For those that did not attend the recent Media Market Place event organised by the BPIF I thought I would provide some highlights and my own thoughts from the day. Hosted at Elland Road the home of Leeds United FC it aimed to provide networking opportunities, exhibition and educational seminars aimed at the creative, digital and communications industries.
First I have to say I was surprised at how many people had chosen not to attend. Perhaps this reflects the fact that we are moving into a busier output time for most print businesses or indeed that many still do not want to engage with the reality and pace of change that is happening in the industry at present. I would like to think it is the former and that many print company directors are busy managing workload but personal experience indicates that many stayed away in order to push the reality of change firmly onto the back burner.
The reason I say this is because I have heard about this 'back burner' in various conversations when discussing Web to Print technology and moving print business online. In fact it seems to be the single most over used phrase in conversations for some print business directors. Perhaps it is the perceived complexity of these new technologies (which are actually far simpler than “film repro” ever was) which create a kind of apathy. I do wonder if they will continue to push Web to Print and other online technologies to the sidelines for yet another day in 6 or 12 months time. In the meantime a small, but ever growing number of print companies, are getting a huge head start by putting themselves very firmly where their clients are going to be in the future.
In between my time on the RedTie stand I did try and attend some of the seminars that were taking place during the day and several things surprised me. First I was disappointed that some of the speakers used far too much of their allotted presentation time to promote the activities and history of their companies rather than educating the audience on the subject in hand! I believe that if you do attempt to overtly sell your services during these seminars then your audience will switch off very quickly and you will miss out on a much bigger oportunity. By providing real thought provoking argument and education to an audience we surely secure more trust, much more interest in our brand and develop much stronger relationships in the long run. I hope that I practise what I preach and the RedTie seminars I frequently host on developing an online strategy will stay firmly away from this kind of overt selling – you will not find a demo of the product at any stage during the seminars! Hopefully you will just get good sound strategy coupled with practical advice and case studies whether you use our solutions or not. Our next North and South seminars will be in partnership with the BPIF and you can get all the info you need at http://www.red-tie.com/web-to-print-seminars-may-2013.php
Secondly I was shocked by some of the facts that were highlighted at the various seminars and by panel discussions regarding the pace of change in our industry and the drop in print volumes. Some shared statistics about the drop in paper tonnage being delivered by paper merchants really showed the consolidation in the industry that is already happening and is sure to continue over the coming months and years. It further re-enforces the need to urgently embrace the pace of change and start to create new revenues streams and new opportunities. I was prompted to do my own research for forthcoming seminars and finding figures like a “loss of 25% of its tonnage since 2008” (http://www.napm.org.uk/news.htm) really brings home the need to address change now and not place issues on this metaphorical “back burner”.
While listening to the various discussions taking place it also occurred to me that; it does seem that many print industry directors are busy discussing the veritable merits of 'cross media' and what place this will hold in their future business plans. Any seminar that can rather sneakily introduce this phrase somewhere in the title will be sure to draw a crowd. I have to say I do find it staggering that the print industry continues to talk about 'cross media' when many have not yet managed to get to grips with Web to Print technology, which is the natural evolution in that direction. Come on people! For most it will be a sensible strategy to try and walk first. At least in the meantime you will be printing... which right now is probably what you need most in order to fill that existing capacity.
Thirdly I was impressed with some of the real innovation that is going on in the industry and in particular we saw some really interesting stuff on Printable Electronics (which I also had to research!) along with 3D printing and modelling.
There were also some wonderful images and trophies (not too many) around the Elland Road venue from the clubs hayday in the 60’s & 70’s. For those of us that are old enough to remember some of the players and matches, it was a great reminder of the good old days and another reminder that things never stay the same. Which, to be fair, is great for a Manchester United fan!
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