Power of Print 2019 Summary
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Two Sides reports that the ninth annual Power of Print seminar was a resounding success, bringing together leading speakers from all corners of advertising, marketing and sustainability.
If there was one unifying theme to come out of the ninth Power of Print seminar it was the continual resilience of print and its ability to offer trust, credibility and a valuable physical experience for readers and customers. Whether it’s magazines, newspapers, books or the many print formats still thriving in an increasingly digital world, the medium has a distinct set of advantages and benefits for publishers, brands and media owners that puts it on a strong footing as we enter the third decade of the third millennium.
Featuring a mix of experts and industry leaders from the worlds of advertising, marketing, publishing, packaging, sustainability and the environment, the seminar provided a 360º view of the print and paper industry and its future prospects, a view that was overwhelmingly positive.
The advertising industry was first represented by one of its leading thinkers, Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK. Striding around the Stationers’ Hall stage, Rory made a series of points about why brands should spend more money on print because it offers a tangible, human experience. “The value of the marketing mindset lies in taking the human perspective, not the spreadsheet perspective,” he said, using examples of automatic doors replacing real doormen and the value of paper invites compared to email.
Later in the day, Nick Vale, Worldwide Head of Creative Strategy at Wavemaker, described a customer’s interaction with print as having ‘Moments with meaning’, compared to the ‘Micro-moments’ they have with digital media. While micro-moments have the advantage of being measurable and monetized, moments with meaning provide greater engagement, higher quality content and a shared experience, ultimately leading to greater brand success.
The value of print for brands was underlined by Ryan Battles and Zoe Cox of content agency Archant Dialogue, who create and publish HOG magazine for the iconic motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson. The print publication is consistently rated as one of the top benefits of being a member of the Harley Owners Group, and Ryan and Zoe explained how they engage this loyal audience.
Later, Lauren Sutton and Carl Kirby from Waitrose took a deep dive into the stats around the performance of print when compared to digital channels. Using a series of studies, they explained how people are spending more time with print, despite the drop in brand investment, it’s more trusted than digital channels, and it delivers more recall and response than its digital equivalent.
