Margie Dana

Print in the News & on My Mind

Here are some of the news items that made a lasting impression on me lately.

Everyone should read Gretchen Peck’s “The Aftermath of a Post-Print World” in Editor & Publisher. I’ve admired this journalist from afar for years; this piece makes it clear to me she’s at the top of the heap! It’s about newspapers and magazines in a crazy switcheroo between print and digital versions. Good stuff.
Close to home, this one: Boston Globe set to acquire Gannet Boston Offset and move printing operations to new facility in Taunton, MA. Job cuts ahead. Rough stuff.
Wow…money-back guarantee for print advertisers by a major group of magazine publishers. If sales don’t increase following print ads that run in their publications, the publishers will give advertisers their money back. What do you think?
Ok, it’s not strictly print, but this story on famed designer Michael Bierut and his work for the Minnesota Children’s Museum is a great read. Images for his signage and graphics are marvelous. A few days later I read this Q&A with him in the WSJ: note his thoughts about the perfect typeface for resumes and his thoughts on emojis.
Thanks to a friend who shared this insightful article from AAIND: American Association of Independent News Distributors; it’s about the value of custom content for advertisers. One point made is that if an advertiser’s branded content is good enough, readers won’t want to avoid it. I have to admit: some content in magazines that we get at home, like Bon Appetit, include custom content that looks and reads like editorial content. I can’t tell the difference and enjoy reading these pieces.

That’s all for today, folks.

Print in the News & on My Mind

old-typewriter-with-NEWS-typed-out-email In today’s post, I’m sharing a few news items related to print that caught my eye.

1. Are you involved with 3D printing at all? Is it in any way a factor in your commercial printing business? I like this HBR post (that’s Harvard Business Review) very much – How 3D Printing is Changing the Way We Think – and wonder if you all agree.

2. Back in January 2014, I wrote in this space about a new quarterly magazine called Modern Farmer, coming out of Hudson NY. Well, earlier this month the NYT reported the publication had run into problems. The article says that back in December, the founder Ann Marie Gardner had “left amid financial concerns and conflicts” with the magazine’s financier. The spring 2015 issue was cancelled. But Frank Giustra, the financier, found a new editor (Sarah Gray Miller) with quite the pedigree in magazines. There’s a new staff – and just like that, the magazine is back on track.

3. Junk mail works. People respond emotionally to junk mail – more so than to email. Here’s a terrific article I read recently, complete with impressive stats on the effectiveness of direct mail. Share it liberally!

4. Yet another positive piece about the value of catalogs, particularly for retailers. It says that consumers who receive catalogs spend $850 a year on catalog purchases. And these publications are now considered “lifestyle publications,” don’t you know. I love good catalogs. (Just received the latest from J. Crew, and it’s the great copy as much as the fashion that I admire. Found an in-depth Forbes piece about its executive creative director and president, Jenna Lyons. In it they mention how she overhauled the catalog, which is “at the root of J. Crew’s business.”) I’ve covered the topic of catalogs before, highlighting Patagonia’s gorgeous publication, among others.

5. Finally, a woman at the helm! Printing Industry of the Carolinas has named Trish Sports, GM of Sheriar Press, as its new chairwoman. It’s the first time a woman’s leading the group in its 84-year history. Way to go, PICA!

That’s all for today, folks.

Print in the News & on My Mind

Every few weeks I write a post about recent news items that cross my desk having to do with communication trends, printing and/or content marketing. Today’s post is one such blog, and it even includes a tiny little video I shot. Don’t judge me. Enjoy.

1. Ok, check this out: the Smithsonian is publishing a new quarterly magazine that’s bound to be exquisitely designed, written and produced. Smithsonian Journeys will be the first commercial publication done by Smithsonian Enterprises in 3 decades. Why is this significant? It’s in print. It’s clearly something of high value. Read more here: http://nyti.ms/1SADAR

2. What might Mercedes-Benz’ head of marketing say to marketing innovators? Here’s an interesting Q&A with Dr. Jens Thiemer. He says the most important marketing topic to him is finding new ways to inspire customers and attract new ones; i.e., customer engagement. The company has a digital “ecosystem” just for customers, called “Mercedes me.” They started it in the spring of 2014.

