Through this series of blogs, the campaign leaders of Value of Print, Choose Print, and Print Grows Trees are revealing the effects these campaigns are having on the industry and how they’re fighting to help educate print buyers. In Part One Lisa Rawa, Vice President of Marketing for Printing Industries of America, gave insights into the successful Value of Print campaign, including reactions from industry members. Here in Part Two, we travel to Printing Industries of America’s southern California affiliate, Printing Industries Association, Inc. of Southern California (PIASC), and their solid campaign to educate consumers about print. When we look at today’s marketing, we see that it’s heavily focused on “engaging” customers. Well what’s a more engaging medium than print? Print is tactile. It’s visual. And it is an essential part of a larger, interactive multi-channel marketing campaign. The tactility of print is just one of the key messages promoted by Choose Print, the powerful multimedia campaign by PIASC. Since the campaign launched in January 2011, Choose Print has become another integral go-to resource for print professionals in California and beyond and featured at trade shows and in articles from industry publications. We spoke with Ara Izquierdo, EVP/COO of PIASC as she shared how their strategic messaging is impacting consumers. 1. One significant advantage of print is no doubt its tangibility. How are you driving the tactile benefits of print, and what effects are you seeing from this messaging? ChoosePrint is a multi-media campaign, so we have taken a multimedia approach to driving home this message. Tactile Print Pieces are really our core medium.Among the pieces we have produced, there are two specific pieces that demonstrate the message. The first piece was “Print is Rich.” The front side of this postcard was 4-color process, embossed and engraved on 80# Classic Crest Smooth Cover Solar White stock. Mounted to this was the back side, which was Xerox color digital and foil stamped on 105# Esse Digital Cover Pearlized White. The second piece, “Touch,” is an engraved and blind embossed 8½ × 11-inch piece printed on Classic Crest Cover Avalanche White 100C Eggshell Finish. Print delivers tactile information—just one of the reasons you should Choose Print. These pieces have been used as Direct Mail and Magazine Inserts. “Print is Rich” was mailed out as part of a two-year postcard campaign targeting ad agencies and print buyers. The “Touch” piece was inserted into the May/June 2014 issue of GDUSA magazine. Additionally, Trade Shows offer an opportunity to reach consumers. “Print is Rich” was distributed to designers and print buyers at the 2013 HOW Design Conference as well as numerous industry and non-industry events. “Touch” will be distributed at the 2014 HOW Design...

What do you want to gain at GRAPH EXPO 14? If it’s strategies you can apply to your business, consider attending one or more GRAPH EXPO seminars presented by several Printing Industries of America experts while you’re there! To get the most out of your experience at the biggest trade show in our industry, come pencils in hand and ready with your most vital questions—What are the smartest new technologies to invest in, and how can we apply them to our business? How can we survive in a changing market? What best practices can we use to produce the optimum output for our customers? For eager professionals like you, there are plenty of opportunities to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough time to experience it all. To help you decide which seminars are right for you, take this four-question quiz. We’ll give you your recommended GRAPH EXPO seminar, and you can learn which sessions will be the best investment of your valuable time at the show!   1. What do I most want to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14 and take back to my company? A. How to stay at the forefront of new growth industries as a commercial printer. B. How to keep up to date with evolving markets. C. How the changing economy will impact my business. D. How to get better quality digital files in prepress.   2. If I could get insight into one aspect about my competitors’ business and strategies, it would be: A. What do they know about some of the most out-there technologies that we don’t? B. How are they creating new business opportunities in areas like packaging and short-run markets? C. What strategies are different size companies using to survive in the current economy? D. How do they consistently create color-managed, output-ready files and deliver to their customers on time?   3. My ideal learning environment includes A. Learning the ins and outs of new technologies. B. Hearing actual industry case studies based on other companies’ experiences. C. Focusing on the big picture data then honing down to the micro-details. D. Hands on instruction!   4. At my facility my primarily responsibilities include A. Finding and assessing the newest technologies and business avenues for potential investments for sales and marketing opportunities. B. Keeping up with industry trends so that my company doesn’t miss a profitable opportunity, whether it be for operations or sales. C. Continuously assessing the economy and how it’s affecting our industry, our firm, and our competitors. D. Learning the latest prepress techniques to keep my company competitive and profitable.   Your Results Mostly As Your GRAPH EXPO Seminar—3D Printing: NEW Profit Pathway for Commercial...

