Bring back the branding iron: Print 21 magazine article

In the not-so-distant past, successful commercial printers worked hard to cultivate a distinctive character or brand for their businesses, something which had little to do with how well they printed or what equipment they had. James Cryer laments the passing of the iconic names of yesterday and argues that it’s time to bring back the branding iron.

Where have all the iconic brands gone? I’m not talking about Ampol, TAA and the Hills Hoist. I’m referring to the Websdales, the RT Kellys and even the Graphic Worlds (a great name!) ie the ‘name’ printers of yesteryear. Well, we know where they’ve gone – flushed down the toilet of history in the relentless march towards the commoditisation of our industry. (I was also going to include D&D Global, but as this is a family magazine I’ll keep it clean.)

I see our industry as like a classroom of kids. There are the unruly ones, the conservative ones and the aggressive ones – and there are the silly ones and the smart ones, not to mention some who are a bit undernourished and others who seem a little overweight. However, it seems that in recent times, much of the good old entrepreneurialism that characterised our industry has disappeared. The brand leaders in our industry used to compete not only in terms of their print capabilities but also on the strength of their image and the appeal of their brand or identity.

Dynamic Press, one of Sydney’s best-kept secrets, quietly cultivated an impregnable barrier against its competitors by its impeccable service levels, to the point that art directors would insist that Dynamic do the work regardless of price. Pot Still Press, RT Kelly and Concord likewise all built a ring of steel around themselves as the default providers of annual reports and related financial-services products. And yet, they had exactly the same press capabilities as everyone else!

Websdales, also, was able to build an aura around itself that was legendary, and pioneered many client-service facilities that were the envy of the industry. I’m not saying they did everything right – and I admit some of these firms outlived their golden era – but there’s no denying the magnetic attraction these firms generated in their heyday. And there’s no denying the good they did in promoting print as a medium of choice for major corporates.

Radical move west
I’m trying to give recognition to those inspired examples where our industry rose above the mundane, the quotidian, the everyday, and produced gems whose contributions still add sparkle today.

Let’s not forget Lilyfield’s radical, even scary, decision to re-locate out into the western suburbs, the last place on earth a financial-services/agency-driven printer should be! They confounded everyone (me included) by mounting what was probably the most creative self-promotional event our industry had ever seen. Showmanship? Yes. Stage-management? Yes. Fantasy? Yes – but by providing taxis and ‘golden wing’ lounges for important clients, they turned the tyranny of distance into a pleasurable experience, an escape from reality. I suspect many a young print buyer was probably lining-up to place print orders with Lilyfield just to get a free limo ride out to Regents Park and back. Just what they stocked the bar with we’ll never know.

A few years back, that noted showman of the digital stage, Ron Anderson of Rapid Digital, presented a ‘smoke-and-mirrors’ surprise when, to the disbelief of an enthralled audience, he pulled not one but two iGen3s out of the hat! People were on smelling-salts for weeks.

And let’s give an accolade to the Lindsay Yates Group who last year staged a theatrical, multi-media extravaganza for 300-odd frantic young designers in a down-town city hotel. This elaborate and well-executed event projected not only the LYG image, but helped promote the entire printing industry, giving us all a higher profile on the public stage. I firmly believe these excellent attempts at showcasing individual companies should be recognised by creating a new award category in the National Pride Awards.

Promote brand, not bland
All these initiatives have one thing in common: to create and promote a brand, a handle, an identity by which that company will be known and recognised.

So who can understand the logic behind PMP’s decision some years ago to destroy a brand-name like ShowAds, and replace it with the dry-as-dust PMP Digital? Or Geon’s desire to obliterate the huge store of goodwill built-up in names like Agency or Graphic World, notwithstanding Pacific Print Group’s original premise which was to buy well-run companies and retain their identity? Well, they got the first bit right.

We should be striving to make buying print a pleasurable experience, and here we can learn something from our digital cousins. Look up a typical offset company website and it’ll assail you with technical facts such as: “The print production area is (and this is taken from an actual website) equipped with a CD74-6+LYLLX-F…”

By contrast, go to a typical digital-centre website and they talk about the team. For example, Reef Digital has a ‘Meet the Team’ section with pictures of various staff members in sporting or humorous poses, all of which helps to personalise the message and suggest you’ll be dealing with real life human beings. The Sign FX website even includes their accounts clerk, Nicole, and her baby, Jade, captioned as the “accounts payable clerk”.

These strategies may be corny but they perform an important role in making your organisation appear easy – even enjoyable – to do business with.

Take luxury cars. If it were possible to test drive them while blindfolded, you probably couldn’t tell what brand they were, they’re all so good. But take off the blinkers and look at the badges and suddenly you start to relate to this car or that, often driven by subtle, subliminal influences that probably aren’t entirely logical. Logic has got nothing to do with it. Who can explain why buyers loved dealing with Websdales?

To be fair, there are still a handful of others such as Offset Alpine (to give credit to a company which has cultivated a warm fuzzy glow within their segment), possibly Finsbury Green and Focus who have both carved out strong images as eco-warriors, and maybe Pettaras with its strong focus on quality awards. But these are the exceptions. Where are the other entrepreneurs out there, busily building brand?

Bring back the larrikins, the rugged individualists and the even some of the scally-wags, who lent colour and flair to the industry. Make it easy, pleasurable and engaging for customers to deal with your business. Get the managing director out to meet clients. No – bad idea? That’s OK, every company has to work out its own strategy on the question of “why should a customer deal with us?”. A strong brand also means reducing the reliance on the sales rep as the sole point-of-contact with the client. Clients should enjoy dealing with your company, not just the rep.

Bring back the branding iron, I say! Let’s have a print awards category – ‘Best Print-Industry Brand Builder’. Any nominations?