Two Sides Australia is seeing a surge in membership as printers rally to the Value of Paper and Print campaign, officially launched in Sydney today.
Executive director Kellie Northwood says more than a dozen companies have signed up since it was announced in early October, helping push the lobby group’s membership revenue to 25 per cent of its target already.
Two Sides was already supported by 39 printers and suppliers, including Australia’s three biggest printers, the big paper merchants, and leading suppliers.
The VoPP campaign gives Two Sides members access to reams of research data they can use to educate themselves and clients, and build a compelling case for print, with memberships starting at $250.
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Speaking at the Sydney launch attended by about 25 print leaders from companies including Opus, Look Print, SOS Print and Media, Rawson Graphics, OnePoint, and Centrum Printing, Northwood encouraged printers to talk up the medium’s power to their clients.
“We need to create a different conversation with advertisers,” she says. “Print is more than a manufacturing commodity and we need to talk to marketers in their language because print is not respected enough by them.
“We are competing against other channels more than with other people in this room.”
Northwood presented just a small sample of the data available to Two Sides members and said advertisers spent less money in the past year on three of the top five most effective channels, and the industry needs to correct this trend.
“Younger consumers might be digital natives, but 67 per cent trust print more and take more action from print advertising,” she says.
“Print is effective, it has environmental credentials, it is fun, engaging, tactile, trustworthy, and accessible.
“We can substantiate all of these words through data, and pass them on to our customers in conversations that are much more sophisticated than those that are based around price.
“Even Google’s most effective campaigns are in print and Apple uses its packaging to create a customer experience.”
She says catalogues give a 290 per cent return on investment, magazines 130 per cent and newspapers 120 per cent, while online is at 110 per cent and TV and radio much lower.
Northwood will also visit printers to give presentations to their clients, showing them the data and explaining why they should spend their money in print.
“The data is there so it is not a difficult conversation,” she says.
Northwood says like all communication mediums, print has great strengths as well as weaknesses and printers should talk to clients about how print can work with other channels for best effectiveness.
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PIAA chief executive Bill Healey, also at the launch, agreed that just putting ink on paper is not enough anymore and printers should need to think about print being part of a communications mix.
“It is not just about pumping out wedding invitations anymore, it is about engaging with customers in multichannel communications,” he says.
“Until we started this campaign, we had no ammunition to take to the advertisers and general public. We now have the data, the information, to back us up.
“It is exhilarating to see the facts on print’s effectiveness, and I hope printers will feel more optimistic after seeing them.”
The VoPP campaign is a multi-pronged attack targeting media buyers and advertising professionals, and includes a roadshow next year and support through radio, and lectures at design and advertising colleges to get the next generation excited about print.
Some 16,000 copies of the Industry Report 2014 have been circulated to the industry, which collates data and research focussing on the strength of print media across efficacy, path to purchase, brand, return on investment, in situ and sustainability.
Launches in Melbourne and Hobart will follow later this week.
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