Are you harnessing the power of physical print?

One of the great things about print is that it can come in all shapes, sizes, and colours. It demands to be touched and interacted with. It grabs and holds our attention.

Print is supremely flexible, able to transform a book or magazine, a mailer or brochure, in look, feel and style. Design and shape can be altered while different substrates can be chosen to convey a wide range of aesthetics from a luxury look, to energetically colourful or a more natural sustainable feel.

That is exactly what Tyler Brule, editorial director of global affairs and lifestyle magazine Monocle, did. He used the creativity of print to deliver new formats and push margins, both editorially and profitably.

He wanted to move away from digital formats such as laptops or mobile devices which he described as constraining, as the framing boxes content in. So, he took the opportunity to explore the ‘quite endless’ possibilities of what can be created on the page in a magazine or in a newspaper format.

In Print Power’s Print Media Predictions 2023 he explained how last year he helped create the hugely successful Monocle Companion. The thick, pocketbook sized volume of essays required a special approach to display in a retail environment and raised some distribution challenges. However, the fresh approach for Monocle helped drive profitability and deliver its most successful year in print – ever. The sales it achieved far outstripped revenues from digital media such as podcasts.

Another area where print transforms the potential impact made is in magazine covers.

For Jaap Biemans, designer and art director for weekly Dutch magazine Volkskrant, is it an essential medium for his passion. Online the covers don’t hold the same appeal. It is too easy to scroll quickly past them and miss some of the tone, wording and imagery chosen to communicate a theme or message.

Using the power of print he is sharing his love for the topic further and compiling a book of the favourite covers of around 250 creatives.

The next few years will be defined by how we can recast print into something more relevant and useful to new audiences according to Sonoo Singh, founder of Creative Salon, a platform that champions excellence in commercial creativity.

She points to a Reuters survey that says more newspapers will stop daily production while highlighting significant advertising campaigns by General Electric (it took over The New York Times print advertising for a day which amounted to 22 full page adverts) and ad agency TBWA in America (it placed a ‘Last Ad from the Last Big Ad Agency on Madison Avenue’ full page advert in The New York Times announcing its move to a different location), and last year’s Confused. com comic strip style print ads in Great Britain. There is also the use of print catalogues by fashion brands. One such supporter of the medium is the ME + EM brand which sends out a monthly Lookbook.

Physical print is the main conversation for Steve Lister, Director of Sustainability at HH Global, a leader in tech-enabled creative production and procurement. He says there is a big knowledge gap around sustainability and moving to digital communications is not always the more sustainable choice. He says physical print will remain an influential factor and as such he focuses on blended marketing campaigns when talking to clients.

The creativity that can deliver effective campaigns, drive transformation, and help define a successful future for print, is made possible with digital printing technology.

Short runs produced quickly and cost effectively with vibrantly colourful results on a wide range of substrates start conversations, inspire action, and continue to be memorable long after the first viewing. The addition of personalisation can make a dramatic difference to memorability and engagement. This is something Graffica found when Ricoh technology helped it produce 4,000 unique magazine covers. That is why physical print is so powerful.