Other deals discussed at the event included the partnership with San Francisco-based Blurb.com to create the Publish platform that enable customers to create custom bound publications of any run length from a simple design-to-print workflow interface.

But CGX executive sales & marketing VP Aaron Grohs noted that, for the conference’s nearly 1,000 attendees, the big takeaway was the growing emphasis on data-driven print campaigns by marketers across the country.

"Marketers are starting to understand the ROI and we’re doing a better job of showing them those returns - and all that ties back to the data," he told PrintWeek.

Grohs added much of this is being driven by the shift to digital, adding: "The whole digital evolution is going to drive us forward. It’s not sheetfed printing, though that’s not going away. But we’re seeing a major transition into digital which is where we think we have a huge competitive advantage."

That theme was echoed by Patsy Koepke, President of Indianapolis-based CGX printer, The Jackson Group, who highlighted a 20% increase in her company's sales last year thanks to a rise in both local and national work.

The Jackson Group joined CGX 16 months ago and Koepke said: "My sales and account reps are able to talk to customers about the areas they are struggling in and now they have this whole arsenal of ideas and solutions they can bring to the table, like translations service or large format or having a digital footprint."

The Jackson Group already has an iGen as well as a DocuTex at its facility but Koepke pointed out that with the CGX nationwide network of printers, her clients have access to more than 200 digital presses worldwide.

"We’re now able to do testing for clients on multiple pieces of equipment and let them decide what’s right for them," she said. "You can’t really do that if you’re a standalone."

The conference featured a large number of prominent marketers, including Jim Cartwright, senior vice president and managing director, Saatchi & Saatchi X, Brad Davis chief marketing officer with Opus Bank and FedEx senior vice president, Corporate Marketing, Laurie Tucker.

But Grohs noted it was all about ink and substrates, adding: "We actually did a video at the beginning of Emerge called ‘Print is Alive’ that included testimonials from different agencies and leaders that have come to us noting the uptick in the physical use of print, with new substrates, new coating—we’re starting to see a lot of things that we haven’t seen in years past."