Welcome to the age of the New Print

The mailbox has been filled with investment stories over the last couple of weeks, not surprisingly for ‘deals’ being done, or at least completed, at Drupa. Everyone knows that most announcements from the show floor are about the photo opportunity and perhaps bragging rights between sales people. This is perhaps less the case than in the days when the ringing of a ship’s bell to signal every order taken was enough to rile folks on nearby stands. That was when the industry was confident and on the crest of a wave, which is perhaps no longer the case. Nevertheless the growing list of orders from Drupa is indicative of an industry that is perhaps showing the confidence to invest in contrast to recent years.

For some it is a matter of invest or die as older machinery is more expensive to maintain that buying new. For some it is a two press out, one press in arrangement, cutting capacity to match demand and reducing overheads. For others investment is about a shift in technology away from the offset litho that has sustained the business for the last half century. Unfortunately in too few cases is the investment about growth, about searching for new horizons and finding new business. Not all. Some companies are identifying opportunities as the markets they serve expand, taking in new customers and services.

This is the sort of positive investment, in software and people as well as machinery, that will lay the foundation for what magazine publishers heard described as the New Print at their congress in Portugal. The same can apply to book publishers, to marketing print and point of sale. The New Print is marked by higher production quality, taking in print and paper, but also by shorter runs and reduced frequency. The key is perhaps relevance to the end consumer. Those behind the New Print want to deliver an impact, relevant to the audience and that endures and is not cast away at the first opportunity. Because above all, this is where print scores over the infinitely disposable digital channels, which are forgotten as soon as they are gone. Who remembers advertising they have seen online? Print is rather different and it is this difference that is now being appreciated. It is this difference that creates the optimism that drives the investment that print needs.