CPISC Executive Director in Hall of Fame

CPISC’s executive director, Marie Eveline, was inducted into the Algonquin College Media Hall of Fame in a special ceremony at the college last month. The hall of fame was established by the college’s Media Studies Department in 2008 to recognize people for their contribution to media industries related to courses offered by the department. These are individuals who have earned a reputation for excellence, innovation and contributions to the field and who they hope will inspire students studying at the college’s three campuses in Ottawa, Pembroke and Perth, Ontario.

“Being inducted into the Algonquin Media Hall of Fame is a testament to the strong partnerships that are being developed within the industry through the work of the Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council,” says Eveline.

“By working with employers, employees and educators like Algonquin, we’re helping to bring together a variety of views on how best to deliver much needed skills development and human resource tools to the industry.”
Congratulations, Mary.

Grafik’Art Show set for April 23 – 25

Grafik’Art Trade Show will take place at Place Bonaventure in Montreal, Quebec from April 23 to 25, 2009. Press, pre-press, sales, marketing and print management will be but a few of the topics covered.

Exhibit spaces are filling quickly according to show organizer Louis Bernard, so you should make your booking as soon as possible to reserve the best booth locations. You can do it directly at www.grafikart.ca. Show visitors can also order tickets online.

The show is a great opportunity to make new contacts, see old colleagues and interact with the experts in our industry. More than 120 exhibitors including GBC Canada, Epson, Heidelberg, Komori and several others plan to attend, as will Konica-Minolta with its complete line of new copiers.

For more information call Louis at (514) 916-8102 or e-mail louis-bernard@videotron.ca.

Coming events here and south of the border

The 2009 Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) National Convention and Showcase Forum will be held in Toronto, April 27-29, 2009 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. If you’re looking for innovative ways to increase your business, you’ll likely find some great ideas at the show.

The Printer-to-Printer Business & Technology Conference, Offset and Beyond, will be held at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada May 4-6 and covers business opportunities and trends while featuring comprehensive technology and production sessions for printers, regardless of process.

IMI’s 2nd Digital Printing Presses – The Next Era Conference is May 6-8 at the Crowne Plaza San Marcos Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. It will feature speakers from Amica Software, Digital Graphics, Direct Group, Eastman Kodak, HP, I. T. Strategies, Lake Image Systems, Oce, Pivotal Resources USA, PrintCom Consulting, SPF-Inc., TTP and Xerox.

The 20th Annual Thermal Printing Conference will be May 11-13 at the Radisson Resort Orlando Celebration in Kissimmee (Orlando), Florida.

The 7th Int. Paper & Coating Chemistry Symposium 2009 will be June 10 – 12 at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

The Graphic Arts Show Company’s PRINT 09 Media Days will be June 16-17 in Chicago in advance of the global PRINT 09 trade show and conference at Chicago’s McCormick Place September 11-16. The six-day, “myPRINT” themed trade show will be customized this year to provide a personalized show experience for commercial printers and attendees from nine other key market segments.

The annual CPISC Forum is an opportunity for people in the printing and graphic communications industry to network and hear from leading industry speakers about current industry issues. This year’s forum will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia June 12 at the Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside.

I recently purchased a new computer. The gentleman who was selling it to me was a little less than enthusiastic about me making the purchase. Here I was in the store thinking I’m saving his job by making this “big purchase.” I mean who buys a computer in the middle of this economic disaster? Why does he not seem thrilled, I thought to myself? So, I started to chat and ask him questions.

“So, business must be bad, huh? I bet no one is buying things like computers‚Ķ”

“Not really,” he says.

“Well, I guess overall, your store must be less busy, huh? At least you don’t have to work as hard.”

“Not really,” he says.

“So, I guess your store is cutting prices to keep customers coming, huh?” This is the point at which he realized that he is dealing with someone who has the persistence to keep spitting out questions at the rate of an overly outgoing six-year-old.

Patiently, the salesman turned to me and explained, “I think a lot of people in Canada have job security, some don’t, but a lot do. Our stores have been working hard to give value to customers in a time where every penny counts. Our customers are recognizing that we are doing this for them, and are choosing to take advantage of the great deals. I see a recession on T.V., but in my daily life, I haven’t felt it at all. I’m not an investor. I know this sounds obscene, but I’m not seeing a recession. You are my eighth customer today, and you won’t be my last. I’m simply doing great!”

I would love to be this salesman. My conversation with him was exceptionally refreshing. Unfortunately, I can’t force myself to be blind to the facts. But, as you’ve heard me say before, I can choose to look at the brighter side.

This past month we held the Graphic Communications Management job fair. This is a yearly event that is held to help third-year students find summer internship placements and graduating students find permanent positions. While, I think it will be more difficult for our graduates to find permanent placements this year than the last, I’m glad to report that our internship prospects look great!

I toyed with this idea in my brain for awhile. What I came to see is a general trend toward less permanent employment. Companies need people, but they are worried about committing during tough times. As a result, lots of people are working on contract. In fact, the way we do business in general is changing. I invite you to read John Zarwan’s article “The little guy vs. the behemoth: who has it better?” to investigate how.

So, if we’re staying with the positive attitude, I say, good thing our friendly computer salesman is not an investor because his store’s stock is a third the price it was last year. Lucky guy!

March is a great month with the hope of spring around the corner. Last month saw Ireland win the Six Nations Cup in rugby. This was the first time in 61 years that Ireland had won it! They never gave up trying after trailing early in the game, and came back stronger each time, ready to play.

I’m sure some of you feel the same way each day when you show up to work – but keep at it and things will turn around. No economy is ever going to turn around unless its citizens believe in it and keep working at it. Keep a positive attitude. There’s no point in being miserable about the economy – use this time to be innovative and explore new ideas and methods.

It was great to see Jay Mandarino of C.J. Graphics at the Annual St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon in Toronto March 17. With 1,500 in attendance, it’s the largest St.Patrick’s Day Luncheon in the world. Jay skillfully took on the job of auctioneer and raised a lot of money for the charitable function.

Make sure to read our lead article “The little guy vs the behemoth, who has it better?” John Zarwan offers a lot of valuable information. Turn to page 22 to find a “Portrait of Canadian book printers” by Olga Orda. Then page 46 has our regular column “My Customer Asked Me‚Ķ” by Natalia Gilewicz. She relays informative tips on survey marketing – a useful process in these tough economic times when you want to find out what’s really important to your customers and what isn’t. It’s always important to know where to trim and where to increase budget spending.

Many of you have already received our new weekly e-mailed newsletter and the positive feedback has been overwhelming. If you haven’t been receiving the newsletter and wish to (free of charge) please go to www.graphicartsmag.com and sign up now.
We just spent a week in Southwest Florida. If you want to know how badly hit the U.S. market is, just look at the numerous properties that have dropped over 50% there already. This may be a buying opportunity for those north of the 49th parallel.

As soon as we get the May edition out (closing date for ads April 13th), we’re heading off to Montreal for the Grafik’Art trade show from April 23- 25. If you’re at the show, stop by for a chat and a special gift. We’re at booth 250.

Until next time,

“Love life and happiness.
May your troubles be few
and your blessings be many.”

And, as always, stay positive and stay focused.

The current upheaval in the economy and the printing industry has once again raised the question of what type of firm is best positioned in this environment. The discussion has taken on a greater sense of urgency as the pace of plant closures, bankruptcies and acquisitions has quickened.

It has long been assumed that size was a prerequisite for success, and this has led to a spate of mergers and acquisitions. Although it’s not a new phenomenon, in the printing industry, the pace of activity among printers has given way to a new category of printer, sometimes called the “MegaPrinter.” The largest printers have always dwarfed most others, but the size and number of acquisitions in the past few years appear to be qualitatively different. The appeal is easy to understand: the quickest way to consolidate your market position, obtain additional assets and become more efficient is to acquire a rival. The industry is not only becoming more concentrated, but the demands on these large (mostly) public companies to continue to grow boosts the likelihood of increasing size and scale, primarily through acquisition, due to their need to continue to show growth and the difficulty many of them appear to have in generating enough organic growth.

Yet, these acquisitions clearly have not always worked out, as evidenced by the bankruptcy filings of Quebecor World and Grafikom. Making an acquisition work is difficult; multiple studies have shown that more than half of acquisitions fail. In the case of many of the industry’s consolidators who were active in the 1990s, most of the acquisitions failed, as integrating production processes, supply chains and cultures are far more difficult in reality than on paper. Furthermore, the downturn in the economy has accelerated the plant closings and consolidations of these large printers.

