Reversal Of Fortune for Print

A number of years ago, I attended a web design seminar and listened as the presenter foretold the demise of print. It would, he predicted, be replaced by electronic and technical innovations including PDAs, smart phones and Bluetooth technology. To illustrate his point, the speaker used business cards. When the presenter asked how many of the attendees used printed business cards, the response was unanimous in the affirmative.

However, many in the audience admitted to either tossing or losing business cards. While the speaker saw that as an opportunity for electronic devices, it became clear to me that the business card needed to be re-invented to become more effective. That drove me to found my company, Capture Business Cards. Our product, Capture Card, is a business card paper with pressure-sensitive adhesive on the reverse side. Business cards can now double as peel-and-stick labels. This is one printed product not likely to be replaced by an electronic counterpart in the near future.

The general media often reports on print-based communication being eliminated by electronic forms, but in reality print is evolving as well. Advances in technology are allowing printers to make the medium both a formidable competitor and an ally that complements other communications tools.

While there is no denying that the Internet, e-mail, webcasts, podcasts and blogs have all brought speed and efficiency as communication vehicles, we are witnessing a rather curious reversal of fortune between electronic and printed mediums. I would argue that the Internet and e-mail have actually increased the use of and demand for printed materials, rather than replaced it as predicted in the 1990s and early turn of the century.

A large percentage of print work is specified and purchased via the Internet. The very technology that was going to kill print is now a killer application for driving sales, reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Allowing customers to buy and specify print online, combined with the ability to produce shorter runs cost effectively, has rejuvenated print. The combination of the web and database tools, along with the Internet, is yielding a powerful tool to advance variable-data print work. Carefully mined marketing data is now regularly used to produce printed direct mail that targets individual recipients with more relevant offers that generate response rates in the double-digits.

Another potential print killer turned ally is Adobe's PDF or Portable Document Format. PDF began as part of the dream of the paperless office, an internal project at Adobe. Originally, PDF was developed to create a file format that would allow documents to be electronically transmitted throughout the company and displayed on any computer using any operating system. Fifteen years later, PDF is the industry standard for creating printed materials rather than replacing them.

Why is print still viable? Because many forward- thinking companies embraced change, rather than accepting the prophecies of doom. These firms have used technology wisely and to the benefit of the industry at large. We can often look back at predictions with some amusement. I'm sure that the death of print—and business cards—will be one of them.