Allely – the key note speaker at this year’s NSW CEO Forum – told attendees that the average Australian household now receives more catalogues than it did in 2006, but they are highly targeted and printed in much smaller numbers.

He says, “Instead of trying to address a national average, smaller print runs can be more finely tuned to resonate with particular consumers in specific areas, so that while we now receive more catalogues, they are also more relevant to us.”

Allely also cited a marketing survey, which found that 80 per cent of Gen Y dislike companies prospecting via social media, and an even higher number, 87 per cent, prefer businesses to communicate with them by mail.

He adds, “Gen Y would rather receive their catalogues in the mail at home than receive them electronically. So would everybody else, so what’s changed?”

During his address he compared print and electronic publishing to the introduction of television and its impact on newspapers.

He said when television first began it was seen as a major threat to newpapers but now newspapers carry television guides, and breakfast television talk about the newspapers’ front pages.

“Soon after television first began, TV and the daily press learnt to live together in a win-win format that has been of benefit to both for many years. Print and electronic publishing will no doubt do the same.”

Allely concluded, “As an industry, we have been through torrid times of late – no doubt about that. But printing is not only in our blood, it’s in the bone and marrow of our lives.”

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