‘Back to the Future’: First International Print Networking Event Scheduled 5-10 September 2013 in Italy

In March 2013 I reported on a remarkable development in the U.S.A. in which an informal networking get-together in New Orleans, Louisiana, organized by half a dozen printers who were well connected on social media, turned into a conference of over 100 people and The National Print Owners Association, Inc., a trade organization with currently 315 registered members located in five countries in the Americas and Australia.

Now a parallel grassroots movement is taking place in Europe, where printers connected on social media are taking the task of organizing a face-to-face networking event into their own hands:

From September 5 to 10, 2013, leading Italian family-owned print group StampaSud will host a select group of between 15 and 20 international print personnel at a networking conference at Castellaneta Marina, near Taranto, on Italy’s Mediterranean coast.

Attendees will participate in informal workshops, presentations, and discussions about the printing industry and changes affecting their businesses.  Although topic suggestions are still being collected and the program is still being finalized, items of discussion are expected to include:

-       The latest applications of such new technologies as QR codes, Augmented Reality, and 3D printing

-       New digital technology in print, colour management, and file preparation

-       Quotations

-       Substrates

-       Social media

-       Logistics

-       Gurus

-       Shop windows and whether there is a tendency to put print back on the high street.

-       Whether print is returning to a providing a more personal touch.

Attendees will consist of qualified printing personnel, brokers, buyers, suppliers, and facilitators who can provide insights on these and other subjects.  Many are members of the 16,000-member Print and Print Procurement (International) (PPPI) Discussion Group, a 16,266-member networking vehicle for digital, litho, and web printers, corporate print buyers, and print management firms that has been active on LinkedIn since 2008.

The event in Italy is being organized by StampaSud’s UK Commercial Director Antony Calo with assistance from Paul Scanlon, Chairman of Liverpool-based print management company CDP and Francis Grogan, Director of Leeds-based grg print management.  The photographs in this post show the venue for the event, Turchesi Club Village.   Applications from persons  wishing to participate are still welcome.  (A downloadable application form is available at: https://app.box.com/s/ym1nzjfzwdt9rxpbrnt6)  StampaSud will generously cover the cost of attendees’ accommodation, airport transportation, and most meals.  Other sponsors include Italian paper manufacturer Fedrigoni.  Organizers hope that, if the conference proves successful, it will become a regular event, held in various international locations every year or two.

Beforehand attendees can exchange views and plans via the PPPI LinkedIn Group at:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=56173&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr or via the event’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/groups/198529176977201

 My previous article on the evolution of The National Print Owners Association Association, Inc. can be found at:   https://app.box.com/s/1q8sm8r949s6m26zv67b

The official press release on the upcoming event in Italy follows below:

Press Release

8th August 2013

STARTS

Sun, wine and print – ‘Back to the Future’ first International print networking event to be held in Italy

Leading Italian family-owned print group, StampaSud (including Paco and Smartlabel and the print brand PrintItalia), has announced that it is to play host to a select gathering of between 15-20 international print personnel, as part of a 4-day networking conference to be held in September in the Italian Mediterranean coastal venue of Turchesi Club Village, Castellaneta Marina near Taranto.

The event will involve a series of informal workshops and presentations based around print, new techniques and methods and the changes taking place in the industry. There will also be a debate on whether there is a trend towards print returning to the more personal touch, as well as a presentation from host company, StampaSud, who are providing all of the costs for hosting the event.

Other subjects that will be debated include; Guru’s, new digital technology in print, colour management and file preparation, quotations, substrates, social media, logistics and the shop window – whether there is tendency to put print back on the high street.

The aim is to gather together some of the great minds and most qualified international print personnel, comprising of print brokers, material buyers and suppliers as well as facilitators, who will be able to provide opinions and thoughts on the subject matter, in both an informal and relaxed atmosphere.

The Print and Procurement International group has been running successfully since 2008, with the aim of helping printers and print buyers connect, network and ask each other for advice. Whilst the idea of a conference/event has been discussed for some time, it is only through the generosity of StampaSud and other supporters, including Italian paper manufacturer, Fedrigoni, that this has been made possible. The aim is that the conference will hopefully be the start of more events to come.

In addition, a LinkedIn page has recently been established, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=56173&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr where members and those attending can engage and exchange views prior to the conference and view the various presentations and personnel. The idea is that through social networking there can be a transition via the conference into a real and social networking opportunity. A Facebook page has also been set up for further engagement www.facebook.com/groups/198529176977201

A further development will see the creation of a standalone website, which is currently being built to offer printers and print buyers even more ways to connect in the future.

If successful, the intent is to make the conference a regular event, which will be held in various international locations every 12-24 months. Those attending will then debate and talk about the industry and the changes affecting the businesses therein.

Commenting on the initiative, StampaSud UK Commercial Director Antony Calo stated, “The idea has been to get this off the ground for some time, but now thanks to my company and several other group members this has finally been achieved. We hope that this will be both an informative and social occasion, where leading print personnel can provide topical debate. We look forward to establishing this as a regular event on the print calendar.”

StampaSud have been assisted in co-ordinating and planning the event by Paul Scanlon, Chairman of Liverpool-based print management company CDP and Francis Grogan, Director of Leeds-based grg print management.

ENDS

____________________________________________________________________

About StampaSud:

Situated on the far southern coast of Italy, StampaSud was established in 1950 by the Posa family as a small and private family run print firm. Significant investment in recent years has enabled the company to become a prominent and successful supplier of print and packaging materials to many leading advertising agencies, banks, tour operators, insurance providers and commercial clients for both the Italian and European markets.

