Magazines are fighting back

The Wall Street Journal reports that some magazine publishers in the US are forming a Joint Venture to take their content online:

LEADING PUBLISHERS FORM VENTURE TO OFFER CONSUMERS NEW DIGITAL STOREFRONT AND PORTABLE READING EXPERIENCE

Initiative Will also Offer Marketers Rich Array of Innovative Advertising Opportunities

New York, NY, December 8, 2009 – Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will allow consumers to enjoy their favorite media content on portable digital devices.

The goal of this digital initiative is fourfold, to create: a highly featured common reading application capable of rendering the distinctive look and feel of each publication; a robust publishing platform optimized for multiple devices, operating systems and screen sizes; a consumer storefront offering an extensive selection of reading options; and a rich array of innovative advertising opportunities.

I particularly like the last comment: 'a rich array of innovative advertising opportunities', which to me could potentially mean all sorts of spin offs for what I call 'TCP' or 'Targeted Content Printing'. Being able to target digital ads to known subscribers could also spawn a new genre in highly relevant printed pieces, as a part of a multi-touch campaign.

Print is not dead; it's just evolving in more ways, and more quickly, than we anticipated.

www.w2p.co.uk

Wi-Fi Direct

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced today that it is preparing a new standard for what it calls 'Wi-Fi Direct' which will be implemented in 2010.

'Wi-Fi devices will soon be able to connect in a new way that makes it more simple and convenient than ever to do things like print, share and display. The Wi-Fi Alliance is nearing completion of a new specification to enable Wi-Fi devices to connect to one another without joining a traditional home, office, or hotspot network. The Wi-Fi Alliance expects to begin certification for this new specification in mid-2010, and products which achieve the certification will be designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct.

The specification, previously code-named "Wi-Fi peer-to-peer," can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously.

"Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn't available," said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. "The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise."

So, photos and documents will be easier to access across multiple devices and locations than ever before. Needless to say this will create opportunities for some in the Printing industry, but problems for others. One thing's for sure, now is the time to take your Printing business online!

www.w2p.co.uk

W2P at Print 09

It never ceases to amaze me how few Europeans visit the US trade shows like Print 09, despite the fact that, particularly for residents of the UK, the cost of travel and accommodation is relatively low. Having said that, there weren't that many American visitors in evidence either, although I suspect that was more because companies only sent one representative instead of the usual 2, 3 or 4 people. I was there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the latter being the busiest day.

What made the trip extremely worthwhile from my perspective was the opportunity to spend time with the movers and shakers of the Web-to-Print world. These are the people who are helping to shape the future of the Printing Industry as it moves inexorably into the brave new world of multi-channel communications. There are some Printing businesses out there that are doing great things with W2P and making very good money but they are not telling the rest of the Printing Industry what they are doing. Why should they? If you hit on a rich seam of profitability would you tell everybody where it was? Of course not! The W2P vendors know who's doing what with their applications and whilst they're probably not allowed to say exactly, they have amassed a huge knowledge base of how and why certain markets, applications and methodologies work better than others. This isn't stuff you can put in a brochure or a webinar, this is deep stuff that requires detailed discussion and analysis; the sort you can only do face to face. When this kind of intimate knowledge is available in one place, from all the key vendors and in an environment which lends itself so well to this sort of research, the Printing Industry has no excuse if it misses this particular boat.

The next big global exhibition is Ipex in May 2010 in Birmingham, UK. Hopefully, by then, any green shoots of recovery will have taken proper root and Printers with a realistic business plan will be able to raise money once again. I, for one, do not believe that any business plan would be complete without some form of online strategy. I know that this view is also shared by many of the lenders. It isn't rocket science to realise that the world of communication media is changing rapidly and that that change is taking place online. Print has its place in the mix but unless you can demonstrate where that place is now, and how it might change over time, it's unlikely anyone is going to invest in your operation. Recognising that long-run general commercial litho is in trouble (I heard a marketer say 'brochures often don't work any more') I have a phrase I use to describe the current state of play:

'Print is not dead, nor is it dying; it's use, however, is evolving in more ways, and more quickly, than the Printing Industry anticipated'

It's such a shame that when events like Print 09 offer such a great opportunity to learn, those that need it most stay away in their droves.

Now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Video-in-Print - Remember 8 track tape anyone?

I was intrigued to learn of the 'Video-in-Print' tie-up between CBS and Entertainment Weekly Magazine, supported by advertising from PepsiCo. This 'new technology' puts a small mobile phone sized thin film LCD display which is 2.7mm thick into a printed carrier that can play 40 minutes of video at 320 x 240 resolution (CBS TV previews and Pepsi adverts). The battery lasts for 70 minutes but can be recharged via a mini-USB and new content downloaded the same way. Take a look at this YouTube clip of the product in action.