Smaller printers, however, are not immune from the storm buffeting our industry, as the weekly news releases of companies closing their doors remind us.

So what type of firm is best suited to survive in the new environment? Is the emergence of the MegaPrinter only a quantitative change, or does this portend a qualitative change in industry structure? Consolidation does not necessarily mean domination. It is not by any means a foregone conclusion that all of these MegaPrinters will be equally successful powerhouses, only that they will be big. Printers who are not in the MegaPrinter category have been able to compete effectively in many areas, even head-to-head with the giants, often due to their greater flexibility and responsiveness.

The Structure of Canadian Industry

The printing industry in Canada is dominated by small firms; 75% have fewer than 20 employees. If one adds those classified by Statistics Canada as “indeterminate,” which tend to be owner-operated with no permanent paid employees, the proportion increases to 90% with fewer than 20 employees. The average plant has only eight employees; yet, plants with 100 employees account for more than 40% of all employees, while only about one-fourth are in facilities with less than 20 employees. (For purposes of this discussion, we are excluding packaging companies.)

That is not to say, however, that Canada does not have large printing companies. The two largest Canadian-based printers, Quebecor World and Transcontinental, qualify as MegaPrinters by any definition, while others in the Canadian context, such as St. Joseph Communications, with about $300 million in sales, approaches. Many of the other very large Canadian printers are specialty companies, such as managed print services provider, The Data Group, envelope converter, Supermex or Canadian Banknote. Other large Canadian printers include Solisco, Friesens, Dollco, PDI, Webcom, Lowe-Martin and The Printing House. One should also note that many U.S.-based MegaPrinters maintain significant operations in Canada, including R.R. Donnelley, Cenveo and Bowne; even Consolidated Graphics recently made its first foray into Canada, and fast-growing Vista Print has a major facility in Windsor.

Nevertheless, one gets to a modest-sized firm fairly quickly. That’s not to say that a printer with $15 million in sales is small, but it surely doesn’t qualify as extraordinarily large.

The Advantages of Size

The very largest printers apparently see value in size, and one objective of continued growth is the ability to take advantage of the benefits of size on their overall businesses and on the market. There are a number of advantages that can accrue to size.

Single Source. Many companies in today’s increasingly cost-sensitive environment, especially the large corporations that tend to be the primary customers of most larger printers, are looking to improve efficiencies. One major area of their focus is the reduction in the overall number of suppliers, both to reduce the costs of managing them and to gain economies of scale by purchasing higher volumes at lower costs from fewer suppliers. For print service providers, being larger helps them remain on the preferred provider list.

Potential for lower costs. Size also offers the ability for these companies to lower their costs. While they may offer a wide range of services, each individual plant can specialize on producing a particular product or servicing certain markets. While large printers can drive overall costs down through their buying power, those cost reductions can quickly be offset by inefficiencies in the sales, marketing and manufacturing process as they enter new, less specialized areas of the business.

Load balancing. Larger printers with multiple plants can also load balance, shifting work to underutilized plants and equipment.

Cost of capital. Perhaps the most important long-term value large companies bring is their ability to obtain lower financing costs. They have better access to more diverse sources of capital and their lower overall cost of capital can drive significant and sustainable cost containment into their sprawling enterprises.

Disadvantages of Size

Size can have its disadvantages as well. While companies are moving to reduce the total number of suppliers, they are often loath to be dependent on too few. If a publisher prefers to have three suppliers and one of those suppliers buys another, the publisher will add another supplier, resulting in a reduction of revenues from that publisher for the combined companies.

Acquisitions also lead to disruption. Integration is not easy, even for those who have done it before. Key people leave, customers and projects can fall through the cracks and customer service can deteriorate. Different business and production systems present challenges in terms of creating an integrated workflow across multiple plants. The closure of plants and/or moving of equipment also create production disruptions. With good management, these disruptions are relatively temporary. But, for companies that continue to acquire, these challenges are never-ending. As soon as one is integrated, there is another one that must be addressed. And, despite due diligence, companies may acquire bad businesses, paying too much for poor operations, obsolete equipment and a less-than-loyal customer base.

The anticipated lower cost benefits of acquisitions are not always realized. Specialization can mask inefficient operations and the ability to obtain lower prices through higher discounts generally has a one-time impact. Cost curves shift downward, but do not necessarily represent sustainable improvement.

There is no magic associated with size. While MegaPrinters can certainly benefit from scale in certain areas, including access to capital and the ability to produce high volume, complex applications like magazines, catalogs and large direct mail campaigns, they can have difficulty addressing more specialized needs and keeping customer service levels adequate. From a competitive perspective, then, these large printers are primarily competing against each other in a flat or declining market and do not really compete with the more typical commercial printer.

Acquisition Drivers: Not Just for the Big Boys

Despite these issues, there continue to be acquisitions. Canadian companies tend not to be as acquisitive as found in the U.S. True, Quebecor World grew by acquisition, and Transcontinental’s stated strategy is for growth to be divided between organic growth and acquisition. Their most recent large Canadian acquisition was that of PLM. Most Canadian companies have tended not to make big splashy acquisitions, rather merging or acquiring assets as the opportunities present themselves. PDI’s recent acquisition of a Grafikom facility is a good example.

Nevertheless, mergers and acquisitions are common. They are part of our industry’s fabric and will be for the foreseeable future.

They are not just a mechanism for the largest printers. They are an increasingly important tool for use by companies of all sizes. Mergers and consolidation are a fundamental mechanism to re-align the industry with the market forces of shrinking demand and competition from other ways of communication.

Bob Rosen, of R.H. Rosen Associates in New York, has identified what he calls the “Seven Glacial Forces Driving Change.”

1. Overcapacity. The entire industry is suffering from overcapacity, a result of existing overcapacity and a change in product mix, with shrinking demand for many products. The situation is compounded by improvements in productivity and technology. Regardless of the sources, companies of all sizes are finding the competitive environment more difficult because of the extra capacity.

2. Price Competition. Burdened with extra capacity and high fixed costs, companies engage in an endless bout of price competition, with many companies selling jobs just to bring in cash.

3 & 4. Technological Change and Increasing Capital Requirements. As technology continues to advance, the cost of new equipment increases. Even new “disruptive” printing technology, such as digital, entails significant investment. Although the new equipment offers productivity and quality gains, it’s often at a cost that can only be justified by high levels of utilization. Unfortunately, the higher productivity of the new equipment has the unintended side effect of increasing capacity.

5. Customer Demands for Service. Customers continue to demand a broader range of services and higher levels of service. Costs continue to rise as companies respond to these increasing customer demands.

6. Increasingly Unpredictable and Variable Sales. Even well-managed companies have difficulty predicting monthly sales volumes. Even publication printers are increasingly faced with variable production volumes as ad pages shrink. While the MegaPrinters tend to have somewhat more visibility and predictability of sales because of the markets they serve, many smaller firms can spend most of the year catching up from a few bad months.

7. Management Succession. In addition to fundamental operating forces, management succession issues are becoming more urgent within privately-owned companies as the current generation of company owners advances in age. Looking towards retirement, those aging owners are less willing to be exposed to the risks of continued investment, even when their companies are profitable. This has made many relatively successful companies available for purchase by increasingly large acquirers.

As a result of these factors, mergers and acquisitions will continue. Facing sales shortfalls, growing costs and price competition, the concept of a merger or acquisition becomes even more compelling. The seller gains liquidity and freedom, while the buyer gains higher utilization of resources, the promise of new markets or customers, a broadening sales base and the opportunity to acquire new plant and equipment or production capabilities.

The Advantages of Being Small: The Role of the Mid-sized and Small Printer

With clear evidence that industry consolidation will continue into the foreseeable future, it is helpful to examine the role of the smaller and mid-sized printer in this changing landscape. As the accompanying chart shows, the proportion of Canadian printers with more than 100 employees hasn’t grown over the last five years. While the number of smallest plants with less than five employees has shrunk, those between 5 and 19 employees have become increasingly important. Likely, consolidation has kept the proportion of larger plants steady, some mid-sized printers have gotten smaller; but, perhaps most important, smaller ones have grown in order to survive or gone out of business, thus increasing the proportion of the small and mid-sized printer category.

