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