Now, I'm normally the one who waxes lyrical at anything new that helps Print to reposition itself in this multi-channel communication world we live in but I just can't get excited about this development. In fact, I think it might do the image of print some harm. Firstly, however, let me congratulate the parties concerned for some innovative thinking and some brave execution. Presumably, because of production and distribution costs, only those living in Los Angeles and New York will get their copy of Entertainment Weekly with this 'state-of-the-art' Video-in-Print technology bound into the magazine on the 18th September (just after Print 09 finishes). Americhip, the creator, has trademarked the term 'Multisensorizing'; they are responsible for such things as singing greetings cards and other inserts that talk, sing, pop-up, smell, spin, twist and light-up. They do this for some serious global players and have been doing so for some time.

I hate to admit it but I remember 8 track tape in the late 60s and early 70s (my Dad had a system in the car - it was the iPod of it's day). However, unlike the iPod, it was a large, cumbersome device. There was very little choice of music recorded on this format. The tapes were hard to get hold of and took up too much space. Even then, it was pretty obvious that there would be other technologies that would replace it fairly soon. There is a lively trade for 8 track now as a retro novelty item!

Notwithstanding the first mover advantage and the PR generated because of the novelty factor (73,000 YouTube hits together with numerous tweets, blogs and forums), I do think this will go the same way as 8 Track. When we consider how many cell phones have both cameras and internet access now, and how many there will be in a few short years (according to the latest industry stats, by 2012, one third of the world's population will have a camera phone), the simple addition of a printed 2d barcode from one of the many vendors will render the 'Video-in-Print' approach obsolete. For those of you not familiar with this current technology (used extensively in Japan), your cell phone camera 'scans' a special barcode on the printed piece (or billboard or TV screen). The code sends your cell phone online to whatever video, website, rich text file or personalised landing page that was held within the code. This destination and content can be changed at will by the publisher and can also recognise in real-time (through GPS on the phone) where the consumer is and what information he or she is looking at. Assuming permission is granted, content and location-specific advertising can then be pushed, again in real-time, directly to the cell phone.
An alternative to 2d barcodes would be printed RFID tags which could interact with other wireless devices in what is known as the 'Internet of Things', coming soon to household appliances, cars, clothing, food and goodness knows what else!

There are other reasons I think 'Video-in-Print' will be short-lived:

• Cost of production and distribution
• Static content unless user 'pulls' new content
• Batteries will discharge over a short time-frame
• Nightmare to recycle
• Poor carbon footprint
• Limited image quality compared to HD coming on iPhone
• Limited versioning and no personalisation capability
• Unlikely you'd take it to the pub with you to show your mates
• It's too big and it's not even interactive
• Harry Potter's 'Daily Prophet' is more likely to happen on an e-reader

The danger to Print is that this will be perceived as yet another reason why Print is not eco-friendly. Some commentators, I'm sure, especially in online marketing companies competing for budget, will point to this as another reason to say that the printed page is losing the plot. I don't think this is the kind of exposure Print needs right now.

So I think Americhip will make some money on it in the short term, and I certainly want to get my hands on a magazine with this technology inserted. I'll keep it in pristine condition and advertise it on ebay in around 2013

Now is the time to take your printing business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print is #1 at Print 09

It shouldn't come as a much of a surprise to anyone that Web-to-Print (W2P) has been voted as a #1 application that must be seen at the forthcoming Print 09 show in Chicago in September.

Together with IT and MIS, W2P was rated joint top of a list of core essentials for the profitable survival of Printing businesses in what the organisers of the show, GASC (Graphic Arts Show Company), call the 'Must See'Ems'. A panel of 21 international analysts, consultants, educators and editors voted for the ten most important elements that would help Printers to come through the recession. This is the full list:

1. IT
1. W2P
1. MIS
4. Variable Digital Printing
5. Workflow
6. Colour Management
6. Cross Media Production
8. Automated Equipment
9. Customer Relationship Management
10. PreFlighting

The group of judges stated that Printing has become 'Computer-Centric', meaning that Print buyers are increasingly purchasing online, any communication with a Printer is increasingly happening online and that content management is increasingly taking place online. They went on to say that the computer skills of most Printers, however, are limited to estimating and pre-press. There is a distinct lack of skill when it comes to IT and e-commerce.

Print 09 is being billed as a 'Software Show'. There will, of course, be plenty of interesting bits of shiny metal on show that could help your business but these days, if you don't have an effective and efficient online customer interface, there's not going to be much point in being 'Lean and Mean'.
I know it's going to be hard for many to find the time to visit Print 09 in the current climate but, it would be very beneficial for most to talk to all the W2P vendors. Some of these companies are introducing programs to help Printers understand the complexities of trading online. These courses will fill up very quickly.

Now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print..... is this the right term?

Cary Sherbourne has just published an article on Whattheythink.com saying that we need a new term for 'Web-to-Print', as it doesn't adequately describe the multi-channel nature of what most systems can do today. She says:

'Most printing companies today have a web site and most accept electronic files in one way or another. But accepting files via email or FTP, while more convenient than the old deliver-the-disk method, leaves much to be desired in terms of both customer convenience and workflow efficiency for the printer. Web-to-print solutions, on the other hand, were designed to offer a more formalized and more fully featured method of getting files from the buyer to the seller and into the production process.'