So, how have the small to mid-sized printers managed? First, the geography of Canada provides some degree of protection. One of the reasons there are so many very small printers is they serve very local markets and are somewhat insulated from broader trends and competition.

Secondly, smaller firms compete with their larger counterparts primarily on service. They can excel in this area. Moreover, while the web interfaces and distributed footprint of today’s MegaPrinters do offer them a competitive advantage especially for large, distributed accounts, an increasing number of smaller printers are implementing web-to-print and automated production processes, positioning themselves to sell to larger accounts and removing some of the traditional geographic barriers their businesses faced. In addition to e-enabling their businesses, a growing number of small to mid-sized printers are identifying niche markets where they can meet customer needs in a way that will be difficult for the MegaPrinters to address.

Small commercial and quick printers also tend to have multiple revenue sources; they do not rely on any particular type of work. They are truly “general commercial” printers. They serve a variety of customers from individuals and small businesses to the largest print buyers. They provide a necessary and valuable function, including quick turnaround and convenience. Moreover, they specialize in, and are particularly efficient for, certain types of work, particularly small format and short run – two areas that have held their own. Their print-based revenue includes traditional offset, but also toner-based digital and inkjet-based wide-format. They also are able to provide value in front-end services, finishing and mailing and distribution, as their customers are less likely either to want or to be able to coordinate the full production process.

Smaller printers, therefore, are not forced into acquisition to grow. They have a variety of opportunities to achieve revenue and profit growth. They can expand their offerings: new larger press formats, add more colours to their offset presses, add new print products, such as wide format inkjet or variable image printing, or offer ancillary services, such as fulfillment or database management. A second way to grow is to acquire new customers. Alternatively, they can increase sales from existing customers. Other opportunities are more production focused, calling for investing in equipment, or lowering costs of production, labour and materials. Still, merging with or acquiring another firm is yet another path to growth.

The future success of small commercial and quick printers lies in their ability to differentiate themselves, to articulate that differentiation and to do a better job of marketing themselves to existing and potential customers. As new services are added to the mix, educating customers about those services – and how they can help customers achieve their business objectives – is critical.

Another opportunity is for a smaller printer to align or sell to someone affiliated with one of the major franchise networks, such as PrintThree, Kwik Kopy or Minuteman, all of which are looking to expand in Canada. Franchises benefit from the name recognition of the national brand. They also benefit from the significant infrastructure investments the franchisors make on their behalf in terms of shared services, technology, training, negotiated purchase prices for equipment, consumables and more, and the ease with which they can interact with their peers in the network to share best practices, support customers with shared capabilities and distributed printing, etc.

For those who survive, however, the good news is that sales per shop will continue to grow. While overall print volumes will continue to contract, the number of establishments will decline faster, leaving more work for fewer printers to do. At the same time, surviving printers will augment revenues with a growing share of value-added, non-print services and higher value digital print applications that will allow them to not only grow revenues, but increase profits as well. It is likely that segment revenue will be up as well, with successful shops continuing to outpace average growth numbers by a significant factor.

As small commercial and quick printers think about their future, there are a few key components they should be considering.
Succession planning: Will a family member or key employee be ready, willing and able to take over the business as the current owner approaches retirement? If not, will they continue to invest in the business?

Investments: If the current owner is not investing in the business, what will be the value of the business at time of retirement? Depending on how distant that time is, will it be able to survive that long? If an owner is merely taking money out of the business as he or she nears retirement, will there be a book of business to sell once the time arrives?

Sales channels: The winners in the segment realize they must invest heavily in sales channels as well, whether it is Internet-driven, outside sales resources or a combination of both. For those who choose to continue to rely on walk-in/retail and long-standing relationships, the future will look bleaker.

Diversification: What ancillary services can easily be added to boost revenues, profits and market differentiation? Does it make sense to build, buy or partner to deliver these services? Smaller printers should consider all three options as they strive to grow their businesses. Franchisees should leverage the capabilities that their larger sister franchises or the franchisor can offer to expand the range of services they can offer their customers.

Business support systems: Especially for the independent printer, it is growing more difficult to do everything it takes to manage a hectic business on a day-to-day basis, while at the same time keeping up with industry best practices in people, process and technology. Additionally, these smaller independent players are often at a cost disadvantage as compared to larger firms, and those that are affiliated with some type of network that offers them preferential pricing from vendors of equipment, service, supplies and consumables.

Small commercial and quick printers are small business people and, generally, entrepreneurs. Those who are successful would likely be successful in any business; those who are struggling cannot totally blame their lack of success on industry woes. Despite the surface view reflecting declining print shipments and a declining number of establishments, under the surface there are still vibrant, dynamic and growing prospects for those who wish to invest the time, effort and dollars to take advantage of new opportunities.

With news of the Quebecor bankruptcy in 2008 and the drastic employment cuts across Canada’s manufacturing, banking and finance sectors, it would be easy to assume that the Canadian book printing industry, too, is in need of a moral boost. But, that would be an oversimplification.

Interviews with some of the largest book printing companies in North America, two of which, Friesens Corporation and Webcom, are based in Manitoba and Ontario, paint an entirely different picture – a picture of resilience, long-term thinking and an unwavering belief in technological investment.

At a time when it seems that Amazon’s Kindle and e-books are poised to banish the humble book and most of our knowledge about the world comes from newsbytes, it is easy to lump books into an old-fashioned luxury for the few (those with time on their hands). But, when it comes to the industry, books span many different products beyond the revered hardcover to include children’s books, self-published books and continuing education textbooks.

Let’s not forget that books were pivotal to the making of Canada. As written in History of the Book in Canada: Volume 1, Beginnings to 1840 (edited by Patricia Lockhart Fleming, Gilles Gallichan and Yvan Lamonde), the beginnings of this country were formed on the word, or more specifically, the circulation of the printed word. The printed word was important from the beginning of European contact and of French and English colonization. Printing was key to the state and the church, not only for administrative uses, but also, to maintain authority and promote social unity. For instance, in New France, where there was no printing press, church officials in Paris could continue to exert control, even to the point of editing and revising printed editions of the Jesuit Relations. In another example, Upper Canadian protestants were able to use printed papers and pamphlets to debate, defend and advance their own spiritual differences and ultimately, compete in a colony caught in between extreme partisan views.

In 2008, with decreasing margins, currency catastrophes, discounts and consolidation in the bookselling sector, there were many signs that the Canadian publishing industry was in serious trouble.

In 2009, the Canadian book printing industry faces significant challenges and opportunities much more complex than those of the nation’s predecessors. Nonetheless, Canadians still continue to buy books. Furthermore, evidence from the Survey of Household Spending suggests that book publishers may be doing better than other areas of the publishing industry despite factors such as free information on the Internet and how this availability has affected Canadians’ willingness to pay for book content.

And, the most recent Statistics Canada summary of the book publishing industry suggests that book publishing revenues in Canada were $2.1 billion in 2006 alone, while total expenses came to $1.9 billion. Of the total revenues, 10.3% were before-tax profits.
Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario residents were the most keen book buyers, as spending on books exceeded the national average in all three provinces. Not surprisingly, Ontario and Quebec dominate the Canadian book publishing industry. Together, the two provinces accounted for 91% of industry operating revenues in 2006. British Columbia generated 6% of industry revenues.

Fast forward to 2009 and book printing company executives from Friesens Corporation, Webcom, Green Printer and Houghton Boston are all acutely aware of the economic downturn, international outsourcing pressures, the fast pace of technological innovation, and last but not least, the industry’s need to address its history of environmental practices.

Economic challenges to opportunities

No doubt, with the global, downturned economy and Transcontinental Inc.’s 10% cut to its North American workforce in February 2009, Canadian book printers have been quick to reflect on their competitive business strategy and invest in the latest printing equipment to ensure the highest-quality runs.

Mike Collinge, president and CEO of Webcom, sees the uncertain economy as an opportunity to invest in people and technology.

Webcom manufactures books for trade publishers such as Random House and Harper Collins as well as educational publishers such as Pearson, McGraw Hill and professional publishers like Lexus-Nexus. The company’s main Toronto plant has 300 employees and its market spans across North America.

