Kindle shmindle, iPod shmipod
All those doom declaimers who tell us that Steve Jobs is about to put print to death – time to eat a little crow. In the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations, print sales might be down a percentage point here and there, but the fact remains that 2.2 million Australians buy a newspaper every day. Three times that many buy a magazine every month. Some leading titles are up by
as much as 18%.
A-Z from Addressing to Zhongshan
I am writing this on 18 February, three full months before the first over is bowled in Birmingham. The fact that Ipex had already signed no fewer than 567 exhibitors speaks volumes for the reputation of the major “between-Drupas” event; the acumen of its sales team; but most importantly for the viability of the industry. Running shoes will obviously be the order of the day!
Look who has taken GASAA helm
David Leach of Look Print – one of only two print shops to become ISO-14001 certified of the 14 that have been taken through the mill by training consultant Paul Köhn – has taken the helm of GASAA’s Executive Committee from long-serving prez Luke Everingham. Other names around the table include David D’Astoli (Focus Press), Brian Gibson (Mail Marketing Works), James Hawkes (ACP Magazines), Michael Jones (CDM Print), Russell Montgomery (DDB Sydney), Mike Palmer (Snap Printing), Theo Pettaras (Digitalpress) and Paul Richardson (Lindsay Yates & Partners)
Next-gen eco approach
Wind-powered recycling. Zero net waste production. Nanotechnology. Plus a new film line every year. The aptly named Next Generation Films is out in front in packaging sustainability. From concept to manufacturing to end-use to recycling, the Ohio firm is out to change the “anti-plastics” mindset of many environmentalists. It incorporates high-tech source reduction in its packaging-film structures, and maintains a net zero-waste operation as well as establishing a wind-powered recycling centre. No wonder the company took out last year’s Innovator Award for Sustainability.
Eating words can cause indigestion
Once in a while, we industry observers have to spend considerable amounts of time and effort cleaning egg off their faces. Such is my kismet with mid-sized St Leonards (Sydney) based print shop, The Printing Department. In a chapter straight out of a book entitled Red Faces, I wrote a glowing report late last year after a conversation with new owner Michael Liley. To wit: “Men like Michael Liley are what the printing industry in this country badly needs. Business people. People with a financial background and management expertise who can blend these capabilities with a respect for (if perhaps not a traditional love of) the craft of printing”. Liley now seems to have paid the penalty of implementing his management methods without a background in the printing industry.
Henry Mendelson has decades of experience in advertising, and has long been a keen observer of the print industry.
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