She goes on to say:

'These days, however, what we were calling “Web-to-print” has morphed into something much more sophisticated and we really need a new name. Most notably, the digital assets that are being submitted through these systems don’t always go to print, so “Web-to-print” is much too limiting. Some assets are available for download electronically and might never be printed.'

The article talks about there being in excess of 34 online solutions on show at Print 09, highlighting just how important this whole field is. So what term will all these suppliers use to describe the genre? Well it can't be 'web-to-print' for a start because the term is trademarked in the US. A company called Belmark Inc, of DePere, Wisconsin successfully registered the term in September 2001. They have sent out 'Cease and Desist' letters to those using the term in the public domain. This, in turn, led to the global adoption of the acronym 'W2P'

Now I have to declare a vested interest here: my business is called W2P Ltd, my domain names all have 'W2P' in them, my logo incorporates the letters 'W2P' and I market my business as a 'W2P' Consultancy!

So why did I call my business W2P? Well yes, it does stand for web-to-print, but to me it was a term that could always adapt itself to the changing landscape of communications. It also stands for:

Web-to-Paper
Web-to-Press
Web-to-People
Web-to-Phone
Web-to-Publish
Web-to-Pretty much any other new technology that comes along!

If we want a new term that best describes what Printers can do once they have adopted a 'W2P' solution, then it should probably be 'Web-to-Publish', as this term can be used for any media channel.

Of course, this is just semantics to those who have not yet taken the plunge and invested in W2P. First and foremost, Printers need to generate cash from existing operations and that means feeding those hungry lumps of tin. So for now, it's still 'Web-to-Print' and will continue to be for the vast majority for some time to come.

Now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print........Walmart Style!

Well, it's finally happened. It was inevitable really; like an octopus but with a thousand tentacles they search out every interesting looking nook and cranny of commerce until they find one that they like the taste of then devour it whole while it's still alive.

Walmart is now offering 'small business printing' in Canada, in association with PNI. You can take a look here: http://bit.ly/kxpyy

They are promoting marketing materials, business stationery and promotional gifts, including the option to upload your own logos and images. You can use their templates online or you can download Word or InDesign templates to customise your own artwork then upload a PDF.

On the one hand, congratulations go to PNI for expanding into a potentially massive distribution channel with a truly global potential. On the other hand, are we going to witness more price erosion and further commoditisation of the printed piece? We all know Walmart's reputation for tough deals with suppliers, which in turn lead to low prices in the stores. However, $44 dollars for a pack of 500 business cards is a reasonable price, and it suggests to me that these will not be printed digitally. Now I appreciate that this has only recently launched and, as with all new things, I'm sure it will only get better and better, but I'm afraid to say that both the designs and the application itself are not very inspiring or intuitive. Put it this way, if their fresh fruit and vegetables looked like this they'd be throwing a lot of it away!

I'm not sure Vistaprint or Mimeo will be quaking in their boots just yet. However, the mere fact that Walmart has decided to test this market should make the rest of the printing industry sit up and take notice. Look what the supermarkets did to the small shopkeepers, and what is the average printing business to the supermarkets if not an equivalent small shopkeeper?

If Walmart do succeed (and why not just buy VistaPrint?)then you can be sure other supermarkets will want a piece of the action. Any printer who can should be planning to work with their key clients to understand the benefits of Web-to-Print, Walmart's involvement might actually help to promote the concept. I can't see many small businesses asking the teenager on the checkout for advice on multi-channel marketing, can you?

Yet another reason why now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

The ICE Web

According to Jerry Bautista, Intel's Director of Technology Management, there is another Web coming that will take us beyond Web 2.0 and 3.0, this is the 'Immersive Connective Experience' (ICE) web where devices will 'overlay the digital world onto reality.'

He said that applications like Second Life were merely the first generation of virtual worlds and the situation was going to get more immersive. Intel has been using software modelling techniques to render 3D more effectively, including making computer generated environments obey physical laws of movement and building in behavioural intelligence. He pointed out that there were plenty of virtual worlds bigger than Second Life, (15 million users, with 88,000 users online simultaneously) with teen site Poptropica pulling in 21 million users and Neopets getting over 45 million. Over 50 per cent of all virtual world users are aged between 4 and 12 and as they grow up the idea of interacting in virtual worlds would be normal and natural.
Intel’s laboratories have also invested in researching visual computing, using computers in conjunction with cameras and GPS in a smartphone. For example, users could take a picture of a sign on their smartphones and the handset would check GPS to see what country the users was in, get a translation of its meaning and give directions from a mapping application overlaid. He estimated that the techniques of using the camera to produce visual searches for data of photographed object would come online in 2010, with information overlay on camera views by 2012 and a 2D and 3D visual overlay available by 2014.

