The Print Impressions sales and marketing manager told ProPrint the GAMAA grant was a great initiative because the industry had to embrace new opportunities.

He said his Melbourne company had responded to customer demand by evolving from a traditional offset printer into one that offered digital printing, marketing services, direct mail and more.

“I have been talking for a long time about printers becoming more integrated providers to their customers – marketing services providers,” he said.

“Over the past two years, we have evolved our services and won new business based on adding services to our portfolio through understanding our customers’ changing needs.

“I intend to use the GAMAA grant to find out what else I can add and to see how others are doing it.”

Barnet will start his three-week October trip with a week at DIG Creative followed by another week at industry event DMA2012. He then hopes to meet marketing guru Seth Godin in New York, before visiting some innovative printing companies.

To win the annual grant, Barnet had to submit a 1,000-word proposal on what he hoped to gain from the internship and then pass an interview.

GAMAA president Ian Martin congratulated Barnet on being the pick of a “high calibre” field and said he was “[looking] forward to the outcomes Peter will present”.

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