We cannot sell the ultimate printing experience

Whatever you think of Dominic Cummings’ 246-mile drive north, very few people will care about the car he was using (other perhaps than the fact it appears to be able to travel that distance without a stop to take on fuel). It is not the route of the drive nor the car that is important, it is the reason for the trip and the destination. And that applies to the school run, the trip to the shops or the doctor as much as the visit to one’s family. 

The fact is that, despite expensive advertising highlighting ‘the ultimate driving machine’ or the emotion of driving through an empty night time city or across open countryside, the vast majority of car journeys are to get to work. The vast majority of driving is for mundane reasons, not for the experience of driving. For sure the trip should use the most appropriate vehicle for the purpose, but the pleasure of driving is rarely a reason to get behind the wheel. 

So too with print. People rarely buy print for its own sake. It’s about selling something, about conveying a message or information, about a form that needs filling in. Books can be an exception, perhaps some magazines, but most of the time we ignore the purpose that the printed object is intended to achieve. We should sell the impact of print, not the print itself. At times we can stress the quality, the dot size and paper used, but for most print jobs, like most car journeys, the vehicle is not important. All we need know is that it will get to Durham and back, preferably without being noticed. 

Gareth Ward