This would also open another door for location based advertising, on the basis that someone has to pay for all this wizardry.

I'm a great believer of this 'free content in return for advertising' model, as it will ultimately create opportunities for customised printing. When we have that level of data granularity, we will be able to target so precisely that print, particularly in conjunction with QR codes and the like, might come back into its own as 'message clutter' on a mobile device will render some forms of messaging ineffective.

BUT 'you have to be in it to win it'

Another reason why now is the time to take your printing business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print on your iPhone

The Printing industry and Apple Computer Inc have a long association stretching back as far as the very early 80s. Then, it was the Mac SE, together with Postscript and applications like Aldus Pagemaker and Quark Express, that decimated the traditional phototypesetting industry in a little over 2 years. Next to fall to the relentless onslaught of the Mac, Quark and Photopshop were the big page makeup systems from Scitex, Hell and Crosfield. Since those days, we've grown accustomed to the Mac as an integral part of every printer's workflow, in fact pre-press studios the world over are utterly reliant on all things Mac.

If, like me, you work away from your office or home on a regular basis, but still need to check and reply to e-mails as if you were at your own desk, you will have experienced issues with using a mobile phone as if it were a computer. I tried a Nokia, a Sony and a Blackberry but found the experiences inadequate and frustrating, not to mention unnecessarily complex and unreliable. When driving down the M1, it's just not practical to stop at a service station, get out the laptop and find a WiFi hotspot that's free (or spend another £190 a year on a 3G data card). Try firing up your laptop in the back of a London cab between appointments!

Enter the iPhone. Apple has done the same for mobile communications as it did for typesetting and digital imaging. It's transformed the usability, effectiveness and efficiency of an already converged series of media channels. It's a phone, a camera, an iPod, a portable disk drive, a GPS system and a video camera (New 3GS model). It's also a computer with a pretty fast chip and 256mb of RAM which seems to be enough as the Apple OS is very efficient.

It's the sheer elegance and absolute simplicity of use, together with an army of very clever application developers, that has caused millions of people to become not just customers but fans. The App Store now has more than 50,000 applications, many of which are free but rarely cost more than £2. More than one billion downloads took place within nine months of its launch. More than one million of the new 3GS phones were sold in the first week and the new 3.0 OS was downloaded by more than six million people in 3 days.

Just as in previous disruptive technology launches, it's a combination of hardware and software that makes things happen. Setting up an iPhone to receive work and personal e-mail is simplicity itself - so much so, I doubt you'll even refer to the manual as it's so intuitive. If you travel a lot, apps like TubeDeluxe and NationalRail are extremely useful and time saving. If you travel abroad for work or holidays, you can type in words in English and have the iPhone speak your translated words in virtually any language. An App called AirSharing allows you to use your iPhone as an external disk using your WiFi connection to either a Mac or a PC. This means you can carry all your important PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, word documents etc with you (or use GoogleDocs in the Cloud).

In the last few weeks, several companies have launched applications for the iPhone that allow users to create postcards and greetings cards. Using your own photos and typing into supplied variable data templates, you can now have a single postcard printed and sent to your loved ones for as little as 99 cents if within the US or $1.50 if outside the US. This is W2P (Web-to-Print) on the iPhone. It's easier than using a computer, it's quicker than using a computer and it's more convenient than using a computer.

None of these application developers come from the printing industry. HazelMail PostCards creator, Michael Lato, for example, was a founding member of fotolog.com, a photoblogging service that currently has 22 million members. Postino, another postcard app developed by AnguriaLabs in Italy, is owned by GetConnected, an IT Services business.

These companies have gone for global reach from the outset. Why? Because they can - easily! It's not a huge market; even if 20% of the near 20 million iphone users send two postcards a year, that's still only $5m revenue. The point, however, is that the iphone (and I'm sure subsequent versions of Nokia/Palm/Sony/Motorola etc will get better now they've been shown the way) will create a mobile computing environment where all manner of print related workflow issues can be accomplished. Files created and prepared for print using online templates can also be pushed to the high resolution screen of the iPhone, with its touch-screen zoom simplicity.

All this means that we now have true Web-to-Print (W2P) on the Phone. Perhaps we will also see the acronym W2P meaning Web-to-Phone? Either way, here is yet another reason why now is the time to take your printing business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Femtocells - an evolutionary tale

Ever had the frustration of a weak mobile signal when you're at home or at the office? Of course you have, who hasn't. Sometimes the problem is caused by where you live in relation to the mast, sometimes it's because of the thick walls in your house. All those promises that the 3G network would create a revolution in mobile telephony have only partially come true because of factors like these. As this communications ecosystem evolves (and it's evolving at an ever-increasing pace) we now see a new creature emerge from the primordial soup designed to bridge the gap between the wired world, and the wireless one we all would prefer.