“We are making some significant investments and growing in 2009. I try not to read too much of the headlines and other doom and gloom that everyone is talking about. We have a positive outlook and most of our publishers seem to have a pretty stable market and demand for their product, at least so far. What we are trying to do is to remain flexible and respond to those [needs] so that we don’t get too far ahead of the curve in terms of the cost and investment‚Ķbut at the same time, leverage some of the productivity and competitiveness that we’ve invested and developed over the last few years. The key focus that we invested over the last year was about $4 million in employee training, productivity improvement programs and information infrastructure. We think that this has set us out to be even more competitive in North America.”

Textbooks remain a financially rewarding book business in Canada. A Statistics Canada 2006 summary suggested that textbooks accounted for 48% of the total $943 million in sales of publishers’ own titles.

With an eye on the economic situation, even smaller scale book printer Houghton Boston, based in Saskatoon, continues to invest in the latest equipment to ensure the highest quality and to offer the latest features and high productivity.

To outsource or not to outsource?

In addition to this year’s economic pressures, the industry also needs to assess its position on outsourcing. China, in particular, continues to have a stronghold on publishing services due to their growing, automated printing market. In contrast to most U.S. publishers, who have opted to retain prepress services domestically in the belief that more complex design and layout tasks are best kept “close to the chest,” China has pursued a substantial percentage of the automated printing business made possible by the ability to work directly from digital files. When any problems linked to automated printing arise, small-scale printers can deal with any problems almost immediately, whereas larger firms may take more time. Nonetheless, large-scale printers are more likely to outsource or sub-source the printing of books to countries like China or India.

“For certain segments, we run fulfillment and distribution services for some of our segments,” says Collinge. “In some of the other segments, publishers have well-developed channels and don’t look to us to do that. We try to integrate more services into our manufacturing operations than in outsourcing.”

As book printing technology continues to evolve at a record pace, so does the pace at which book printers adopt new technologies and processes.

Houghton Boston, for instance, a company of about 35 employees in business since the 1920s, is a Heidelberg shop.

“The oldest press is four years old,” says Scott Laking, general manager at Houghton Boston. The company’s Kodak Prinergy Evo PDF workflow has completely replaced their prepress in 2009 and uses Stochastic printing when required.

“The majority of our customers are repeat customers. I am sure the situation with all book printers is similar to ours; customers are all sensitive to price. Houghton Boston prints quality books with very fast turnaround times‚Ķ[we have] very new assets and the largest complement of bindery equipment in the province, one of the most extensive in the west. This allows quick turn around with many special features such as laminations, special coatings, embossing and foil stamping.”

Friesens Corporation, for instance, uses Presstek’s 52DI digital offset press to print covers for its book and yearbook divisions. One of Canada’s largest hardcover book printers, Friesens publishes books across North America and specializes in colour hardcover and softcover books.

Presstek gives Friesens a way to respond to the demands it has for short-run, high-quality book covers, which cannot always be produced profitably on larger presses.

“One of the significant technology investments of 2008 was more prepress workflow investments in Prinergy systems and more computer-to-plate technologies,” says Collinge of Webcom’s press technology. “Certainly, over the last few years, the ability to automate, streamline and drive costs out of converting our publisher’s digital file into files that are ready to take to our printing presses has improved exponentially. The cycle times and the cost involved in conversion in which it takes a book ready to go to the printing and manufacturing process has been decreased‚ĶThis has lowered the overall cost for our publishers and allowed us to print books in a quicker fashion.”

Several up and coming printing technologies this year include the Océ VarioStream 9210 digital printer. Created specifically for high-volume, speed-intensive single-pass duplex applications for reliable, good quality and digital short runs, Quebecor World has been one of the first companies to adopt the technology.

More specifically, the Océ VarioStream 9210 digital book printing configuration includes a Graphic Arts Controller, Océ PRISMAproduction POD software to provide an efficient workflow and Océ TrueProof software to facilitate convenient online proofing.

Greening the industry

Book printers are also taking aggressive steps to ensure that the dwindling forest resources that go into making their customers’ books are seriously considered.

Houghton Boston, for instance, is FSC certified and has always offered books printed on 100% post-consumer recycled material.

“With the latest technology also comes the most energy efficient equipment, plus reduced make-ready waste,” says Laking.

“Houghton Boston recycles all product waste. We have also focused on many small acts of green. All office printers [are set to] default printing to two sides. We have changed all lighting to energy efficient bulbs and systems and high energy use equipment is set on timers.”

Green Printer, a company based in British Columbia whose printing services clients include Best Western Hotels, the University of British Columbia and Aveda is pioneering high-quality, on-demand runs for self-publishers. The fast growing company prides itself in its affordable prices and waterless printing technology, which virtually eliminates volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the printing process. VOCs are a major pollutant; some have been linked to the deterioration of the earth’s protective ozone layer and, consequently, to climate change.

“We specialize in very high-quality, short and medium-run books,” says Alen Rokolj, vice-president of Green Printer.

“Advances in printing technology over the last five years have allowed very high-end books to be offered at a very reasonable price. We basically cater to self-publishers who really don’t have a huge budget for printing, but still want a really high-quality book. We can, for instance, print 20, 30 or 100 perfectly bound books.”

The green printing company uses Kodak Nexpress for their high-end runs.

“The quality is basically comparable to offset. In some cases, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between Kodak Nexpress and large offset presses.”

“We prefer printing on-demand for environmental reasons. For example, when you have big runs of books, traditionally you would print thousands of books at the same time. In some cases, if you have 20,000 – 30,000 books, what will happen very often is that only a fraction of those books will actually sell. So, you end up recycling 30-50% of the entire run, which goes straight back into pulp. For us, this is really contrary to our philosophy. We encourage all of our clients to print on demand and just as much as they need.

Another big advantage of clients working with us is that they can produce as many books as they need, in an environmentally-friendly way and without any waste. Very often, for example, customers can sell their first 50 books and then we can print them.”
Printing green makes a large dent in the long-term health of our planet. And, increasingly, customers simply expect books to be printed in an environmentally-sensitive way. Given that the pulp and paper industry is the third largest industrial polluter of air, water and land in both Canada and the United States, book manufacturers would benefit to adopt sustainable print practices if they have not already.

Friesens Corporation, for example, has made tremendous milestones in green book printing. In 2003, it printed Canada’s first FSC certified book. A year later, with publisher Raincoast Books, Friesen’s printed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on 100% post-consumer waste paper. This landmark “green” edition sent a signal for all future Harry Potter books to go “tree free.” In 2006, Friesens estimating went paperless, saving 285,000 pages annually of printing. And, just last year, Friesens opened North America’s most modern efficient and eco-friendly book printing plant complete with a new Web press.

These are impressive achievements for a company that began in 1907 as a small confectionery store and is now one of Canada’s largest independent book manufacturers.

Under the leadership of Curwin Friesen, president and CEO, the company won the National Association for Printing Leadership’s highest management award and in 2007, Deloitte and Touche named the book manufacturer one of “Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies.”

In 2004, the Globe and Mail and Caldwin Partners named Curwin Friesen one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40,” a list of high achieving business people under the age of 40.

Webcom takes a more balanced industry approach to environmental practices. “The key thing we try to provide to our publishers is balancing our service offerings‚Ķ we span a range of some leading edge environmental products and processes for publishers with needs and interests in those areas through to the ability to turn books around in hours from file rear feed to bound product,” says Collinge.

“We’ve developed a whole line of environmentally-friendly paper called our Legacy publishing papers and there is a whole offering of eco-criteria that goes into this paper.”

Webcom’s Legacy line takes into account maximizing recycled content, ensuring well-managed forests when sourcing virgin content, addressing how paper is processed and protecting ancient or endangered forests.

The line is offered with both the Ancient Forest Friendly endorsement and the Forest Stewardship Council certification.

Raz Godelnik, CEO of ecolibris.net, a green business that works with book readers, publishers, writers, bookstores and others in the book industry to balance out the paper used for books by planting trees, says that the current state of the book printing industry has improved over the past couple of years. Still, there is a lot to be done. Drawing from the U.S. example, he says that, “[the] industry has an annual 12.4 million-ton carbon footprint and still uses around 1.6 million tons of paper (about 30 million trees) on an annual basis. If that sounds bad, prepare for this: these numbers are currently on the rise. Companies should be concerned because going green and lowering their carbon footprint is not only good for the environment, but also for their business – especially with the price tag anticipated for carbon emissions.”