What’s the heart-and-soul of this ecosystem? Customized content. “With customized content we increase the retention period of customers using Mercedes me. …We want to give our customers the Best Customer Experience thinkable.”

As graphic arts providers, how can you apply this notion to your companies? What types of customized content would tighten the bonds you have with your customers?

3. I stumbled upon Mary Meeker’s 2015 Internet Trends, and in my mind, there’s incredibly valuable data affecting the graphic arts industry. It’s an annual report done by Ms. Meeker, who heads digital investments for Silicon Valley VC firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.

Here are just a couple of the things that caught my eye from this article:

“Mobile Internet use is growing faster than Internet usage in general: There are 2.8 billion Internet users, up 8 percent from 2014, and 2.1 billion mobile Internet users, an increase of 23 percent.”

“The mobile ad industry as a whole grew 34 percent year over year, while desktop digital advertising only grew 11 percent.”

“This year, Americans spend close to three hours [with the mobile Web], more time than they spend on laptops.”

“Vertical screens and vertical content are a big deal now with 29 percent of people’s daily screen time spent looking at smartphones.” (compared to 5 percent 5 years ago)

The main takeaways clearly deal with the growth of mobile, and how more and more business transactions are being done and will continue to be done within mobile apps. You can access slides from her full report via this link (there are nearly 200 slides), and it’s worth your time. They touch on trends set by teenagers, user-generated content, and lots more innovative ways people are communicating via mobile.

Surely this has an impact on how all of us can expect to be doing business.

4. A marriage between PRINT & SOCIAL in this success story: Furniture brand Z Gallerie has done something fabulous. They experimented with direct mail and “inadvertently” lit a fire in their social community. Just a brilliant example of what creative marketers can do using print and digital channels. You must read all about it. This integrated campaign involves a print catalog, Instagram, email, their web site, and their own social channels. Huge success — should inspire all of us.

5. I came across another example of “when only print will do.” Have a look at a very I took of something powerful in print. You can’t convey everything digitally. Sometimes it has to be ink-on-paper.

6. Finally, I loved landing on this recent WSJ article about how critical the design of wine labels is. This quote will please all of you designers and label manufacturers: “A wine label with wide appeal is a winery’s single greatest sales tool.” I hadn’t thought about it before, but how true.

Here’s a free content marketing tip: if you produce wine labels, this article is a great excuse to write about your work. Share this article with your audience. As a rule of thumb, look for news items that feature things you do. Turn them into terrific content. You’ll get a lot of mileage out of them.

That’s all for today, folks.

Print in the News and on My Mind

It’s a peculiar love affair, this thing I have with print. Lately I’ve been thinking of how huge a challenge it is to get the word out about the medium and the field, especially to Millennials and younger people.

How do they learn not only what print is, but how important it is, and that there are career opportunities in the field? Seems to me that only those who have relatives or friends in the business would consider working in print. Too bad. We need a rock star, or a campaign that does for print what “Got milk?” did for milk.

For sure, it’s not a one-person challenge. And still, I do what I can to change the public perception of the print industry, one post or tweet at a time.

Here’s what got my attention lately:

Print connects people. There was a memorable piece in the Thursday Styles section of the New York Times recently. It was entitled “Bound in Spirit and in Print,” so naturally it caught my eye. The writer shares a story about his late mother, her love affair with real books, and what happened when she passed away. Just a terrific piece about how books – real books – connect us over generations. http://nyti.ms/1EH1PUl

Let’s hear it for direct mail. Check out the results of this experiment with good old-fashioned letters. The head of a digital communications agency wanted to see who’d connect with him on LinkedIn if he sent a letter in the mail. Yup, it worked, and it worked fast. Really interesting: http://bit.ly/1E7ytwI

It’s 3D but don’t call it printing. 3D continues to get lots of press. All of the Baltimore Diocese schools are getting 3D printers and a 3D printing curriculum – http://bit.ly/1EIe6qN. Oh, and the U of Louisville is opening a new 3D printing training facility: http://bit.ly/1Ga3wOA Wonder if anyone’s teaching these kids about real printing?

