Password generators the answer?
A couple of months ago I pontificated persuasively about the need to change passwords regularly, and indeed, when creating same to be as complicated as possible to ward off the cyberspace equivalent of pirates on the high seas.

Lots of people, when involved in this exercise, find they have trouble coming up with good passwords, and especially if needing to create a large number of them. The answer – as is the case so often in this day and age of bespoke programmes – is to search for one which can do the job for you. One of these is Password Assistant, described as “an easy-to-use tool built into OS X which can automatically create passwords to one’s specifications”.

The way to access it is by downloading from a poetic appellation called Code Poetry’s free Password Assistant utility. Another clue can be found in Andrew Hedge’s free Make-A-Pass, described as a generator in the form of a Dashboard widget.

And while dealing with free downloads…
Bearing in mind a print company’s website is the most important marketing tool in today’s web-woven world, it is axiomatic that every printing company, no matter how small, must invest in one. But it can’t just be a token effort for the sake of having one; it has to be effective. That’s if survival is one of its owner’s objectives.

We’ve got one, I hear you say. But how effective is it? Is it delivering a regular stream of leads? If, as one might suspect, the answer to that question is in the negative, could I humbly suggest you take a look at Hubspot’s website redesign kit. It’s easy to download; its main emphasis is on internet marketing and website redesign to squeeze the ultimate benefit from it; what’s more, it’s free.

It’s almost becoming a tired repeat refrain…
Once that elusive effective website is up and running, it’s not enough just to look at it and chest beat one’s pride. It has to be promoted. Even though I’ve been tub thumping on this for some time now, it seems the concept of promoting their websites is a chore many local print suppliers find too difficult to master. And yet it’s not only vital a component in any progressive printer’s marketing armoury, its absence can translate into the terminal.

So, the outpourings of a forum at the recent Print 09 in Chicago only reinforced some of my recent thumping of the tub. Said the report, “(Print) buyers want information about how to get branded websites that enable online (web-to-print) ordering of a variety of printed materials. If you offer this: get the word out.” Get the message?

Asian label markets examined
Again, in a previous column I mentioned the ongoing research into the labelling industry in all kinds of markets except our back door. Now FINAT’S research outfit, Alexander Watson Associates, has indicated that their long awaited study of the Asian regions has been completed.

First up in their Market Study 2009 is the not unremarkable conclusion that Asia is the world’s fastest growing market for labels and that the Asian market continues to drive the global growth in label volumes. However, the study notes that, in line with all other regional markets, Asia exhibited the same significant slowdown in label market volume growth.

What needs to be kept in mind is that the Asian label market is not a homogeneous market, but is composed of markets defined by countries that show a wide range of growth rates and sophistication in labelling formats and, within these individual markets, there are widely different performances.

As in all regions, label growth has been influenced by changing business environments, and the dynamics of the label market across Asia have been affected by these changes to varying degrees, dependent upon country, label format, and end use.

Watson Associates details trends in the Asian market by label technology, with emphasis on pressure sensitive, glue applied, sleeving, and in-mold labelling.

For whom the 21 bells tolled
Signs of economic recovery were rampant at the recently held Labelexpo Europe 2009 in Brussels. Exhibitors overall reported positive experiences despite a drop in attendee numbers.

One of the signs of the times was the additional exhibition hall devoted to the digital world, including a plethora of digital UV inkjet presses introduced by manufacturers of conventional presses as well as those in other manufacturing sectors. One of the busiest stands was Nilpeter’s, where they rang a bell every time a press was sold. It went ring-a-ding 21 times in five days. If they’d been flogging Toyotas you might have seen the Danes jumping around shouting, “Oh hvad en folelse!” (think Toyota…)

Roadshow needed more taxis
Turnout at the Barb Pellow/Andy Tribute roadshow last month was respectable, assisted no doubt by all those freeloaders taking advantage of the organisers’ complimentary (non peak-time) flight offer for interstate visitors. The biggest problem for them in the end was trying to get a taxi at Mascot.

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