Pellow and Tribute connect with Sydney - you should have been there

Leading industry experts Barb Pellow and Andy Tribute deliver a cutting edge seminar on the transformation of the printing industry.

Rarely have two such high-powered presenters faced such a small audience as the industry failed to respond to Eliot Harper’s initial Connect seminar in Sydney this week. Less than 20 industry types were present to hear what were perhaps the most valuable presentations of the year.
Barb Pellow of US-based InfoTrends, gave an in-depth report on the move by US printing companies in particular to changing from print service providers (PSPs) to marketing service providers (MSPs). Responding to the growing importance of the internet and direct marketing, printers are transforming their businesses into creative powerhouses.
She gave examples of printing companies that now provide return- on-investment (ROI), multi-channel relationship marketing services. Repositioning printing companies is essential for long-term survival. She urged printers to rebrand their businesses, getting rid of the word ‘print’ from their names.

Photo: Eliot Harper with his two star presenters

She mentioned, as an example, the decision of the Snap franchise chain to drop print from its brand.
“Success equals repositioning. There is a digital divide in printing and if you are on the wrong side of it it is not a pretty picture,” she warned.
She was enthusiastic about the future of digital printing and the many opportunities being opened up by new technology. Apart from the growth of the $3.2 billion direct marketing business in Australia she pointed to the surge in photo related print as a prime opportunity for digital printers.
Augmented reality printing with reality readers are set to overturn the illustrated book industry. This digital technology embeds a tag containing a Flash file on the printed page, which when viewed through appropriate goggles will marry video and print in 3D. She predicts a billion dollar future for this segment the Christmas after next.

The changing face of printing
Andy Tribute carried on this theme in his presentation by emphasising that the industry is now printing many items that were never printed before. However, he had some sobering statistics on the state of the convention al printing industry.
In Europe the failure rate of printing companies is 250 percent higher than average across the economy. One in four printing businesses is losing money.
He criticised the industry associations in particular for not doing enough to get the printing industry’s environmental credentials across.
But the advancement of digital printing is likely to be the saviour for most commercial printers. Up to 60 percent of digital printing is work transferred from offset, up from less than 10 percent in 2000, while 20 percent now uses some form of variable data. This is set to rise.
Tribute advised printers to expand their horizons by delivering more services. He pointed out that for every dollar spent on printing, up to six more were expended in ancillary services, such as content design and creation, finishing and delivery logistics. This is a print communication company’s natural growth area.
Other opportunities he identified for digital printing include:
Transpromo – adding marketing value to essential mail is only for a few specialised companies. Not for the average commercial printer it is yet to find widespread acceptance.
Direct Marketing – variable data and personalised printing is a rapidly growing sector and one in which every printer should be gaining expertise.
Web2Print – the joy of web to print is not only that it is predicted to grow by 30 percent per annum, but that customers pay as they place the order.
In a rapidly developing market his advise for printers included:
• Build a new business model
• Make it easy for your customers to buy from you
• Become a provider of a range of marketing services
• Find a niche market (if there are any left) and specialise in it.
• Either be a digital printing company or add digital to your offset capability
• Learn to market your company, not just sell its offerings.
There was much more targeted and valuable information of good use to every printing company in this transformative time. The pity of it is there were not more industry professionals there to get the benefit.