College students rock! Students at Chicago’s Northwestern University launched a graphic design community http://bit.ly/1FaJukW . Sure hope local printers got wind of it and get involved.

What a terrific role model for young print CEOs. Did you catch John Sommers Jr.’s 30-minute interview with PI’s Mark Michelson last week? He’s the bomb! I believe he’s still under 30. In his interview, he talked about data being core to his business – the million-dollar word! “Data is the key driver to print.” Get this: his CT company, Allied Printing, has a full-time social media person. And I know firsthand about their Allied Academy seminars that they host for customers several times a year. Just excellent programming. He does this industry proud.

That’s all for today, folks.

What Caught My Eye: Print & Media in the News

Now and then I select and comment on some of the most interesting news items I’ve read recently. In some way, shape or form, they relate to media and communicating – whether in print or digital media, or simply how people are consuming and sharing information these days. Here’s what’s interested me:

In direct marketing, make sure to Give Them What They Want. This is an excellent post I found on HuffPost by Gregory Demetriou. It includes several smart tips when preparing direct marketing materials so that your piece is truly interactive – that’s essential in a successful campaign. Getting a response is what this post is all about. Bravo, sir.
Here’s big news that surely many of you caught: catalogs are staging a comeback! The NYT had a major article last week about the fact that because so many of us rely on retailers’ catalogs to guide our purchases, they’re enjoying a renaissance of sorts. Catalogs had declined for years, but according to the DMA, “catalogs mailed in the United States increased in 2013, to 11.9 billion…”
But when one door opens, another shuts. I learned that Skymall, that in-flight shopping magazine stuffed into seat pockets (and evidently ignored), filed for bankruptcy. So many posts were written about it, but I like this one for its headline: Just Plane Sad. (Are you surprised? I’m a writer.)
While I’m on a catalog roll, did you read about JC Penney? Yes indeed, 5 years after killing their gigantic catalog, they’re bringing it back. It will be mailed initially to their existing customers. Anchors away!
Moving into media careers, I so liked this position: digital marketing requires a blend of creative AND technical skills. Those of you who’ve hired or are planning on hiring new employees in marketing, design, or even prepress and print sales (there, I said it) must surely be evaluating people on a combination of both types of skills. As a writer, I’m experiencing this myself when talking to prospects. They don’t just expect me to “write.” There’s value in my knowing about mobile, social, even video.
A little levity can’t hurt. Here are bad graphic design puns that will make your inner designer smile.
Now to end on a note of beautiful inspiration: Bibliothecaphilia is a new exhibit at the MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, MA. Six artists explore the medium of books (physical books, not “e”), especially the ways in which books are shared and re-used. I hope to get there. Vive le livre! (Apologies if this isn’t correct; my French is tres rusty.)

Thanks for letting me share these stories. Each made a big impression on me. Hope they inspire you in some way.

What Caught My Eye: Print & Media in the News

About once a month, my weekly post is a short list of links to news articles and other published pieces that resonate with me. In one way or another, they have to do with printed materials, graphic design, packaging, communications, or media.

Here’s this week’s list of interesting stuff:

Did you know that during World War II, a group of publishers banded together with the US government to find ways in which books could help soldiers during the war? I didn’t. But it did happen – and the result was 120 million little paperback books that were printed and shipped to American soldiers in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. The article is from the Wall Street Journal on November 21^st

It tells how a young author, Molly Guptill Manning, uncovered this story while doing research for her own book. Her book on this subject is called When Books Went to War. Great holiday gift idea! (PS: the soldiers preferred books about nostalgia and… sex… and this effort jumpstarted the rise of the paperback book industry as well as a new standard option for new homes: built-in bookcases.)
My newest column for Printing Impressions appears in the current issue (the one with the cover featuring the main story, “20 under 40.” Maybe one day there’ll be a “60 under 70” feature article. Ha ha.)