It's called 'Femtocell' and it's a low power wireless access gateway that provides localised 3G coverage. ‘Femto’ means one quadrillionth in the metric measurement system, in the same way that ‘deci’ means a tenth and ‘centi’ means one hundredth. Femtocells can improve coverage by connecting to the network using your broadband connection. They then create a strong local mobile phone signal that allows connection with 3G mobile phones and devices. Typically, several mobile phones will be able to transmit data and calls through one femtocell at the same time. Another benefit will be improved battery life due to the stronger signal.

Vodafone will be the first to commercially launch these boxes in the UK on July 1st, to be known as the Vodafone Access Gateway, price will be £160 or from free at around £15 per month.

So with smartphones that are now effectively mobile computers when used with WiFi, femtocell equipped homes and offices will offer speeds of up to 7.2mbps on your mobile through the 3G network. Forecasts suggest that there will be 105m handsets using the technology by 2011.

With these speeds, the smartphone can now access websites as quick, (sometimes quicker) than with your computer. This means that W2P (Web-to-Print) becomes even easier to access. Yet another reason why now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.mobi

'The Internet of Things'

So what is this so called 'Internet of Things'? It's an interconnected network formed from everyday objects with radio frequency identity (RFID) tags embedded in them, and the European Commission wants to take a leading role in managing and developing it.

The Commission has launched a 14-point action plan to address the issues raised from such widespread interconnectivity.

"New examples of applications that connect objects to the internet and each other are created [everyday]: from cars connected to traffic lights that fight congestion, to home appliances connected to smart power grids and energy metering that allows people to be aware of their electricity consumption," said EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding.

RFID tags vary in sophistication, but the devices, which can be embedded in products, have reached a size where they could be undetectable to the naked eye. And now, of course, we're looking at creating them using inkjet technologies. Joseph Jacobson, a professor at MIT who co-founded Kovio, as well as E-Ink and Codon Technologies, is credited with the initial concept behind the new process and technology.

“When Kovio was founded, we contacted ink makers and they didn’t have silicon ink,” said Vik Pavate, Kovio’s vice president of business development. “They looked at us like we were crazy. So we were forced to invent it for ourselves. We also had to develop eight other types of inks to make silicon transistors, and all are equally important in the process.”

He added that Kovio’s new technology has attracted the attention of several key investors, including Japanese company Toppan Forms. “Toppan can do just about anything but print a silicon chip, so this is a huge opportunity for them,” Pavate said.

So the combination of digital printing and the internet is creating yet another 'disruptive technology' that pushes the boundaries of efficiency and effectiveness in the supply chain and in marketing services. Let's hope that the EU's early involvement can have a positive effect on the laws of privacy and competition that will surely become major issues in an unregulated market, using uber-sophisticated tracking mechanisms.

When you realise what all these internet enabled technologies can do, and how businesses are readily adopting these new processes, it makes it all the more important to take your printing business online, now!

www.w2p.co.uk

Digital Britain Report

So Lord Carter's long awaited report on how Britain should further embrace the Digital Age is published at last. I've picked out the four cornerstones of the report as stated in the forward:

* to complement and assist the private sector in delivering the effective modern communications infrastructure we need, built on new digital technologies;

* to enable Britain to be a global centre for the creative industries in the digital age, delivering an ever wider range of quality content, including public service content, within a clear and fair legal framework;

* to ensure that people have the capabilities and skills to flourish in the digital economy, and that all can participate in digital society; and

* for government to continue to modernise and improve its service to the taxpayer through digital procurement and the digital delivery of public services.

The words highlighted above in bold italic are particularly pertinent to the printing industry and especially so the world of Web-to-Print (W2P). The Government wants Britain to be a 'global centre for the Creative Industries' it wants the British people to have the 'capabilities and skills to flourish in the digital economy'. It goes on to say that it will modernise and improve its service through 'digital procurement and delivery'. To my mind, that means if you want to sell print to the Government, you'd better find a way of helping them to purchase from you online.

You can download the 3mb PDF file from the BBC website here:

Global IP traffic to increase five-fold by 2013

Cisco has released new figures that suggest the amount of data hurtling through cyberspace will grow exponentially over the next four years.

Global IP traffic will increase by a factor of five from 2008 to 2013, approaching 56 exabytes per month in 2013, compared to approximately 9 exabytes per month in 2008. An exabyte is one billion gigabytes. By 2013, annual global IP traffic will reach two-thirds of a zettabyte (673 exabytes). A zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes. The research also suggests that mobile data traffic will roughly double each year from 2008 through to 2013.
New fibre optic networks and advanced mobile networks such as Longterm Evolution (LTE) and WiMax will allow for the anticipated explosion of all forms of video - IPTV, video-on-demand, internet video and peer-to-peer.

So what does this have to do with the printing industry? Well all this high definition video stuff flying around at the speed of light will make uploading a high resolution still photo mere child's play compared to today. Do you remember the days when we had to send artwork that contained lots of scanned images on a separate disk by courier (or worse still, a rep would drive to the customer and pick up the artwork on the pretext of customer service)? All this makes web-to-print (W2P) all the more attractive for any printer wishing to reduce the cost of business processes and increase the speed with which work can be turned around.

