It’s not easy for today’s print shop owner to take a day out of a busy schedule to attend one of the seemingly interminable numbers of conferences, seminars, events and expos that are currently available, especially at this time of year, but the few who came to the first Connect 09 conference in Sydney departed well pleased with their day’s work.
Organiser Eliot Harper had attracted two of the world’s leading print analysts, Andy Tribute from the Attributes Consultancy, and Barb Pellow, a director at InfoTrends, the world’s leading graphic arts research agency. Both were focused on emerging print markets and technologies, particularly in the rapidly emerging multi-channel digital and variable data space.
Pellow and Tribute gave compelling presentations covering a host of new business opportunities that are emerging and ready to be exploited, with clear pointers on how to get into the game. A raft of stats gave credence to the insights and analysis. According to Pellow Australia is the second most internet connected country in the world, with 72.9 per cent of the population now online. Pellow says companies who can provide marketing professionals with multi channel marketing solutions, including email, the internet, sms, and print will find a ready and fast growing, and high margin market. She says the printers should transition both their names and the activities away from print only.
Andy Tribute analysed many of the problems afflicting print, came up with a stat that said printers were 250 per cent more likely to go broke than companies in any other industry sector, and produced stats that showed one in four printers were trading at a loss. He looked in depth at the emerging technologies, particularly the new generation of high speed inkjet solutions. Tribute’s presentation was entitled Adapt or Die, and he shared his view that digital in one form or another, and particularly in a multi-channel environment, will prove the salvation of many a printer.
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