“I believe that putting a price on carbon emissions through cap and trade mechanism will force the industry to go green faster and bolder, as it can’t really afford to add such an extra cost to their cost structure. Increased awareness of both the customers and the industry will also accelerate the process.”

Godelnik also speaks about the unique pressures that come with digital printing, which is often immediately assumed to be more environmentally friendly.

“The challenge lies in finding a way to make sure e-books and digital content – which don’t use trees for the production – are truly better for the environment. This goal would ensure that the transition to digital content and other paperless alternatives in the publishing industry will not be like trading a paper bag for a plastic one.”

The ecolibris.net founder has some last words of advice for book printers or publishers who want to go green.

“People always say, “put it in writing.” Well, that statement couldn’t be any more true when [it] comes to the process of going green. The first piece of advice is to set up an environmental policy with clear and measurable goals. The second piece of advice is to learn from others. Check out what others have done and learn from their experiences. Find out how they made the transition to a more environmentally-sound mandate and strive to mirror their accomplishments. Third, environmental organizations are an excellent resource in a company’s desire to go green. Get assistance from organizations such as Green Press Initiative. They will help you assess the environmental impact of your company and help you change for the better. Finally, find your eco-advantages or how environmental challenges can actually benefit your business and go green – the sooner the better!”

Future trends

What, if any, impact will interest in e-books have on the Canadian book printing industry? While it is true that publishers may face expensive fees in initiating and consolidating a digital program and in trying to get its digital market share up, the initial investment could generate considerable savings down the road, particularly compared with the expense of manufacturing a traditional, hardcover bound book.

Despite Google Book Search’s digitization and archiving of millions of copyrighted titles as well as the Sony Reader and Amazon’s Kindle e-books, with their massive storage capacities, it is too wild of a stretch to predict that the e-book will make the printed book history. As with the early Canadian settlers, people experience a certain sense of satisfaction with portable, tacit paper. Furthermore, in comparison with digital screens, paper is easier on the eyes and is not subject to the whims of Internet connections or battery life.

Still, no matter how you look at it, digital adoption is on the rise. No doubt, the e-book and the technological infrastructure that it demands will impact all areas of the book industry from labour to distribution, order and fulfillment.

For instance, for book-starved consumers, novels on cell phones could be a real blessing. In February, Indigo’s introduction of its Shortcover service to allow the purchase and download of e-books to a smart-phone via a wireless Internet connection will allow e-books to become very accessible to practically anyone that has a mobile phone.

Despite the game-changing nature of e-books, the resiliency and forward-thinking nature of our Canadian book printing decision makers promises that each challenge and technological shift is really, through one angle or another, a tremendous opportunity in the making.

Q. When we have guests on our network, they have trouble sending mail. We are with Rogers and the messages go out, but they don’t get delivered. What could be wrong?

A. A few years ago, Rogers and Yahoo! joined forces so they could manage mail services together using Yahoo!’s mail servers. While this benefits the services involved in managing email and spam filtering, it resulted in some new rules and restrictions.

During the early days of the Internet, users were much more friendly and could be trusted on a wide-scale basis. Since most users on the Internet could be trusted, security on the systems was much looser and most mail servers could accept and relay email to other users. As the Internet grew more and more, nefarious types started to take advantage of this trust. Spammers soon found out this loose policy could be taken advantage of. A server that would accept mail from any email address became known as an open relay.

It is estimated that 90% of all email traffic is actually spam. These days, most mail servers block email from domain names that are not registered among their users. So when a strange email lands on the mail server, it is often checked against lists of known spammers or simply refused out right. The latter is becoming the more often chosen protocol, and users are now finding that their email is not reaching the intended recipient. Some mail administrators maintain white lists of valid email addresses, but this has proved to be a huge task to manage.

If you’re trying to send email via a Rogers/Yahoo! account, you must be using a Rogers email account; otherwise, you have to add the outgoing email address to your accepted users list. Go to http://mail.yahoo.com and login with your Rogers email account and password. Once you’re logged in, click on the “Mail” link in the top right corner. Next, click on the “Options” link. You should see a place where you can add an email account. Enter your guest’s or other non-Rogers email address and press the “Add” button. You can skip the next screen; at the bottom you’ll find a validation code. At the same time, Rogers/Jack will send an email to that address. However, you can copy the code and simply paste it into the dialog screen and press validate.

When complete, you will see the outgoing email address listed and you will be able to send outgoing email from within the Rogers network. It is an annoying extra set of steps, but you can’t blame Rogers for wanting to protect its clients from the barrage of unwanted mail.

Q. Using Microsoft Outlook, I send email to everyone in my office with a list. I start typing the name of the list and Outlook automatically fills it in. However, I cannot edit the office list after we upgraded my Outlook to add or remove addresses. I also cannot find the original list in my contacts.

A. One of the things that email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Entourage and Apple’s Mail do is cache your email addresses. They store your addresses this way so that you can quickly address a message. The cache stores addresses of people and lists that you send to as well as addresses from messages you have received. You can add addresses to your address book or contacts by right-clicking on the addresses. However, you cannot easily edit the cached addresses.

After you upgraded your Outlook, your application migrated the cache file (called “Outlook.NK2” on Windows) so that your ability to quickly access addresses is maintained. The only way to regain the ability to edit the list is to recreate it. In Microsoft Outlook, click on “Contacts” and choose “New Distribution List” from the File menu. Give it a name like “Office 2” and add the addresses you need to the list. Your contacts will maintain your list for future additions and deletions.

You can select and auto complete email and press the down arrow to delete where it appears. The more extreme method is to delete the Outlook.NK2 file, but you will lose all the cached addresses. With Apple’s Mail you can edit “Previous Recipients” under the Window menu.

There are professional tools available to create internationally standardized PDF files. You may be creating PDF/X standard files right out of Indesign or Acrobat Distiller, but is your colour standardized? Can you rely on your separated CMYK PDF files to reproduce correctly?

Crossroads Automation lists several partners in colour optimization and standardization. Elpical, Alwan, Apago, Callas and Perfect Proof all appear on the community website. With many choices available, there is a solution for every workflow and every budget.

Elpical Claro offers automated enhancement for images embedded inside PDF files. ICC colour conversions are also setup and automated. Claro performs detailed analysis of images to ensure the quality of sharpness, brightness, contrast, colour balance, natural greens and skin tones.

Alwan has several optimization products built around its ColorHub server software. PDF Standardizer and CMYK Optimizer in such flavors as prepress, press, eco and photo. These tools are all-in-one preflight, optimize and standardize using international colour standards. Higher-end versions supply tools for UCR, GCR and profiling. Alwan software is designed to create reproducible PDF files and problem-free images for printers.

Apago PDF Enhancer not only provides ICC profile support for colour conversion, but also manages fonts and file compression to create manageable PDF files. There are controls to allow precise conversions from one CMYK profile to another CMYK profile.

Callas PDF Toolbox Server, now at version 4 is another all-in-one product. With the ability to perform preflight, automatic correction and even imposition, this automation tool also has a Device-Link tool for repurposing files. Callas preflight technology is the same technology available in Adobe Acrobat Professional preflight.

ProofMaster from Perfect Proof creates out-of-the-box contract proofs in line with the ISO 12647 and other industry colour standards. It is a flexible, all-purpose proof management system using Enfocus certified PDF technology. The PDF and the proof are linked by an embedded code in the PDF file, which appears on the proof. This system can be used by all printing industries. It contains a calibration module, editing module and RIP module. A 1-bit module can also be added as well as a profiling module.

The products listed above provide enough choice in technology to advance any workflow by standardizing colour and removing the uncertainty that exists in PDF print production. What is even more outstanding is that they all plug into workflow automation tools.

There is an Enfocus Switch configurator for each of these products to integrate directly into a fully automated workflow.

Switch configurators basically link to the actual software on your system. Some will direct files into queues, launch the software with chosen settings or just perform tasks on the way to the press or platemaker. Add them to the full line of Adobe Creative Suites configurators, the power of scripting and metadata, and you can see why the automation revolution is getting larger and larger.

Many tools required to standardize colour are available now to all our industries, from content creators to packaging to digital printing. International standards are built into our software and our workflow packages. There is nothing stopping the industry from achieving reliable standardized colour.

During tough economic times, organizations try to cut every cost they can; anything unnecessary goes. A hand-to-mouth attitude takes over.

Activities that don’t immediately contribute to profits are classed as disposable.