Now is the time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

A Tide of Innovation

Dr Paul Twomey, the President of ICANN, the internet's administration body, stated in a recent paper: 'There is a tide of innovation sweeping the world. While we are offered glimpses of how the internet might evolve in the coming years, the last 30 years has taught us that we probably haven't yet imagined the long-term impact of the global internet on society.'

The printing industry is just beginning to realise the impact that the internet is going to have on its traditional business model. Needless to say, the strong and agile will not only survive but prosper, as new solutions to existing and developing problems are executed in highly effective and efficient ways.
Soon, the mobile phone will get a bigger screen and faster internet connectivity to applications and data in the 'cloud'. This will bring many more customers (and competitors) into the mix.

'Ten years ago, 100 million people used the internet. Today it is 1.4 billion.
By the end of 2010, 5 billion people will have a mobile phone. Many of these will be internet enabled.
The consequence of this growth and convergence is an enormous democratisation and devolution of decision-making throughout the globe, especially within the developing world. India alone has a mobile handset uptake of 9 million per month.

The expansion of mobile networks, combined with the latest smartphone and other internet enabled devices, are enabling developing economies to leapfrog traditional technologies and remove barriers to entry to the global economy for their citizens and businesses.'

Printers should not forget that 'data' can now be 'manipulated' in real-time, anywhere in the world. Even if it is printed locally, the margin will mostly belong to the manipulator, so leaving the poor printer once again as the 'manipulated'. It's so important to get into Web-to-Print and multi-channel marketing NOW, before the tide engulfs you.

'The internet has proven to be a deeply transformative technology in the developed world, as so it will be for the developing world.'

So new business models will emerge, new ways of delivering marketing messages will be invented, new markets will open and others will close. Printers should not underestimate the power of the internet, nor the speed with which it can disrupt conventional business models. New strategies are required and new skills must be acquired.

It's time to take your business online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Dire Prediction for DM

New research from Borrell Associates predicts a massive drop of 39% in Direct Mail spend over the next five years. From the firm that predicted the near demise of Yellow Pages in the US, they have this to say about DM:

Now, our latest prediction: The kudzu-like creep of the Internet is about to claim its third analog victim – the largest and least-read of all print media – direct mail. Direct mail has begun spiraling into what we believe is a precipitous decline from which it will never fully recover.

Needless to say, they also talk about DM becoming a more targeted element of a wider multi-channel approach to marketing, which is good news for those printers that are getting involved with variable-content digital printing and web-to-print. Borrell go on to say that e-mail marketing will continue its inexorable rise at the expense of print and other media:

Most of the growth in e-mail marketing will be local. We’re expecting local e-mail advertising to grow from $848 million in 2008, to $2 billion in 2013, as more small businesses abandon direct mail couponing and promotional offers and turn to a more measurable and less costly medium, e-mail.

Now is the time for printers to take their businesses online.

www.w2p.co.uk

Print and the Internet

It may not come as a surprise to many that the recent Internet World show in London (Europe's largest ever Internet Exhibition) received a grand total of ZERO column inches in any printing trade publication that I could find. Nor is there any post show coverage by any of our industry bodies. Now, forgive me for being blunt here but is the printing industry not concerned about the combined impact of the recession and the proliferation of digital marketing techniques? Surely it should warrant a little more attention than my solitary blog? Marketers are being forced to cut costs, like everyone else. The easiest option is to contact one of the scores of 'digital marketing specialists' that have sprung up in recent times. They promise the earth at a much reduced cost compared to 'conventional' campaigns. I asked many individual 'multi-channel marketing' vendors at the Internet World show (and there were a lot of them) how they dealt with the printed elements of a multi-channel campaign. The answer? Blank faces. These guys don't consider print to be 'multi-channel'. They call it 'offline media' or 'conventional mailing'.
We have some serious strategy issues here. We'd better start educating these buyers, particularly these Generation Y buyers, as to the real power of print when used in a true multi-channel campaign. If we don't, we will all pay the price.

www.w2p.co.uk

W2P at Internet World

The keynote theatres were packed; standing room only and Health and Safety officers refusing entry to hundreds who could not get in as they were not in the queue at least 15 minutes before the presentation. 400-500 attendees at each session were not disappointed as speaker after speaker showed how digital marketing techniques, when correctly applied, can give results that are nothing short of 'spectacular', 'game-changing' and 'unprecedented'. Check out this http://tinyurl.com/cmtykj YouTube video of Scott Seaborn, head of Mobile at Ogilvy in the UK. I found this particularly interesting as it features Kodak (consumer) and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament.
The general theme at the show, wherever you looked, whomever you listened to, was that digital marketing allows you to communicate on a one to one basis like never before. This gives me tremendous hope for the future of digital printing (alas, I fear that conventional litho will suffer even more as a result) as marketers get their heads around how to use this data more effectively. The tools are definitely now there to deliver digital messages to the right people, at the right time, at the right place, with the right offer. Print now needs to communicate its potential role in the mix to the right people, at the right time, at the right place, with the right offer. Simple isn't it?
There was one representative from the printing industry exhibiting at the show. Ivor Jacobs (Ivor Solution ltd) whom I worked with in 1997 with the launch of Card Corporation was showing Web-to-Print for business stationery www.businessweb2print.co.uk and photo products. Ivor has always been ahead of the game and still is. Congratulations Ivor, your pioneering spirit is a lesson to us all! Another company, Lorien Unique, presented its Institute of Direct Marketing case study in one of the seminar theatres. This discusses the benefits of multi-channel marketing.

