Preparation for The IPIA Village at The Print Show are in full swing, and we are set to have a fantastic group of members with us. Don’t forget that all members have complimentary tickets to our Networking Lunches on each day of the show from September 17th to 19th between 12.00 and 14.00.
A key highlight will also be a talk, ‘Change the Conversation’, by our very own Marian Stefani and IPIA Member Nutshell Creative’s Lucy Swanston at 14.45 on the 19th in the Business Seminar Theatre.
Marian has spent a large part of her career helping a spectrum of print-service-providers identify their core value and communicate it effectively to their customers. But she argues that it is not enough for individual print businesses to transform the conversation they have with their customers — it needs to go much further than that. In this session she will champion the critical need for the print industry to educate and reach out to buyers, encouraging them to re-engage with print and to better understand innovation in the industry and the real value print has.
Some print companies have done this well and have built strong relationships with their clients, helping them realise a better ROI on their print purchasing and marketing themselves as “solution providers”. But in general, the industry has been slow to respond and often tends to talk to itself.
Marian will highlight how the print industry needs to market itself as technically capable, innovative and clever; showcasing that print businesses are not just masters of production, but that diversification in production methods — and a whole raft of new techniques available to the end-user customer — have given them the opportunity to become creative consultants on how to add immense value to marketing communications.
With Marian having framed the opportunity for the print industry to embrace, she will then conduct a live interview session with Lucy Swanston. Having spent her career in the print industry and ‘changed the conversation’ for Nutshell Creative, her insights will be a rallying cry for closer collaboration between printers and marketing professionals, explaining how to open marketers’ eyes to the possibilities of print.
“It is high time print resumed its rightful place in the hearts and minds of marketers. Over recent years, an abundance of research has been conducted that reinforces the power of print, particularly when integrated with other media. Combine this with technological advances that facilitate a wealth of creativity and we have all the arguments we need to persuade advertisers to re-evaluate this versatile and engaging medium,”
She adds:
“I have always made it a practice in agency life to involve the printer in the creative process from day one. After all, they work every day with new innovations in finishing processes, paper stock and technology; their knowledge is invaluable. I cannot think of any better way to inspire new ideas—or to build trust and cement relationships.”
