FedEx Whites-Out the Kinko's Name

Poor customer service and fast-changing technology are still problems. Can the delivery giant redeem its troubled copy-chain unit by rebranding?

BusinessWeek, December 18, 2008 — Kinko's is not what it once was, and many customers don't like that a bit.

"They are chronically understaffed and overpriced," Pamela Haber, a Los Angeles event planner, says of the printing giant. "I've done enlargements—I had to get behind the counter to show them what to do."

Gerald Bose, a Sewell (N.J.) management consultant, complains: "You go in there now, the average person, you're not sure what the place is. The first thing you see is the photo kiosk. You can mail stuff. There's the color copier. Way over in the far corner, computers [for word processing and other tasks]. They are getting away from their knitting."

Xerox Gets a Brand Makeover

Once dominant in the copier market, the tech giant has had to wake up to a new world. Its latest brand identity attempts to reflect its newfound nimbleness

BusinessWeek, January 7, 2008 — The venerable Xerox (XRX) brand is far from dead or dying. It is, after all, not just a brand name but also in some countries a verb, like Google (GOOG). That's pretty good company in the world of high tech. But most of Xerox's customers don't put the Stamford (Conn.) copier company in the same class as the Internet search juggernaut. A new brand makeover, Xerox's first in 40 years, kicks off this week in a step toward trying to get customers to think of Xerox in a different light.

Xerox's inventor-in-chief

An innovation revival has lifted profits to $1.2 billion. Fortune's Geoff Colvin asks CTO Sophie Vandebroek: Can the company keep it up?

FORTUNE, July 9, 2007 — If all goes as scheduled, President Bush will hand Xerox's Sophie Vandebroek the National Medal of Technology at the White House in late July. It will be a sweet moment for her and for a company that was built on a world-changing innovation - xerography - but that lost its way for a while in the Digital Revolution.

You, Too, Can Grace a National Magazine’s Cover

Wired magazine, in partnership with Xerox, invited subscribers to upload their photographs to Wired.com. The first 5,000 who did so are now the cover art

New York Times, June 25, 2007 — IN the old days — say, maybe a month ago — a “customized” magazine meant that it had ads tailored to your age group or articles about your region. Now, it seems, it has your picture on the cover, too.

In its April issue, Wired magazine, in partnership with Xerox, invited subscribers to upload their photographs to Wired.com. The first 5,000 who did so are now receiving their July issue with themselves as the cover art.

Xerox Refocuses On Its Customers

Chief Technology Officer Sophie Vandebroek is using customer-led innovation to get a jump on the competition and kick-start sales

BusinessWeek, April 18, 2007 — Three years ago, a team of Xerox researchers dreamed up a commercial printer with two engines instead of one. Rather than following the company's standard development process—build the prototype, get customer feedback—they decided to hold focus groups with customers and potential customers to find out what they thought of the idea.

How Xerox Plans to Position Itself as the Cool Copier Company†

Marketer Looks to Develop a More Casual Image With Viral Push, Second Life Presence and Blogs

Advertising Age, April 16, 2007 — Remember when Xerox was "The Document Company"? Now how about Xerox, the viral marketer? Or Xerox, the Second Life island builder? Or even Xerox, the employee-blogging company? That's the kind of transformation Xerox is hoping for. Its recent digital efforts are attempts to bring words such as "fun," "energetic" and even "exciting" to its stalwart brand image of quality and reliability.