www.w2p.co.uk

Internet World Exhibition

It's had no coverage in the printing trade press, very few people from the printing industry even know it's on and nobody that deals with printing technology is talking about it in the blogosphere. What is it? Internet World, the largest exhibition of internet stuff in Europe. Ever! It's on now at Earls Court in London.
To give you an idea of scale, there are more than 200 seminars across 6 theatres, split into specific areas: eCommerce Theatre, Email, Mobile Marketing & Analytics Theatre, Enterprise2.0 & Content Management Theatre, Connectivity and Hosting Theatre, Mobile, Online Advertising, Affilite & SEO Theatre and the Web2.0, Social Networking, Usability & Design Theatre.
There are over 320 suppliers exhibiting and there are more than 20 keynote presentations from the top marketers of companies such as:
Virgin, John Lewis, Porsche, Monster, B&Q, Barclays, HMV, Mars, Disney, Ogilvy, Hilton, LoveFilm and more.
There are also special networking sessions, an Agency day, roundtable discussions and, of course, lots of twittering and facebooking going on.

Marketers are going there to learn about digital marketing. I have seen no evidence of the word 'print' anywhere. There are no representatives of any of the printing industry bodies, either UK or European, on any booth or presenting any seminars. There is no evidence of any of the 'Cross Media' companies such as MindFire, EasyPurls, XMPie, Online Print Solutions or Pageflex to put across the relevance of print in the digital mix. There are no representatives from the world of Web-to-Print (except perhaps me and a handful of other visitors). There are no printers (sorry, that should be 'Marketing Services Providers').

If, as an industry, we are going to rise to the challenge of changing our business models, it should start with learning where the threats and opportunities lie. We should start banging the drum about the effectiveness of targeted print at events like this, instead of complaining about attendance levels at Print shows.

I'll be here for two days so I'll blog some more about what I see and hear.

www.w2p.co.uk

BAPC survey highlights Web-to-Print

Hot on the heels of a US survey from Dr Joe Webb showing over 7,000 small printers think Web-to-Print is a critical factor for their businesses, the British Association of Print and Communications (BAPC) has released its own survey. In April 2009, it received responses from 473 member companies with what they felt were the critical issues facing their business in order of priority:

21.5% Web-to-Print
21.5% Marketing
18.0% Sales
16.0% Business Climate
08.0% Human Resources
07.5% Equipment
07.5% Environment

The majority of these businesses employ fewer than 15 people and almost certainly use digital printing technologies. It does feel as if W2P is finally being recognised as either a threat, an opportunity, or both.
What's needed is a strategy and an achievable implementation plan.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print at NorthPrint in Harrogate

Despite talk of NorthPrint being cancelled due to the recession, it would appear that visitor numbers are looking quite promising and some are now struggling to find hotel rooms in the town. Harrogate (my home town) is wonderful in the Spring sunshine and there are some truly great restaurants. If you needed any more motivation to visit a small but well produced trade show, many Web-to-Print vendors will be showing their wares.
RedTie, EFI and Mtivity all have stands whilst Press-Sense will be shown on the Presstek stand, XMPie will be shown on the Trapeze Mailing Services stand, PrintGroove on the Konica Minolta stand and Ricoh will be showing DSF.
For more information click www.northprintexpo.com

Web-to-Print in the US

On WTT, Dr Joe Webb has compiled some very interesting statistics regarding the size of the market opportunity for W2P solutions in the US. As usual, he has dug deep into the raw numbers to provide a perspective of what's really going on in the market place. You can find the article and his commentary here.

www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print at OnDemand

With the exhibition hall doors now open after the keynote speakers had finished, a larger than expected crowd made its way onto the floor. Many of the big names in hardware were there; Canon, Xerox, Konica, Oce, InfoPrint, Presstek, Fuji etc. (HP did not show Indigo presses and Kodak pulled out). Much of what I had come to see could be found on the smaller booths where all that was required to do a demonstration was a laptop, a chair and someone who knew what they were talking about!

