND DESIGN SOON!

As usual, the last few months since returning from WPPI have been a big blur, full of activity and excitement! What’s been keeping us busy? Here’s a recap …

Album Epoca Launched

I’m very proud to report we have successfully launched Album Epoca and have been busy getting new clients familiarized with the line and the software. The Epoca website is now live and available for registration, software downloads and to view pdf proofs of albums. While the Epoca site is directly linked to the design, production and manufacturing facility in Italy, our Tech Support team, located here in Cleveland, Ohio, has been buzzing! Our team is helping our clients with any and all issues pertaining to the software and design implementation. Plus, we have created online tutorials to help get everyone familiar with the different functions of the Epoca software. Click here check them out.

New Line of ProCraft Photobooks and Accessories

Speaking of what’s new and exciting, Albums Inc. is lauching a new line of photobooks and accessories designed exclusively for professionals. This new line came after 12 months of research and investigation on how to provide a professional level, press-printed product to our clients. Quality, ease of design and service were the primary objectives. The ProCraft Photobook line will be available in the next few weeks on the albumsinc.com website. You will be able to browse the line, download the free design software and submit your order through a newly designed section of our website. Only the most popular photobook products will be available at first, with new additions coming later in the summer. Our goal is to create a line of quality photobooks that will be immediately useful for the professional, adding new designs and collections over time that will bring out the best in your photography.

Custom Album Design Coming Soon
And now for what’s REALLY new and exciting! Our team here is working on launching a new website that will offer custom album layout and design! I’m so proud and excited to be announcing this new initiative. We have a fantastic group of young, talented designers, lead by our Art Director, Ray Jasinski. We’ve been brainstorming and believe we can really push the creative edge by combining your outstanding photography with our amazing design and albums. The big advantages for you? Less work. Faster turnaround. And a spectacularly designed product that will really set your business apart! So stay tuned for the big launch!! There will soon be a new site, a new name and a new way to offer your clients the ultimate in photography, design and packaging!

WHEW!

What a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been! Just back in town from WPPI, as I’m sure many of you are as well. From the looks of it, many people had a very busy, successful show. Although I wasn’t at the show very much, due to running around coordinating our Album Epoca launch event, La Dolce Vita, and DK and Mouse’s very first program.

From everything that I saw and heard about, WPPI was a rousing success. The Albums’ booth was busy with new friends and old, catching up, seeing what was new or just stopping by to say hello. As did many exhibitors at the show, we had lots of new products that we were excited to share – especially with Album Epoca being the newest and most exciting addition to our product lines. We had a whole extended family from Ricione, Italy with us for the Epoca launch. Emiliano Liverani, the Brand Manager, and Andrea Minietti, the Marketing Director, flew a long way to be there to support our staff, as did Ivan, Alberto and Walter. It turned out to be a great week and we received a lot of positive feedback. It just took a whole weekend to catch up on my sleep! (click on the photos to see more detail)

Within days, we will be launching the Album Epoca software and website, which will be a comprehensive community for clients. From the site, registered users will be able to view the unique Epoca offerings, download the free software and view useful tutorials, among other things. We are feverishly working on two continents to bring this product line to photographers who want to offer their clients a quality, professional product, with more choices and options for today’s trends. Most importantly, we have teams of customer service representatives, graphic designers and technical support people here in the United States to help photographers get exactly what they want from the Epoca line. Over in Italy, lab specialists, print and manufacturing experts and dedicated in-house software developers are supporting us.

In addition, we have tons of new products from Renaissance, Tap, Nik Software (very exciting!!) and many more.

As for DK and Mouse, I am exceptionally proud of their WPPI debut. We had a great turnout for their program on Wednesday morning. The response from attendees was positive and most appreciated the boys’ laid-back attitude, their practical and inspired advice and their approachability. Mouse and DK loved that after the seminar people stopped them to talk and came up to them when we were out and about. It was a new and positive experience for them and for me. Sometimes I take it for granted that I get to work with them on a day-to-day basis. Looking at their presentation, I was awed by just how cool and super talented they both are; it makes me very proud of the work we have done together. Plus, I was blown away by the huge amount of time they both spent developing the program over the preceding eight months. A giant debt of gratitude is also owed to Linear Creative’s Mike Councilman, whose design magic enhanced their work, Kartal Peel, who created the custom play list of music and Tim Smith, who is another gifted mix master. Young talent at its finest, I tell you!

Despite all the excitement at WPPI, it’s good to be back home. I’m looking forward to being around for a while, especially since my crew in Marketing moved into a second set of offices. We are co-locating with Linear Creative, our creative partners, in a new space that is a huge old Victorian house in Lakewood. Linear will be assisting with tech support and design services for our clients. So far, it’s been fantastic having a group of young, talented, energetic creatives all working together. Their fearless leader, Ray Jasinski, is at the helm and we hope their services will be a huge benefit to those of our clients who are looking for a way to enhance their business and designs. As for me, I’m just stoked I get to come to work everyday!

Hope to see you soon!!

Ciao,
Miche