In many organizations, one area of the business that is viewed in this light is human resources. Unfortunately, human resources management is frequently seen only as an administrative function or a theoretical “nice thing to have” and not seen as an area of management contributing to the long-term success of a business. The result is that HR activities are curtailed or eliminated.

HUMAN RESOURCE PROGRAMS ARE NEEDED

Instead of being a disposable, I would contend that human resource programs are needed more than ever, both for the present and for the future:

• Undoubtedly, some employers are ignoring, either through lack of knowledge or because of desperation, the rules that apply to termination of employees. Currently, in the Toronto area, a local law firm has realized this and is advertising its services to individuals that feel that they have not received proper compensation at the time of their termination.

If a company is going to terminate employees or even lay them off for extended periods of time, it is necessary to follow the rules set out in the Employee Standards Act. Failing to do so will only incur greater costs.

• Performance management is an activity that is often poorly carried out even in the best of times.

‚Ä¢ Formal appraisals aren’t carried out on a timely basis and are often less than candid.

• Aside from formal appraisals, parts of performance management are also not carried out effectively. Verbal warnings or reprimands are not properly recorded. As a result, when it comes time to appraise staff and determine who should stay and who should go, there are only anecdotal references to support the action.

‚Ä¢ A good appraisal program should contain development plans for the individual. These plans need to continue to be pursued even though business is tough. Otherwise, the business won’t be able to compete in the future.

‚Ä¢ Safety is an area that needs greater attention than ever during difficult times. Unfortunately, some organizations believe that they don’t have the time or resources to continue their safety program.

• In the first place, certain actions and activities are required by law and are not a nicety that an employer can dispose of when they have less staff or everyone who is still employed has to work harder.

• Accidents have a tendency to increase when employees are concerned about their future employment. Some individuals believe that they will be better off on workers compensation than on unemployment insurance. Therefore, every accident needs to be investigated carefully or the organization will find that its WSIB premiums will be escalating.

• Employers and managers have a duty and responsibility to ensure that work is being carried out in a safe manner even if the safe way takes a little longer. Failing to do so can lead to criminal charges.

• Benefit programs can be abused during a recessionary period in much the same way as workers compensation programs. It is important that there is an HR responsibility to monitor any significant changes in benefit usage, particularly short and long-term disability benefits.

• There is never a better time to look at organization structure than during tough times. Reviewing and revising an organization structure is often a traumatic experience for individuals. Sometimes power and scope of position is taken away and employees have a hard time dealing with this. However, during difficult times, people are more likely to support and assist in helping an organization design a more effective way of doing business.

The advantage of revising and improving organization structure and processes is that the benefits will flow over to the time when business improves.

NEED HUMAN RESOURCES DURING DIFFICULT TIMES?

Human resource management doesn’t mean having a big HR staff. Any HR department that might exist should be subject to the same review for performance and organization effectiveness as any other part of a business.

Many smaller businesses may not even have HR departments, but they do have HR issues. These issues need to be addressed and dealt with in difficult times as well as when times are good.

All aspects of human resource management need to be brought together in an effective way to ensure that your people costs are as good as they can be. In most organizations, after raw materials, people costs are the next largest expenditure for a business.

Attendees at the Digital Imaging Association’s February presentation learned first hand where the growth opportunities are for Canadian printers pursuing direct mail – a print-intensive, lucrative business model.

A near-capacity group of industry professionals came to hear the following:

• What are the trends and upcoming changes in Direct Mail Рand how will they impact a printer who is focused on DM?
• What is the impact of DM in tough economic times?
• How are the marketers being effected by environmental concerns?

Laurene Cihosky, senior vice-president, Direct Marketing, Advertising and Publishing Business for Canada Post provided an outlook on DM backed up by historical data, current volumes and projected future potential.

Cihosky began with a historical view of addressed Admail growth. Canada Post statistics tracked from 1984 – 2007 show steady and significant volume growth from 1984 to a peak in 1998, then a dip in 1999. From 1999 to 2007, volumes have dipped and risen, remaining at levels consistent with the mid to late ‘90s and showing increases for 2006 and 2007.

In addition to the trending of marketing initiatives, the following, says Cihosky, are the key factors impacting the direct mail industry:

• Government legislation
• Technology advancements
• New Media/Channels
• Generational changes

And the lasting underlying trends are the environment and the economy.

The recent government ordinance that has contributed to today’s growth in direct mail is the Do Not Call legislation. The Canadian experience with the capture of marketing share from the fallout of this legislation is anticipated to be directed to brand, promotions/events, direct mail and online media. For direct marketing alone, CMA research for Stats Can shows some staggering numbers:

• Drives over $160 billion in economic activity
• Employs 900,000 Canadians
• Raises millions of dollars in the Not-for-Profit sector
• Supports over 20% of the economy as a primary marketing tool for small businesses

The future is now

Technology has delivered the robust tools of direct mail. A gradual progression of utilization of those tools has lead to increased customization and integrated multi-media communications. The future marketing landscape continues to be consumer driven. Merchandisers and consumers are engaging in a two-way dialogue. Merchandisers are identifying what individual consumers want and are looking for campaigns that deliver and are measurable – DM delivers and it can be measured. The media will continue to need to work harder at delivering information to empowered consumers. These consumers want offers that are individually unique, available when they want to view them. There is also a measurable increase in consumers’ demand for environmental responsibility.
The direct marketer’s future reality is most certainly relevance. The ability to manage the customer experience with highly customized communications that are event triggered and digitally enabled will return a measurable benefit. Direct Mail continues to demonstrate the robust ability to deliver. And, the tactability of mail does continue to enhance the response.

Canadian attitudes towards the environment and mail

According to Canada Post statistics of 2008, 75% of Canadians say that environmental conservation and preservation is becoming more important than it was a few years ago. And 77% of the respondents to the study believe the responsibility for the environment must be equally shared between industry, government and individuals. As environmentalism continues to become more mainstream, the attention to waste will only increase.

It is not perceived as waste or junk if it is something someone wants. Cihosky points out an interesting difference between Americans and Canadians toward mail and catalogues. In the U.S., there is a huge proliferation of catalogues that end up in household mailboxes. There are about 13,000 catalogue titles in the U.S., and statistics show that this marketing overload often ends up in landfill. The Canadian outlook is different. First of all, the volume of direct mail in general is considerably less than in the U.S. with only 11 catalogue titles that regularly mail in Canada. Secondly, what is received is considered more relevant. Thirdly, Canadians do perceive that relative to other environmental drivers, mail and catalogues are seen as less harmful.

Environmental advocates are leading the charge toward green. One of the components of “green” relates to forest ethics and endangered forests. Advocates and consumers have developed a “nice” list with the following key elements:

• No endangered forest products
• FSC certification
• Recycled content
• Reduced emissions
• Paper reduction

An underlying factor that is most critical is that your green claims are not false, misleading or unsubstantiated. Consumers often don’t trust marketers’ claims of “green.” Print service providers can offer third-party audit endorsements through Chain of Custody FSC certification. Service providers can assist direct marketers with other critical environmental information. Cihosky notes that only

1% of Corporate Canada understands environmental regulations.

Another critical ramification is for direct marketers to be sure their lists are clean and correct. And, give consumers more control over what they receive by targeting mail only to individuals that will be most interested. Consumers are frustrated when mail is seen as wasteful. What is considered waste is direct mail that is poorly targeted with information that is not relevant, mail that is addressed to the previous owner or tenant or multiple pieces of the same mailing.

Though U.S.-based, Victoria’s Secret is a high-profile example of environmental action, the company was mailing one million catalogues daily, so it was certainly a major target for worldwide concern. At the time the company was identified for environmental transgression by advocacy groups, the paper for their catalogues came from boreal forest trees. As a result of the adverse attention, the catalogues are now printed on paper with a high recycled content that also qualifies as FSC certified. Victoria’s Secret is now an environmental leader.

Data hygiene – a golden opportunity

Statistics show that 15%-20% of Canadians move each year. Canada Post receives 1.1 million change of address requests annually – which translates to an estimated 65% of movers. If 35% of movers don’t inform Canada Post of their whereabouts are they informing the originators of their mail? Technology offers tools to determine address accuracy and to make address corrections. How many direct marketers use them and with what frequency? Data hygiene, says Cihosky, is an immediate golden opportunity. Is this a service print providers can offer to their clients? Canada Post studies show a considerable bottom-line impact.
What’s good for the environment is good for the bottom line

Canada Post has been identifying environmental issues that impact the mail industry. A research paper titled “The New Environmentalism” and tools to measure the impact direct mail has on the environment are available through www.canadapost.ca/green. Service providers can offer direct marketers the tools to refine and manage their lists, as well as other elements that deliver an environmentally-conscious product. Relevant content that also identifies an environmental benefit statement, delivered to a well-targeted list quickly demonstrates an increased return.

