Print's Still Popular, Say Creative Professionals

Despite concerns about the Internet revolution, TrendWatch data indicates that print has not lost its luster among creative professionals. On the contrary, TrendWatch's historical database of surveys conducted in the design and production marketplace shows that print's popularity as a sales opportunity has soared, from 42% in 1996 to 62% today.

Eight years of data collected by TrendWatch reveal that print is the number-one sales opportunity among traditional creative professional markets. The data also indicates that advertising agencies are the most likely to cite collateral print as a top sales opportunity; this group is followed by graphic designers, but even a significant number of photographers vote collateral print jobs as a major sales opportunity.

A breakdown of the historical data by sales opportunity per print product category indicates that direct mail has shown a slow but steady increase over the last five years. Meanwhile, corporate identity projects have held steady over the same period, while annual reports and corporate brochure projects have been on a slow but steady decline, from 30% in 1996 to 19% today. Those products on the decline have lost share to electronic alternatives.