One on One
“Brands Favour Print’s Value”
MEPrinter April - May 2021
There’s never been a better time for PSPs to remind brands that print has the power to break people away from their screens
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Exclusive interview with Mathew Faulkner, EMEA Senior Marketing Manager for Canon Europe’s Professional Print business Recently Canon launched its Insight Report, the latest EMEA research exploring the attitudes, needs and expectations of communication and print buyers, to help print providers identify opportunities and challenges in the market today. The report reveals a number of interesting and insightful facts. For example, based on the findings of the report fewer than 20% of printers and in-house print rooms are fulfilling the needs of print buyers or more than a third (33%) of today’s marketing budget is devoted to print. But perhaps the most interesting finding of this report is that many buyers believe
that print will continue to remain important. In order to dig deeper into data provided by this study we talked to Mathew Faulkner, EMEA Senior Marketing Manager for Canon Europe’s Professional Print business. Do you think Covid made print more relevant or less? Why? Marketers were already under pressure to reach multiple audiences, with complex messages, via a growing range of channels, using limited budgets. COVID has intensified these pressures, removing some tried-and-tested channels and forcing brands to be agile in responding to a changing landscape and consumer behaviour. Our research shows that brands are spending more of their budget
on digital, but they are worried about whether it can continue to give them the results they need. At a time when most face-to-face communication is on hold and has been replaced by digital touchpoints, marketers are seeing real proof of digital fatigue in their target audiences. Judging by an increase in unsubscribes, opt-outs and ad blocking, many consumers are disengaging from digital marketing. Research Canon conducted in association with ME Printer in 2020 revealed that brands favour print’s value, despite the trend towards digitisation. The EMEA-wide Insight Report reinforces this confidence in print as a creative, authoritative and trusted medium. So, there’s never been a better time for ts to remind brands that print has the power to break people away from their screens and cut through the digital fog, which makes it particularly effective. In the wake of COVID, PSPs have a clear opportunity to highlight print’s USPs (unique selling points) and emphasise that it can be cost-effective, fast to market, agile, responsive and ultra-targeted. In the Insight Report you mentioned brands who currently spend at least a quarter of their communications budget on print expect it to become more important, what about Canon? Are you planning to increase your print marketing budget? Actually, the Insight Report reveals that brands are spending as much as a third (33%) of their marketing budget on print. Canon faces the same challenges as any other global organisation with a diverse range of products and services, targeted at multiple audiences. To reach them, we must use a complex mix of analogue and digital channels, with carefully chosen tactics along the customer journey. And, like any large organisation, we have to tailor our channel choices to each audience and reflect the consumer behaviours and nuances of each geographical region.