Recessionary economy retrains marketers

Cihosky describes our present economy as a “big elephant.” During times like these, money should be spent judiciously on what is manageable, measurable and accountable. Direct Mail can deliver all three. The volume of direct mail has tanked – for better and for worse. October 2008 was the tipping point for the marketing industry. Consider, says Cihosky, five strategies for marketing in a recession:

1. Keep your customers – existing customers are your best asset
2. Monitor your return on marketing spend – understand what media allows you to measure success
3. Invest wisely – identify your most qualified audience to deliver your message to a smaller group more frequently
4. Focus on a value proposition
5. Be compelling and relevant

According to Canada Post, Canadians welcome mail. It creates less pressure than other forms of media – it can be dealt with in the readers’ own time. Studies have shown that the rate of recall is high. Canada Post Marketing Research also shows that Canadians feel their personal information is at lowest risk when contained in advertising by mail versus telemarketing and email.

The average Canadian household gets 28.1 pieces of Direct Mail per week.

• 2.1 pieces addressed Admail
• 5.5 pieces unaddressed Admail
• 20.5 unaddressed print advertising

There is plenty of room for more.

Global warming may be a hard sell to Canadians with record snowfalls this past winter, but with spring upon us, we can look at what has already been achieved since the first Earth Days. Yes, there are two; first, the UN initiative founded in March 1969 by peace activist, John McConell and the more familiar Earth Day founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson as a “teach-in” in 1970 and celebrated in many countries in April.

Thirty-nine years ago this month, the environmental movement came of age in North America. When April 22, 1970 dawned, millions of Americans of all ages and from all walks of life participated in Earth Day celebrations from coast to coast. But, the precursor to this was Rachel Carson who must be credited with initiating the environmental movement. She raised awareness of environmental damage by pesticides and our responsibility to protect nature in her book The Silent Spring published in 1962. To quote Carson from one of her last interviews, “man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself‚Ķ[We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.”

From pesticides to smog and acid rain and ozone depleting substances and now green house gas emissions, we have created many deadly challenges for ourselves. Whether this is through ignorance, or greed or both, we have shown that we have the technology and intellect to reverse the damage – all we need is the will. The psychopath looks on without compassion at another’s demise; those who continue to perpetrate industrial pollution do so on a global scale to Mother Earth.

What has happened to the Great Lakes is an excellent example of what has been achieved already. In 1970, scientists told us that Lake Erie was dying and that the other Great Lakes were threatened by pollution from the steel plants, oil refineries, paper mills and city sewage plants, which had polluted the world’s largest fresh water system. Rivers were literally catching fire. By 1980, the lakes had won a stay of execution, thanks to an international effort between Canada and the U.S. Federal and Provincial legislation, notably the Clean Water Acts, have provided us with the means to control new threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Phosphorus levels, which once threatened the lakes with death by eutrophication, are declining. DDT is leaving the Great Lakes food chain faster than expected. Then, during the Mulroney government years, we dealt with the seemingly insurmountable acid rain problem killing our lakes and, again through joint Canadian U.S. initiatives, cleaned it up. Who talks acid rain now?

Think of our own industry achievements since the first Earth Day. We no longer have highly toxic substances in inks like lead oxide in white and chrome in yellow. Before WHMIS (1987), we had no effective way to know what was in chemical products. Methyl ethyl keytone, Toluene sulphonic acid, carbon tetrachloride, benzene and other carcinogens were common cleaning solvents damaging both ecosystems and employees. We were poisoning fish with silver thiosulphate from film processing, and through ignorance and the lack of sewer bylaws, pouring pollutants down the drain.

So long as the human race inhabits the Earth, sustainable management of its resources will be the most fundamental issue we face. That was the great lesson of Earth Day. It must never be forgotten. Have a great spring, enjoy the birds and say thanks to Rachel Carson.

“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.” – William S. Burroughs

As a business owner, are you weathering the economic turmoil with dignity and grace? Have you taken the steps to ensure your company’s continuing viability? Have you been able to maintain stability and the status quo? Are you ahead of all of this calamity? Or, are you one of so many who have been hit in the gut with assault after assault?

I think at the best of times, the life of a business owner is a lonely journey. It all comes down to decision making. As business owners, we make decisions without the benefit of perfect information, we evaluate the risks, calculate returns and roll the dice. It’s not so much a crapshoot as it is a tight rope act, balancing resources against competing forces to get to safe ground. You are judged by those around you based on the outcome of your decisions. If you succeed, it follows that you chose well, and you are a hero; if you fail, then it follows you chose poorly, and you are a zero. The truth is that you may have chosen well given the information and your evaluation; however, you will always be judged based on the outcome.

That outcome has repercussions for all of the people who depend upon your business, and, therefore, you have this larger audience to please. If the outcome is less than successful, perhaps catastrophic, through no fault of yours, it will be your burden alone to shoulder. It is said that success has many parents, but failure is an orphan. If your business is struggling right now, perhaps failing as you stand mired in fear and uncertainty, then that pain you feel is real. It is the assault on your self-esteem that comes first, then the loss of self-confidence and constant second-guessing, which can cripple you and pull you down faster.

As a business owner, surviving through this battle will be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do. I won’t soften it by offering trite cliches. There are no easy answers or easy fixes. Recovery is a process, whether it is recovery from illness or economic recovery. It requires dedication, direction and patience.

I think that the hardest thing for business owners experiencing economic uncertainty is to accept that it was not their fault. You were swept up by the same wave that caught everyone else. You can’t stop it, you can only ride it. You didn’t necessarily make any mistakes, but you find yourself here and you don’t know where to turn. The abject despair is magnified because you are a person on whom others depend and you have always provided, but now you are unable to do so. You can’t write the cheque and you don’t know where to find a solution.

It may not help you to know that you are not alone, but that is a reality. You are not a lone casualty floundering in a sea of success; rather, you are one of so many who have been caught, through no fault of your own, in a perfect storm.

You need to look at reasonable solutions that can carry you through this turmoil. If you have taken steps to protect yourself, perhaps by structuring your business and personal affairs defensively, then you are better off than most of the economic casualties. If you haven’t done that, now’s the time. Even with a train bearing down upon you, it is still infinitely better to step off the track, than to sit there and do nothing. If you do nothing under that particular scenario, you will get rolled over and the outcome is fairly certain, but if you make the slightest effort to remove yourself from danger, you live to fight another day.

It is important to avoid succumbing to panic. The poorest decisions are made in moments of haste without the benefit of analysis and deliberation. Even in business, there is a difference between economic suicide and economic death. Winding a business down gracefully will ensure that you can recover personally. Decisions made precipitously will cost you. There are so many benefits that may be generated by properly winding a business down that disappear when you look for quick answers. Those benefits may be carried over into your next enterprise, which at the moment may seem far off, but will endure and may yield significant savings and improve your cash flow as you move forward. The bottom line is don’t rush; don’t look for quick answers as they are generally not the best solution. Try to get a perspective of your options, and look to hang onto tax benefits and cash flow benefits of your former business, which may carry over into your new incarnation. You may feel broke now, but you are not broken. The only difference between who you were yesterday and who you are today, is your capacity to write a cheque.

While this article may seem dour, my wish is that you read hope in it. There’s always a solution, no matter how bad it appears.

The road to TAGA’s 61st Annual Technical Conference has been a long and bumpy one for the 2009 Ryerson TAGA Student Chapter. However, it was also a road filled with a lot of excitement, enjoyment and étouffée (good Nawlins food definitely goes a long way). This year’s Technical Conference was held in New Orleans from March 14 – 17 at the Hotel Monteleone.

The conference also provided students the opportunity to participate in various competitions including the Helmut Kipphan Student Publication Award and the Harvey Levenson Undergraduate Student Paper Competition. Seven student chapters attended this year’s conference. Out of these seven groups, RyeTAGA was the only chapter representing Canada! It was a truly humbling and remarkable experience for the RyeTAGA team to represent both Ryerson and Canada!