It discusses what print buyers really want – and no, it’s not just printing. This piece recaps a webinar in which three senior-level print buyers shared specific qualities that make a difference in their print provider relationships. See if their comments resonate with you, as they did with me.
Speaking of Printing Impressions, did you catch this article written by an anonymous print buyer? “How to Make a Sale: A Print Buyer Weighs In,” Boy, I think this buyer is right on the mark.
If you’re as fascinated by Augmented Reality (AR) as I am, here’s a neat list of 50 facts & figures about AR.
Since many businesses are hosting virtual events these days – webinars, seminars, conferences, etc. – I found this post on MarketingProfs especially timely: Four Metrics to Track During Your Next Virtual Event.
I think this is big news for newspaper publishing. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, who bought The Washington Post last year for $250 million, introduced a new app that will deliver The Post for free to some Amazon Kindle owners. This app comes preloaded with content: articles, photos, and advertisements.

I read about it in the NYT on November 20^th^. “The app, which was designed to reduce the profusion of news content on the web into something streamlined as a print publication, will be automatically added to certain Kindle Fire tablets as part of a software update.” And it will have 2 editions – morning and evening!

This is definitely worth watching. I don’t own a Kindle, so if you do, please let me know if you have the app and what you think of the content.

What Caught My Eye: Print & Media in the News

One of the suggestions I received from many of you who took my recent subscriber survey was to include news items from time to time. Say no more. This week’s post shares a few of the things about print or other media that caught my eye.

1. When do you think the very first female typographer lived & worked? Anyone? I don’t think the incunabulists* among you will be surprised by this: http://bit.ly/1omjtuk.

* from incunabula: from the Encyclopedia Brittanica: “incunabula, singular incunabulum, books printed during the earliest period of typography—i.e., from the invention of the art of typographic printing in Europe in the 1450s to the end of the 15th century (i.e., January 1501).” (Now you can impress your friends with this word. And beat them in word games.)

2. David Carr (brilliant media columnist & author) wrote an insightful piece for the NYT recently about Facebook and its deepening relationship with publishers. http://nyti.ms/1wgK7WI

Two quotes in particular jumped out at me: “…the company has become the No. 1 source of traffic for many digital publishers,” and “In the last few months, more than half the visitors to The New York Times have come via mobile — the figure increases with each passing month — and that percentage is higher for many other publishers.”

3. Wow. Gartner predict 3D printer shipments will double ANNUALLY till 2018. http://zd.net/1pQxlrN. Notable quote from this piece: “According to Gartner, shipments across both consumer and enterprise segment will continue to double until 2018 when 2.3 million 3D printing units will be shipped with a value of $13.4bn.”

I constantly read news about 3D printing, since this is always prominent in my Google Alert for “printing.” To me, it isn’t even printing. Go figure. I can’t help but think that laypeople who also have this Google alert will only think about this technology when someone mentions printing to them.

4. A bounty of interesting data and charts from the smart folks at MarketingSherpa. Lots of useful info about email marketing and content marketing: I read that Tuesday is the best day to send emails. Maybe I ought to switch my delivery date! (I might test this out soon and see if any of my stats change. Consider yourself warned.)

5. Speaking of emails, here’s a highly visual post about truly effective emails – what works best? Great stuff here, but I’m just not sure how to save and refer to it: http://myemma.com/brainiac/stats. One of my favorites: 51% of all emails are opened on a mobile device. So design them accordingly.

6. Talk about an original resume – you’ve never seen one like this. It’s got high-quality design and packaging all wrapped up. I’ll bet he got the job he wanted: http://bit.ly/1zjrKmr

7. Tips from an anonymous print buyer on how to make a sale. This is excellent advice for all you sales reps out there: http://bit.ly/10C9mqJ

8. Finally, I learned from a client about www.powtoon.com. It lets you create animated videos and presentations. And (evidently) it’s free! I just may have to try it.

Thanks for reading. I’ll do another post like this in a few weeks. Keeps things lively.

What Caught My Eye: Print & Media in the News

From time to time, I come across news items or online posts that I think are important enough to share. Here are just a few.

1. The New York Times reported on Monday, September 29, that there’s a brand new audience measurement system for magazines, called “Magazine Media 360,” in which magazines can measure their reach across different media platforms. Using a template provided by this system, publishers can fill in their “monthly print, social media and digital audiences” as sourced from independent research firms. Next, they’ll be given a measurement to allow publishers to compare their audience growth over time. A link to that article: http://ow.ly/C48Gf.

