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Safeguarding the future for Print Media
Date Posted:
30 Jun 2010
Print Media is a powerful way to communicate but is the industry doing enough to sell itself? Martyn Eustace, Director, ‘Two Sides’, will set out the background to two new and exciting pro-print campaigns and tell printers how they can get involved.
The printed word on paper has been around for over 2000 years yet, for this ubiquitous product in our daily lives, its raison d’être is being seriously questioned. Some would argue that, except for the most cherished of documents, there are better ways to store and communicate information and that the days of printed media are numbered.
Like rabbits caught in headlights the industry has observed, without concerted reaction, the threats it faces, whether from environmental activists or from emerging new media, seemingly hoping that the problem would pass. It has focussed on what it does best, and has believed to be most important, that is to produce better paper and print, without tackling the wider reasons for falling demand.
There’s common agreement that the Print and Paper industries, perhaps better and more widely described as the Graphic Communications Value Chain, have not, so far, invested to communicate their own case to a changing world. In this vacuum negativity has been the outcome.
So if the industry wants to be part of this debate, and ensure that all the positive aspects of Print Media are given the prominence they deserve, then it’s time to get stuck in and make sure that our voice is heard.
On the environmental front, some individual companies have been active, often producing large quantities of material, on the web and in glossy brochures, setting out initiatives which are reducing the carbon impact of their business. The paper industry, faced with worldwide concern for tropical hardwood deforestation, again a very real issue but little connected with the well managed and increasing forestry resources in Europe, has presented its case. The information provided by CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, is particularly detailed and informative, setting the record straight. But who reads all these documents? Who believes them? What have they achieved?
More has got to be done and will be addressed in two European-wide campaigns. ‘Print Power’, focussing the effectiveness of Print Media and ‘Two Sides’, already active in the UK, which will set out the true facts about the industry’s sustainability.
The Print Power campaign will promote the case for Print Media in a multi media world and its clear ability to inform and persuade; achieving more immediate and long-lasting results for stretched marketing budgets. In short we need to tell those whose decision it is to chose media channels that Print is Effective as part of a multi media campaign, with an impressive ROI.
The Two Sides campaign will promote print and paper’s sustainability which has been criticised; often by those unaware of the true facts and more cynically by those who seek to promote their own alternative communication media. An active, fact based, campaign will put the record straight. In a recent survey, 80% of media buyers admit that the environment plays a part in the print buying decision, clearly identifying the need for the true facts to be known.
Traditional and electronic media both have a role to play. Together they are part of today’s media mix and both face a challenge to minimise environmental impact. Those who attempt to use the environment in their marketing without supportive facts are skating on thin ice and deserve to be challenged to produce the evidence to support their claims.
In reality the challenge for Print Media may not be so great as may at first be supposed. The environmental arguments can be won and from a marketing perspective the effectiveness of Print Media can be demonstrated, proved by data, and justify a significant share of today’s modern marketing mix.
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Martyn Eustace, Director ‘Two Sides’
With over 30 years in the paper industry Martyn has a wealth of experience having held a variety of senior management positions.
Martyn is now Managing Director of Newvizion, an independent business consultancy, and Director of Two Sides, an initiative by companies from the Graphic Communications Value Chain including Forestry, Pulp, Paper, Inks and Chemicals, Pre Press, Press, Finishing, Publishing and Printing. The common goal is to promote the responsible production and use of print and paper, and dispel common environmental misconceptions by providing users with verifiable information on why Print and Paper is an attractive, practical and sustainable communications medium.
Martyn is a member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Turnaround Panel, was President of the National Association of Paper Merchants (NAPM) from 2002-2004, has also served on the Board of EUGROPA, the European Paper Merchants Association and speaks regularly at conferences and industry events about the sustainability of Print media.
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