Konica Minolta searches for a star this summer

Masters of colour: Konica Minolta's microsite aims to hook in new users.

Printer maker Konica Minolta is on the lookout for new talent as it seeks to consolidate its position in the creative industries.

Its new channel programme will consist of two linked campaigns: Get Yourself Noticed, a competition for graphic designers to showcase their skills; and a microsite, Masters of Colour, aimed at showing graphic design users how to get the best out of Konica Minolta printers.

The winner of the Get Yourself Noticed competition will have their design displayed on central London billboards and will also be hailed as 'the one to watch' in the industry.

Konica's microsite is part of a summer campaign, featuring Cool Offers, an initiative aimed at creating end user interest. Purchasers during the promotion can receive either an iPod Touch or a three-year warranty on the printer range. Having hooked new users, the site also helps them to find the best local reseller, boosting the reseller's order pipeline.

Harminder Ramanay, head of marketing at Konica, said: "Due to the continued success of our A3 printer range, Konica Minolta is running a competition for those in the creative market. Konica Minolta believes in adding value to partners through targeted end user campaigns while building the profile of its resellers.

"In a market where the channel is saturated with incentives and offers, resellers are looking for an innovative way to position products. We believe that we have created an ideal campaign to generate end user awareness to benefit both Konica Minolta and our resellers".

James Kight, managing director of reseller Printerland, welcomed the scheme.

“Konica is very big in design circles and Mac users tend to be devoted,” said Kight. “Its A3 machines are very good for this market, but there is more market penetration it could go after, and it is being very proactive.”