In 2010 the company opened a UK sales office to capitalise on the European market.

StampaSud is now a leading player in the graphic print industry employing around 80 staff and with a turnover of approximately EUR8m.

For further information about StampaSud, visit:

http://www.stampa-sud.it

 http://www.pacoitalia.com

http://www.smartlabitalia.com

Email: antony.calo@printitalia.co.uk

If you have any queries on this press release please contact Andy Scott (07770 520484) or email: info@andy-scott.net

For more information on Andy Scott’s services, visit www.andy-scott.net

On-site device prints Tim Hortons coffee cup sleeves with Twitter news feeds

     In an ingenious rethinking of the way people consume news with coffee, ad agency Y&R Dubai has created ‘headline news’ cup sleeves for Canadian coffee franchise Tim Hortons and Gulf News, a daily English newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. The way the new system works is:  when a customer buys a cup of coffee, the barista places the sleeve into a special printer that prints the latest headline from the Gulf News Twitter account on it, along with a short URL and QR code.  So after reading the headline of the hour on their cup sleeve, customers can scan the QR code or type the URL into their mobile devices to access the full story.

     Thanks to Deborah Corn, Chief Operations Officer at U.S.-based PrintMediaCentr.com and founder of the 37,000+ member Print Production Professionals Group on LinkedIn, for bringing this news story to my attention via her post today.
http://printmediacentr.com/2012/06/ad-agency-rethinks-coffee-cup-sleeves-as-newspapers/

How to market your small company without breaking the bank

I’m privileged to be part of a LinkedIn discussion that Paul Castain started about five days ago in a group called Market Your Printing Company.  Among many comments of interest from diverse participants, the response I got back today from Larry Bauer on the specifics of how small companies can market themselves most effectively but economically really blew my socks off.

If interested, you can review the entire discussion thread at: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=2946757&type=member&item=87688812&commentID=63908098&report%2Esuccess=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_63908098

Bauer is based in the Greater Chicago area and owner of Bauer Associates:  Marketing for a New Age.  I am taking the liberty of quoted his above-mentioned advice in entirety below:
  

Media costs tend to be high, so that is often something that must be cut. Even these, however, often can be scaled down (Chamber of Commerce or ad club newsletter, etc.), and one shouldn't dismiss the value of name recognition. I've done considerable formal research on this within the printing industry, and companies that win the question, "which of these printers do you recognize," tend to get treated very favorably on any other question asked . Media, both print and online, are great for boosting name recognition.

But my primary bit of advice is that whatever a company does, large or small, do it as a complete campaign oven an extended period of time. I am very unimpressed with one-shot deals and generally think that they aren't worth the money spent. You have to have a bigger strategy and longer term staying power to have any impact at all. Most companies drop out when they find there is both perspiration and inspiration involved in a good marketing program.

To follow up on that, I would emphasize marketing activities that the company can do inexpensively or in house, provided they’re willing to devote the time. You have to start with putting together a good, actionable marketing database (and most of them are a mess), because it’s the critical component in any marketing plan. A lot of this you can do fairly inexpensively. For my own Print Strategist blog email list, I used a public list of major North American printers and hired a college intern to get contact names and email addresses through a combination of website research and telephone calls.

I would then place a premium on very well executed direct mail. It shows a printer’s imaginative use of the medium and most of the costs are internal. Many companies make the mistake of being penny wise and pound foolish in this category. For example, a $5-$7 dimensional package sent to a smaller, well-qualified audience and properly followed up by sales reps will likely pay far more dividends than a more widely distributed postcard mailing that gets easily tossed aside.

And I can’t emphasize the sales accountability enough. For example, I like to have sales reps participate in the selection of names for a dimensional mailing, and then only mail out the number per week that is reasonable for follow up. Everyone needs to understand that marketing dollars are precious and accountability is expected.

I would also use the inexpensive digital channel for keeping in touch through educational enewsletters as well as electronic news releases (these should go to customers and prospects, not just the media, and one per month is not an unrealistic goal). I'm only lukewarm on social media for business-to-business marketers because I think the return for time expended is low. There are some possibilities for activities like local Twitter and LinkedIn “meet ups,” however, that help bring digital relationships into more face-to-face networking opportunities.

As an alternative, I would aggressively network by participating (that’s different from joining) in local business and civic organizations. It’s a great way to form relationships with local decision makers and influencers.
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Every situation is a little different, but it’s always a matter of prioritizing your objectives, learning to be creative with smaller budgets and having marketing perseverance.

More mixed signals on the future of printed books

Further to my 17-Nov-2010 posting, the last few weeks have been another roller coaster ride for anyone wondering about the future of printed books. 

Canada logged a major casualty in the filing for bankruptcy protection of H.B. Fenn, the country’s largest book distributor.  http://www.printaction.com/News/20110207-hb-fenn-bankruptcy.html

Additionally, Amazon has announced that its sales of Kindle e-books have exceeded not only its hardcover sales (which occurred last year), but now the number of paperbacks it sells as well.  http://www.printaction.com/News/20110201-kindle-paperback.html

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, the New York Times Sunday Book Review assures us that the number of printed books out there remains impressive.  It estimates that in 2010 (after returns), American publishers shipped an estimated 3.2 billion books—or about 10 printed volumes for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/InsideList-t.html

Not surprisingly, speculation and discussion from many quarters continues on a 3-month-old LinkedIn discussion group that asks the question “Do you think printed books will die? Are we all going digital?” at: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=33459885&gid=145854&commentID=31079155&trk=view_disc.