ActiveRain & Kodak Contest: What Would You Do With the Money You Save on Ink?

Kodak is intent on becoming a trusted source for the best education, best practices and best technology for real estate professionals. It makes sense that an industry giant would team up with ActiveRain, the real estate network where agents come to get the best education, share the best practices and learn about the newest technologies.

One technology that, on its surface, has changed very little over the years is printer ink. Nothing could be further from reality. Kodak's proprietary pigment ink technology has made ink affordability a reality and doesn't require you to compromise on quality. One common complaint agents have with printing besides the cost is that when they print listing flyers, rain and sunshine destroy them very quickly. So they end up having to print more and keep replacing them! Kodak’s ink is water resistant (1) and fade resistant (2). This helps agents reduce the cost of replacing flyers, and when you do print, you’re only needing to do it once while saving money.

So this begs the question, who loves to buy ink for their printer? Go ahead, raise your hands high and shout out with joy!

Wait, no one here loves to buy ink for your printer? Of course you don't! It's something you never do until that last drop of ink has run out from the existing cartridge. And you rarely have an extra cartridge to replace it immediately for that ultra important document that needs to be printed NOW!!

Kodak knows that buying printer ink is a necessary evil, so they've made it affordable without compromising on quality. The average ink cartridge price for an office printer averages $18 for black (3) and $32 for color (4), and prints an average of 421 pages (5). The average consumer replaces their ink 8 times per year (6), while the average office professional replaces their ink 13-14 times per year (7). Studies have shown that Kodak printers save the average consumer $110.00 per year on ink cost, based on 4 pages per day (8). Consequently, if the average real estate agent prints about twice that amount their savings would be approximately $220 per year on ink cost alone! Your savings could be even higher right?

Kodak ink cartridges offer amazing print quality and cost $9.99 for black and $17.99 for color (9), allowing you to invest in your business, not the ink!

SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH AN EXTRA $220 PER YEAR??

The Contest:

Create a blog post that details what you would do with an extra $220 this year. Get creative. Posts must be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 500 words.

1. Include: '$220 in savings' in the title of your blog post somewhere

2. Mark your post for the 'ActiveRain' channel and include it in the topic 'I can save $220'

3. Post a link to your blog post on the Facebook fan page wall of both ActiveRain and Kodak. In the 'write something' section, include 'If I saved $220 this year I would.........(and finish the sentence)'.

(This one is optional. The Facebook terms of service don't allow us to make this a requirement)

4. Follow @kodakrealestate on Twitter

5. On your twitter account, make a tweet, with a link back to your blog post that includes '@kodakrealestate If I saved $220 this year I would........ (and finish the sentence)'.

6. In the footer of your post include: “This post is for the ActiveRain 'I could save $220 with Kodak Contest. I have a chance to win a free Kodak Printer, $$220 in cash to use for the idea in my blog post, and an extra $100 to use toward ink!.”

7. Posts must be written and all requirements fulfilled by November 23rd, 2010 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. We will announce the two winners on November 30th, 2010.

The Prizes:

1. All posts written for the contest will receive 2000 ActiveRain points.

2. Two lucky agents will be selected by a panel of judges (including staff from Kodak and ActiveRain) to receive: a free Kodak printer (Kodak ESP 6150 Office), $100 cash for ink or office needs, and $220 cash to spend on their idea from their blog post. One winner will be selected at Random from all participants and one winner will be selected based on the creativity of their post.

3. Kodak will ship the printer free to the winners and also send a check for the $320 cash prize via ActiveRain.

(The Fine Print......)

(1) Based on testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR) and Kodak internal testing on Kodak photo papers.
(2) Under all common consumer display and storage environments. Based on testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR).
(3) Based on Gap Intelligence ink price survey data, June 2010.
(4) Based on Gap Intelligence ink price survey data, June 2010.
(5) Average page yield based on QualityLogic report data, 2009-2010 and manufacturers stated page yields.
(6) Based on Lyra US consumer survey data, Oct. 2009
(7) Based on Kodak analysis of Lyra Research report data, 2009-2010 and VisionCritical Research survey data, Nov. 2009
(8) Results based on average ink costs of leading consumer inkjet printers using an average page mix of 52% black text documents, 35% mixed-color graphics and 13% photos (printed on KODAK Ultra Premium Paper, glossy finish & highest quality photo papers from other manufacturers) utilizing manufacturers' recommended standard ink cartridges available in single quantity pricing (i.e. no multi-packs, high capacity, combo packs, value packs or special promotions) as of June 2010. Actual results may vary. For more information and a list of all printers tested, go to http://www.kodak.com/go/inkdata for details

(9) MSRP pricing as of October 1, 2010

Get a 20% discount on certain Kodak products that help make your real estate business cutting edge including the Kodak ESP Office 6150 All-In-One Printer.

~ Bob