This journey began in April 2008. Since then, we (RyeTAGA) have planned and worked rigorously to produce another technical journal for the aforementioned student competitions. The group certainly encountered many challenges – too many to the point where it became a buffet of challenges! Several of the previous RyeTAGA members have graduated, and almost everyone in this year’s team, including myself, were experiencing the whole journal production process for the very first time. These challenges, however, proved to be blessings in disguise. They provided the team members and I with the greatest learning experience we could ever ask for in our university career.

So, after all the hard work, sweat and tears (of joy), we finally produced 250 journals, 600 multimedia discs, safely arrived at “The Big Easy” and got our game face on! This year, RyeTAGA’s Saleh Abdel Motaal was honoured with the Harvey Levenson Undergraduate Student Paper Award – an award previously rewarded to Zeinab Panahi (RyeTAGA’s current co-president). Aside from the competition aspect of the conference, it also offered so many great presentations.

I, along with my team, had the pleasure of listening to several notable presentations relating to the graphic arts industry, including presentations RyeTAGA’s very own Zeinab Panahi and Professor Martin Habekost. Professor Manfred Breede and Professor Rich Adams also contributed poster presentations to this year’s technical conference. Additionally, I found the topics explored in many of these presentations to be highly informative and relevant to what I am currently studying now in the School of Graphic Communications Management. These topics include the importance of adapting innovative technologies, achieving efficiency in production and the significance of sustainable development.

Not only was it a privilege to be exposed to all this research and latest findings, it was also great to see so many students participating at the event. As a student, attending the Annual Technical Conference poses a myriad of opportunities. The chance for one to network with key industry professionals and fellow students is right there at the TAGA conference. I took full advantage of this opportunity, and I’m glad I have done so.

Being given the chance to produce a technical journal, travel to New Orleans, listen to the many exceptional presentations and network with industry people have met and exceeded my expectations of what I hoped to get at this conference. I am sad that this journey has come to an end, but am absolutely happy to have taken part in this year’s RyeTAGA team! As a fourth-year student, I felt that this was the best way to end my post-secondary experience.

On behalf of RyeTAGA, I would like to thank all of our supporters who made it possible for our team to complete another successful journal this year. Embarking on this journey was, at first, seemingly impossible, but your generosity really helped us pull through. Your support was the key ingredient that truly allowed us to make all our plans a reality. We would specifically like to thank all of our sponsors for the funding, encouragement and the continuous support that they have shown RyeTAGA (for a complete list of our sponsors, please visit http://ryerson.taga.info). We would also like to thank the GCM community, both the faculty and the student body, for all their assistance in the journal production and funding. It was a real pleasure to be a part of RyeTAGA and good luck to next year’s team!

“How do I ask my customer?”

Think back to the days when you were about 12 years old. You really wanted to have some candy before supper, but your mom said no. If you were anything like me, the very next thing you did was run and ask daddy to see if he would say yes. Why is this important to you today?

When we have a question to which we know what we would like the answer to be, we have the skills and abilities to fish for it. However, what happens when you objectively want to know something? The truth is that you can make survey results say anything. How do you get the truth from your customers and prospects without influencing the outcome?

Who do you ask?

When we talk about surveys from the standpoint of statistics, the first consideration is always that you have to ask the right people. When you are able to ask everybody, you are using the population. Most of the time, however, you do not have access to everyone, and even if you did, not everyone would answer your survey. This is why we use a sample. You will often hear the term “representative sample” to describe a situation in which you take a piece of the population, and the results would be the same if you were to question the whole population.

If you know who your customers are, you can make sure that when you get your surveys back from a few of them that the responses represent all the non-respondents accurately. There are many biases that can alter these results. Let’s say, for example, that we wanted to know what our readers value about our magazine. Ideally, we would get responses from all of our readers. If we were perfect, we may even analyze non-readers to understand what is missing for them. Instead, we send surveys to everyone signed up to our email newsletter online. This would likely get us responses that indicate that our customers value online content. Perhaps, there would be a high percentage of individuals who work in prepress within the sample. That is, however, not a representative sample for our magazine. There may be many individuals who only receive and enjoy the print version of our magazine. In this case, we would never find out what they like about us.

Sampling goes back to the idea of asking mom first, then trying dad, except that we don’t recognize that we are altering results. It is very important to make sure that you understand as much about your population as possible. Make a list of customers that are likely to do business with you. Start sorting into business size, location, revenue, etc. At the end, you can say something along the lines of “my population (as best as I can describe it) is a small-to-medium size real estate company in the Winnipeg area.” From then on, every time you conduct a survey you think about how closely you match that sample. While there are statistical methods to help shape the sample to your whole population, you must also think about how the sample might affect your results.

What do you ask and how do you ask it?

The most important thing to understand about surveys is that people will not give you more than 10 minutes of their time to finish them. This means that the questions must give you the most bang for your buck without going past that amount of time. There are different types of questions you can ask your customers – but they should all be relatively painless to answer, otherwise you’ll get no responses, or even worse, inaccurate responses. For example, “how much did you spend on paper last year?” might work. “How much did you spend on recycled paper with 30% or more post-consumer waste?” will at best give you a guess. Unless you are paying your customers to fill out the survey, they won’t look it up.

Simple questions that require the customer to rate something on a scale fare very well. If you are using a Likert scale, or any kind of scale for that matter, it is best to tell the customer what the numbers mean. As a simple example, you can say 1 = strongly disagree, while 5 = strongly agree.

As a tip, if you know who the clients are, don’t ask them to re-describe themselves. Do the work to look it up for yourself. For example, don’t ask what they print, unless you don’t know. If you have a reasonable idea and have seen most of their work, don’t waste their time asking the question. In addition, be careful with dichotomous questions. As an example, we often ask people if they are male or female in surveys, while the answer may in fact be “other.” Creating your survey with a group of people really helps in that regard. The great thing about customer surveys is that we are all customers. Think about the things that you would want to be asked, and ask them.

In today’s market, client data is very valuable and surveys are highly cost effective. There is no need to spend thousands, or even hundreds of dollars, to survey your clients. When you are wondering about your population, you may look to purchasing market survey reports (ex. NAPL). When you have a good grasp of who you would like to know about, and have access to them, you can use online tools that are very cost effective. No more difficult than setting up an email account, you can use software to ask your questions. The list in the table above is just some examples to get you started. They are all user-friendly and cost effective. You can begin by practising in the office, then moving the surveys out to clients.

Happy surveying as I leave you with my favourite stats joke of all time: “75% of statistics are made up on the spot!”

The first question is how do we increase sales? Equally important is how do we increase margins? “Flocking” is a century old process that adds value to a printed sheet and improves profits. In the last three to five years, I have noticed an increase in its usage in the graphic arts industry. I have seen it on the front of two designer books, greeting cards, magazines and tickets.

What is flocking?
Flocking is a decorative process that gives images a raised, velvety look and feel. Occasionally, you will see it on t-shirts and wallpaper. As a designer or printer, you should be aware of what it is and how to use it as well as the features and benefits.

Flocking is the process of dropping millions of miniature fibres (called flock) on a wet patter-glued surface. The fibres can be rayon, polyester, silk or cotton – the most common is rayon. Whatever the kind of material, the fiber is as thick as a silk thread.

Described as simply as possible, sheets (as heavy as feasible up to 20√ó26) are printed in the normal process leaving the area required to be flocked blank (to allow better glue adhesion). These sheets are fed through a flocking machine, and glue is applied to the blank area. The flocking material (fibres) are dropped onto the glued surface. An interesting job produced approximately a year ago was 20 million flocked gift cardholders for Starbucks (see beige coloured card photo). This piece was flocked, diecut, glued with a gusset pocket and tucked in a flap. If you have bought or received a Starbucks gift card in its envelope, you have seen flocking.

Pantone colour matched flocking is available for an up charge of approximately $1,000. Doing two colours of flocking on one piece is feasible, but not advisable. Guillotine cutting, diecutting or mounting the flocked sheet after flocking can present some difficulties. In the near future, I suspect we will all see flocked pieces in the marketplace. Proactive designers and printers will make themselves aware of the process and will think of a multitude of new applications and, inevitably, make good margins.

When you think value added, when you think new, when you think the way most of your competitors don’t think and when you want to think of a way to increase your sales and margins, think flocking.