Print including garment and textile printing remains essential in marketing communications, according to an industry white paper that heralds a new campaign.
Screen printing and direct-to-garment digital printing are both cited as future opportunities for promotion and marketing in the new report, “A New Narrative for Print”, published alongside research by the IPIA (Independent Print Industries Association).
The white paper distils the findings of research by agency Madano into how the print industry is perceived by consumers and key print buying markets across metrics such as effectiveness, trust and sustainability through to the role of print within multi-channel marketing campaigns.
It highlighted the value of screen printing onto garments and other textiles, identifying “vocal” support for it as a print medium that is “delivering solutions”.
The white paper also picks up on advances in textile printing, especially wide format. “The developments in water-based inks, increased print speed and print mark definition is producing incredible high-quality, often on-demand, textile print”, it noted.
However, the white paper challenges the increasing absence of print generally in the marketing and communications decision-making process of potential print-buying markets.
To address this finding, the IPIA is launching a social media campaign, pointing to the role of print in people’s lives and its role to “embed messages in memory, establish long-term connection and enable consumer engagement”.
With the slogan of “Print Made This”, it aims to harness “simple, timeless human truths to get to the emotion, relevance and action that print inspires”.
The research examined user-generated social media content alongside news, forums, blogs and a range of digital media to provide the IPIA and its partners with clear points of knowledge that tell the story of print’s efficacy, how the industry can approach sustainability, together with the beneficial impact on culture, society and the arts.
Part of a long-term “transformative” project for the industry, the initiative is intended to “permanently shift the perception of print across an end-user and consumer audience”. The IPIA is working in partnership with its members Epson, Ricoh, Citipost Mail, Imprint MIS, Konica Minolta and The Printing Charity to drive the project forward.
Phil McMullin, head of sales commercial and industrial, at Epson UK, said: “Print is an innovative and sustainable business with a great future, important to the UK manufacturing industry both in terms of profit and the number of people employed. It’s clear to us at Epson that the future of the print industry relies on us being able to attract young people into the industry.
“We need to get the message about print across through education – getting the right information cascaded down to the right people who make the decisions. If we can change how end-users perceive print as creative, innovative and sustainable, that’s going to be a good thing for everybody.”
Tim Carter, commercial print director at Ricoh, added: “We believe print delivers a different, emotive outcome: it makes things happen, it enables decisions to be made. Print still remains unique in terms of its resilience, its permanence and trust.”
Alasdair Browne, vice chair of the IPIA and chair of its research subcommittee, concluded: “By obtaining an accurate picture of how the print industry and its products are perceived – and by identifying the most influential individuals and organisations driving these perceptions – the IPIA and its partners can develop a long-term strategy to strengthen the print market in the UK.”