What do you want to gain at GRAPH EXPO 14? If it’s strategies you can apply to your business, consider attending one or more GRAPH EXPO seminars presented by several Printing Industries of America experts while you’re there! To get the most out of your experience at the biggest trade show in our industry, come pencils in hand and ready with your most vital questions—What are the smartest new technologies to invest in, and how can we apply them to our business? How can we survive in a changing market? What best practices can we use to produce the optimum output for our customers? For eager professionals like you, there are plenty of opportunities to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough time to experience it all. To help you decide which seminars are right for you, take this four-question quiz. We’ll give you your recommended GRAPH EXPO seminar, and you can learn which sessions will be the best investment of your valuable time at the show!   1. What do I most want to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14 and take back to my company? A. How to stay at the forefront of new growth industries as a commercial printer. B. How to keep up to date with evolving markets. C. How the changing economy will impact my business. D. How to get better quality digital files in prepress.   2. If I could get insight into one aspect about my competitors’ business and strategies, it would be: A. What do they know about some of the most out-there technologies that we don’t? B. How are they creating new business opportunities in areas like packaging and short-run markets? C. What strategies are different size companies using to survive in the current economy? D. How do they consistently create color-managed, output-ready files and deliver to their customers on time?   3. My ideal learning environment includes A. Learning the ins and outs of new technologies. B. Hearing actual industry case studies based on other companies’ experiences. C. Focusing on the big picture data then honing down to the micro-details. D. Hands on instruction!   4. At my facility my primarily responsibilities include A. Finding and assessing the newest technologies and business avenues for potential investments for sales and marketing opportunities. B. Keeping up with industry trends so that my company doesn’t miss a profitable opportunity, whether it be for operations or sales. C. Continuously assessing the economy and how it’s affecting our industry, our firm, and our competitors. D. Learning the latest prepress techniques to keep my company competitive and profitable.   Your Results Mostly As Your GRAPH EXPO Seminar—3D Printing: NEW Profit Pathway for Commercial...

The following is a guest blog post from Malcolm Keif, Cal Poly, coauthor of Lean Printing: Pathway to Success and Setup Reduction for Printers.   Recently a great video has been circulating around social media showing a Formula 1 pit stop from the 1950s in contrast to a pit stop from 2013. (If you haven’t seen it, check it out here) In this two minute video you’ll see how radically pit stops have evolved in sixty years. It is fascinating how the sport has changed in technologies, processes, personnel, tools, metrics, and attitudes. We have seen similar changes in the printing industry over as many decades. Printing technology has improved tremendously, especially from the standpoint of process control. Even with makereadies, equipment manufacturers have done a great job of focusing on quick-changeover improvements. CIP4, servo technology, inline register and color control, and many other improvements have brought printing into a science. However, in some ways the entire printing system (all interdependent processes working together), including our material staging, methodology for changing plates and inks, use of strategic personnel, as well as our sense of urgency about the makeready, are more similar to the 1950s version than the 2013 version. How often do we rehearse a makeready…or even discuss a strategic approach, for that matter? Those of us who are lean proponents liken the pit stop to a press or bindery makeready, mostly because it speaks to where crucial seconds can be picked up in a competition. We acknowledge that no progress is being made to reaching the finish line when the car is in the pits. It is not a value-add process, though it is necessary to keep the car running. Isn’t that true of a makeready? It is not a value-add process…but it is necessary to complete the job. So, why not approach a makeready with the same strategy and urgency as a Formula 1 pit stop? The best way to improve makereadies in a company is through an intentional human development approach (education and training). It should also be part of a larger lean thinking initiative. You are really teaching your employees how to think lean. It involves reiterating your vision about value-add and providing the tools your employees need to rethink the makeready. It is simple, but not easy. Our tendencies are to do things the way we have always done them, even when we get new equipment – it may be faster on the racetrack but just as slow in the pits. Let’s face it, if a Formula 1 team came to a race with 1950s pit stop strategies, they couldn’t possibly finish anything but last. Why then do we sometimes approach makereadies with those...

The following is a guest blog post from Malcolm Keif, Cal Poly, coauthor of Lean Printing: Pathway to Success and Setup Reduction for Printers.   Recently a great video has been circulating around social media showing a Formula 1 pit stop from the 1950s in contrast to a pit stop from 2013. (If you haven’t seen it, check it out here) In this two minute video you’ll see how radically pit stops have evolved in sixty years. It is fascinating how the sport has changed in technologies, processes, personnel, tools, metrics, and attitudes. We have seen similar changes in the printing industry over as many decades. Printing technology has improved tremendously, especially from the standpoint of process control. Even with makereadies, equipment manufacturers have done a great job of focusing on quick-changeover improvements. CIP4, servo technology, inline register and color control, and many other improvements have brought printing into a science. However, in some ways the entire printing system (all interdependent processes working together), including our material staging, methodology for changing plates and inks, use of strategic personnel, as well as our sense of urgency about the makeready, are more similar to the 1950s version than the 2013 version. How often do we rehearse a makeready…or even discuss a strategic approach, for that matter? Those of us who are lean proponents liken the pit stop to a press or bindery makeready, mostly because it speaks to where crucial seconds can be picked up in a competition. We acknowledge that no progress is being made to reaching the finish line when the car is in the pits. It is not a value-add process, though it is necessary to keep the car running. Isn’t that true of a makeready? It is not a value-add process…but it is necessary to complete the job. So, why not approach a makeready with the same strategy and urgency as a Formula 1 pit stop? The best way to improve makereadies in a company is through an intentional human development approach (education and training). It should also be part of a larger lean thinking initiative. You are really teaching your employees how to think lean. It involves reiterating your vision about value-add and providing the tools your employees need to rethink the makeready. It is simple, but not easy. Our tendencies are to do things the way we have always done them, even when we get new equipment – it may be faster on the racetrack but just as slow in the pits. Let’s face it, if a Formula 1 team came to a race with 1950s pit stop strategies, they couldn’t possibly finish anything but last. Why then do we sometimes approach makereadies with those...