The first stand I came to was Pageflex and, as it turns out, they had several new plays to announce: Pageflex Studio ID is a desktop plugin for Adobe InDesign CS4 more here Pageflex Storefront can now be integrated with Adobe InDesign CS4 Server Pageflex Storefront is now integrated with DirectSmile Online. PrimeGroup in the UK has been pioneering this integration. Lastly, Pageflex has released a charting application, with the creative name of 'Pageflex Chart' more here Quite predictably, these days, Pageflex won 2 'Best in Show' awards for web-to-print and document creation. Another application from Pageflex that is extremely useful is an iPhone App called 'WhatTheFont' It's in the App Store and if you are in the Print game it's a must have!

Just down the aisle the only British W2P vendor exhibiting, RedTie, is making a big splash across the pond and announced a new office in New York together with a gaggle of very experienced people to take the RedTie message across the continent. RedTie has also launched its Managed Services facility to help first time users (or very busy existing users) to deploy sites with a minimum of time and fuss, thereby eliminating the first timer's 'angst'.

NowDocs announced several new features. With the launch of NowDocs v7.0, the GUI has had a major overhaul and it has integrated XMPie for variable templates, VDP and cross-media campaigns. I didn't see an announcement anywhere but UPS (in the US) was demonstrating a NowDocs driven W2P solution aimed at small businesses.

EFI showed v4.0 of DigitalStoreFront hooked up to a large format printer in a completely integrated end-to-end workflow. This new version has an improved GUI, better approval processes, inventory control and background upload for large format artwork. The European Hosting centre in Sweden is now on stream.

XMPie showed a greatly improved uStore with its new release. Personal Effect 4.6 also won 'Best in Show' Much emphasis was rightly placed on multi-channel marketing and the theatre show (similar to the one at Drupa) was very professional.

OPS (Online Print Solutions) showed an enhanced GUI and a full suite of applications showing the depth and breadth of the offering.

Press-Sense iWay did not have a stand but it's new v5.0 release was evident on the Xerox, InfoPrint, Oce and PressTek stands. This release also shows an improved GUI and catalog facility. HP's SmartStream Director is based on iWay.

Reports on Printable Technologies, GMC, PrinterPresence will come soon.

There will be more to follow but already a common theme here is that much emphasis has been on improving the Graphic User Interface and, indeed, the whole user experience. At Last!

www.w2p.co.uk

OnDemand Expo W2P Highlights

I was half expecting this show to be poorly attended due to the current economic climate; that notion was quickly dispelled when extra seats had to be brought in for the keynote addresses at 8.30am. Some 500 delegates packed the room to listen to Charlie Pesko of Qestex/InfoTrends, followed by Mary Lee Schneider of RR Donnelly.
Pesko's message of the day was that the digital print has reached it's tipping point (no surprises there) and to capitalise, printers need to 'do the right thing' and 'do the thing right'. This refers to moving both upstream and downstream in terms of services (W2P and fulfilment) and being ultra efficient. Schneider surprised the audience with the fact that RR Donnelly has over 1,000 digital printing units across 60 production plants and suggested that to survive and thrive, a web portal is absolutely essential.
On the show floor, it was sometimes difficult to get to talk to representatives and demos had to be scheduled. It would appear I was the only British visitor on the day, at least the only one talking to the W2P vendors. I know times are tough but it's been a great opportunity to learn and it's a shame that more Brits have not made the trip. The next time all the major W2P vendors will be together in one place will be GraphExpo (Chicago) in September. In the UK, the next opportunity won't be until Ipex in May 2010. Of course, you can do demos online but sometimes, especially with a subject as mission critical as W2P, there's no substitute for seeing the whites of the CEO's eyes. More to follow.
www.w2p.co.uk

An Englishman at OnDemand

A trip to Philadelphia without a tour round the historical sites would be inexcusable. As an Englishman, our shared history binds us together. What struck me, while looking at Benjamin Franklin's Printing Office, was just how powerful the printed word has been, and continues to be. It has shaped our lives like no other medium. The Declaration of Independence was (and still is) an incredibly important piece of print that shaped history and politics. It also occurred to me that, during another momentous political occasion, namely the election of one Barack Obama, a new way of communicating with the masses was tried out on television for the first time. This was CNN's first holographic transmission. You might be forgiven for saying 'what's the point in that' but let's not forget that very few people could read in Franklin's day and yet printing still caught on.
On Demand will show us how the printing 'industry' is evolving and how we are harnessing other communication technologies to complement our ink on paper. It seems to me that it takes a momentous event in history to truly ignite the use of new communication media. This recession is a truly momentous event and already we are seeing a huge increase in the use of multi-channel communications. History is being made, one day at a time! www.w2p.co.uk

Web-to-Print at OnDemand Expo

I'm going to the OnDemand Expo in Philadelphia this weekend in order to keep right up to date with developments in the fast moving world of Web-to-Print. All of the global players will be exhibiting and many of the US only players too. There are many conference tracks going on with plenty of user perspectives across the whole spectrum of W2P, so I'll be in a good position to distil the best content from the 3 days. You'll find more information on my website www.w2p.co.uk

I'll keep these pages updated with relevant stuff as often as I can so please help me by following this blog.