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Delegates from across the UK print industry gathered at Stationers’ Hall in the heart of London to discuss current trends and speculate on what next year will bring. The occasion was significant for two reasons. First, the venue, which is home to the livery company responsible for communications and content within London, Stationers’ Hall is situated a stone’s throw from Fleet Street, known as the historic home of printed news in the UK—a fitting reason alone why this event should take place on such hallowed ground. The second is that this is the first Two Sides event to take place in-person since 2019, and the company was keen to emphasise this in the logistics and schedule for the day. Plenty of time was set aside for networking, quips about video call horror stories were shared whenever possible, and the hospitality was laid on beautifully.
And the programme? An exciting mix of topics from a variety of industry professionals looking at how print is still making itself relevant within the UK and global market. Right from the outset, the industry update focused on the huge financial turnover the industry achieves and its resilience in overcoming the disruption caused by the pandemic and supply chain. Each speaker—whether focusing on direct mail, printed journalism, climate change, or sustainability—emphasised the potential these areas of the sector have in shaping the future, leaving all delegates with a sense of confidence and pride in their industry.
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Add Print, Add Power
The first session, aptly named “Add Print, Add Power”, focused on dispelling the notion that print is no longer relevant in digital B2B and B2C spaces. Considering the range of areas within the industry represented, this was a particularly interesting angle to consider, making sure that everyone had an insight into how their sector was relevant in the digital age.
After an optimistic industry update from Charles Jarrold of BFPI, Amanda Griffiths of Royal Mail’s Market Reach Division outlined the research the company has recently conducted to indicate that physical mail works and increases engagement. Using data from JICMAIL and its own surveys, Market Reach has discovered that mail still builds solid brand awareness, garners trust from all age groups, and provides the neurological stimulus of touch and tangibility that we still enjoy. Griffiths emphasised the significance of the pandemic in reinforcing mail as the medium of the home, but also highlighting the huge potential of merging mail with inflections of digital technology to continue its status as the “disruptor medium.”
The theme of trust continued with Sanjeeda Merali’s presentation. CEO of the Professional Publishers Association, Merali emphasised the significance of the magazine sector, with over 80% of the UK population engaging with PPA-affiliated content and noted the importance of magazines in promoting quality journalism over purely digital outlets. Interestingly, similar themes of better engagement with a wider variety of content came up as a positive aspect of the magazine sector. As with all forms of mail, greater attention is paid to translating into positive conversion rates for businesses and a good ROI on their advertising budget. Readers are more likely to trust the content they engage with in a printed magazine because it’s been thoroughly researched, prepared by experts, and is not likely to scam them.
The two digital talks of the session, delivered by the CEOs of two agencies—Join The Dots and StarCount—focused on how businesses harness the power of digital data to fully unlock the potential of direct marketing and door-drop solutions. Ben Briggs of Join The Dots brought to light the fact that younger brands are utilising door-drops to conduct their business, and high-profile names such as Peloton and Jaguar Land Rover have seen excellent conversion rates on recent direct marketing campaigns. Rowena Humby from StarCount wowed the audience with the fusion of digital data to better execute direct marketing through her proposition of using postcode mapping and social media behaviour data to better target campaigns. Humby emphasised that emotional decision making is key in the sales conversion process. So, if advertising is built around the emotional responses of recipients, more engagement can be found. And, with the conversion rates of 13% on recent high-profile direct marketing campaigns, this fusion of digital tracking and highly personalised direct marketing is one to watch!
Sustainability
The second session focused on what the print industry is doing to be more sustainable in the fight against climate change. With talks on sustainable packaging, the management of European forests for more sustainable paper supply, the economic health of the industry and how macroeconomics are affecting the industry’s performance, and how businesses can help stem the tide of climate change, themes that were present in the first session also reoccurred here, too. Trust, teamwork, innovation, and the promotion of print as a progressive industry were all found in the inferences made whilst the discussions of the specific topics took place. As with the previous session, the speakers made every effort to look at the broader geopolitical picture to make the discussion topics more relevant. One such example, presented by Professor Mark Mashin of University College London, encouraged print businesses to be leaders in setting an example for sustainability. The global green economy is worth $10 billion per year, so there is a great deal of opportunities for print businesses to lead in the fight to save the planet and still make money.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
You can tell Two Sides has missed the spectacle of hosting an in-person seminar event. Everything ran smoothly, and there was a real buzz from everyone in the room listening to each speaker. Having attended a mixture of in-person and online events since the pandemic, it would have been beneficial to have the option of attending online. Nonetheless, the quality of the content was excellent and each presentation drove the messages of progress, achievement, resilience, and innovation home to the delegates leaving them with a sense of optimism in a time of uncertainty. The marriage of digital activity with innovations in print, particularly in terms of the work StarCount is doing, certainly fuelled this sense of optimism and left a sense of excitement for what the next few years will bring for the industry. We shall have to wait and see!
Want to know more detail about Power of Print 2022 (Analysis recap coming soon), sustainability, or other topics pushing the boundaries of the print industry? Subscribe to InfoCentre to find out more by emailing us at sales@keypointintelligence.com!