2. On the same day, a WSJ article called, “On Madison Ave., Buzz Is Digital” caught my eye. Last week Advertising Week was held in the Big Apple, and it seems that digital advertising is the focus, as “digital advertising continues to take up an ever-growing portion of the global advertising pie.” Check this out: this year digital advertising will account for 24% of the $523 billion that will be spent on ads around the world, according to ZenithOptimedia. And this: “This year, for the first time, Internet advertising will exceed the combined share spent on newspapers and magazines, Zenith predicts.” If you can get your hands on this article, it’s a mighty interesting read.

3. I just had to share this bit that I read in the current issue of New York magazine.

It’s a short piece by Alex Yablon on page 28, and as of now, it’s not online.

Here is the heart and soul of it, and why I must share it, as well as the intro copy verbatim:

Newspapers Aren’t Dead

New York’s foreign-language newspapers, at least, are on the rise.

“More New Yorkers are now foreign born than at any time since 1910. So perhaps it’s not surprising that the city’s 95 ethnic newspapers have a combined circulation (2.9 million) that outstrips the combined print reach of the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Daily News, and the Post. They’re experiencing a boomlet, too: More than 20 have been started in the past few years.”

To me, this is outrageously cool. I love niche newspapers and magazines.

4. There’s a whole new type of Starbucks ad campaign that caught my eye. The coffee chain created a series of videos, shot over 24 hour in 40 Starbucks stores in 28 countries. The focus isn’t on their products, but on connections that people make inside their stores. Storytelling in video, with lovely imagery and music that will tug at your heart.

Here’s that article: http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2014/09/29/starbucks-reminds-consumers-of-its-roots/?KEYWORDS=Starbucks+ad

5. Speaking of great videos, you have to check this one out. I think it’s fantastic – “All About That Ink” by Paul Strack (President at CustomXM) and his team. Hands down the funn-est video about print I’ve seen in years. Bravo!

One of my subscriber survey questions (use this link to take my survey if you subscribe) has to do with sharing news stories that deal with print, communications, and media. Should my posts include items like these from time to time? I’d love your thoughts on this.

Chance Encounters of the “Print” Kind

iStock photo

I’m not one of those people who defend print at all costs, nor do I hop onto a soapbox to try and convince marketers and consumers to choose printed formats over digital.

Sure, I share my own opinions why print-over-digital is my personal preference in certain situations. But it’s truly fascinating to come upon others’ opinions about print, new research about print, or some random mention of printed products, especially when least expected.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been delighted to come upon the following:

“…to caress mere ink and paper nowadays is to slow ourselves down and, in the process, enhance our mental well-being. To wade into these antediluvian full-color seas is one way to create a pulse-easing caesura of a Sunday morning.”

That was written by Dana Jennings, a journalist and author, who wrote a marvelous full-page piece in the New York Times on January 10^th, entitled, “Old Breakfast Buddies, From Tarzan to Snoopy.” If that first sentence of his doesn’t cause chills to anyone in the print industry, you don’t belong here. Pure beauty, I tell you.

More recently, I heard a news item on my car radio. Just hearing the word “print” being spoken gets my attention. It’s as if someone says my name. The report was about a study by Pew Research. While a big part of the write-up has to do with e-books and how their popularity is rising, what jumped out at me was this lovely bit:

“…print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits.”

Also interesting to me: “Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4% of readers are “e-book only.”

Finally, in the January 15^th Home section of the New York Times (ours is a print-with-digital subscription), in a lovely piece called, “Cultivating Hudson: Enter the Tastemakers,” author Robert Wright wrote about Ann Marie Gardner, who used the term “rurbanism” to describe the “urban-rural confluence” of the evidently very hip area. This paragraph jumped out at me:

“Rurbanism is also the paradigm for her year-old magazine, the culturally pitch-perfect and archly designed Modern Farmer, with its articles of architected sheepshearing shacks in Tasmania, its goat cams and its young editorial staff, many of whom moved here from San Francisco.”

Not a magazine I’d read regularly, but how interesting is that? It’s probably beautiful.

Here’s to coming upon stories and news about print. Print…Long may it fascinate.

Category Archives: Print in the News