Project Overview
A 100+ year old paper company launching a premium mobile print app, available for free download? Yes, Print Hammermill was launched by International Paper in early 2014, and has received high ratings, been downloaded over 125,000 times to date, and users have already printed over 1 million times with the app! Consumers love Print Hammermill, it has over 4 star ratings in Google, iOS and Amazon stores.
Organisation
Team
The creative team for this project included Paul Moreau, Tracy Burke and Cindy Hamrick.
Project Brief
Why would International Paper provide a free print app? As consumers migrate their time spent from traditional PCs or laptops to mobile devices, we want to insure that print remains available, easy and at no additional cost.
Research shows that people want to print from their phones and tablets, but either cannot due to operating systems limitations, don’t know that they can, or find the experience frustrating. International Paper recognized this unmet need and has responded with a free, premium print app that mimics the traditional desktop print experience across thousands of printers.
Our desire is for the device manufacturers to fully implement print functionality into their devices. We are glad that AirPrint is available in iPhones, and the latest Android OS, KitKat, does include some rudimentary print capability. However, both of these solutions are limited in function. Until full print is available, we believe that Print Hammermill meets consumer needs in the print space.
Project Need
Print Hammermill is not the first print app to the market; rather, there are dozens and dozens available. However, most print apps are provided by a specific printer manufacturer for their printers only, cost money to download, or are limited in capability.
Print Hammermill solves all of these issues in providing an app that is free, easy to use, fully functional, and printer manufacturer agnostic. If you want to print, Print Hammermill has you covered!
User Experience
Print Hammermill partnered with an app development company who has a successful track record to provide an outstanding user experience. User focus groups were conducted to understand the most likely print scenarios and needs. From there, the initial screens were tested by recording user test scenarios. The testing output included defining the best screen flows for the app, the optimal positioning of various functions, and the most concise user messaging. A Printer Setup wizard was developed to assist users with printer setup in cases where needed. This was also done because the functionality varies somewhat from Android to iOS, due to operating system differences.
The Android share function takes advantage of the app, which is a plus for Android users. On the Android, a user may “share to print”, selecting Print Hammermill from the drop down. Printing becomes as easy as sharing a document to social media or email. It’s an integrated option.
The app has received positive reviews from consumers. Just read the reviews on the Google Play Store!:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hammermill.premium&hl=en
We are continually listening to our users and making adjustments and improvements to the app based on their feedback. The app is also ad free. We do not sell anything with or on the app. There are brand mentions in the user experience; however, they are incidental to the screens. No screens or additional information unrelated to the app is placed between the user and print experience.
Project Marketing
Our marketing strategy is to make the topic as fun as possible for the consumer. The strategy includes several components, including employee communications, on product, industry, web and social media. Our best selling paper reams and cartons feature artwork advertising the Print Hammermill app. These will be produced in the millions. We have run promotions on facebook and twitter, taken out industry ads, had several blogs including the app published, and informed our employees about the app.
We are attempting to draw as much interest to print on mobile devices as possible. Print Hammermill was recently featured in a segment on the Today Show on the topic of “Using Your Phone to Control Your Home”: http://www.today.com/video/today/55843983#55843983
We also have created our own humorous video for the app. An edit of this video is currently running as an ad in airports throughout the nation on the CNN network. Here is the full length video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NM9x1PnzOs
Project Privacy
Privacy is not an issue with app, as we do not require or collect any user or phone information from the app!
Productivity Apps
This category recognises applications that aid and facilitate productivity such as notes, diaries, schedulers, data entry and spreadsheet apps.
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