'Market of One,' to a 'Market of Millions'

Printing is a study both in contrasts and extremes. To begin with, what other activity is called at the same time a capital-intensive industry and a communications medium, a technology-based science requiring craft skills and a business profession demanding keen management talents.

And just look at the extremes in terms of the output: there are the great daily and weekly quantities of newspapers, magazines, and other printed matter, so common and ubiquitous that few people outside the field give it a second thought, and then a continual, fevered pursuit to create a single, customized copy for a single, unique individual.

So, a "market of millions" meets a "market of one" under the same communications umbrella. But this simple example also contains the enormous versatility of the medium, its utility in serving–in an economical, timely, and effective way–the needs of many millions or of a single person. But there's another kind of versatility at work, print's ability to have widespread but cost-effective impact at the one extreme and limited-use, high-value impact at the other. It's in the latter arena that newer, market-of-one approaches really shine.

This is the sweet spot where database records of recipients' preferences and interests are most valuable; where response-rate studies are instrumental in everything from concept to production; and where digital presses are the ready solution.

Although market-of-one printing is still tiny and very much in its infancy, there are big growth rates and high impact scores, and exploration and investments continue, especially in the marketing of high-ticket items such as cars, homes, and furniture.

In this quest to customize print for a single need or purpose, we can lose sight of the fact that, for a very long time, print did extremely well in serving the needs and purposes of the great masses, huge communities of people in a geographic region or demographic group.

And it still does.

When we speak about production extremes, we frequently end up talking about rotogravure, the age-old, intaglio method that utilizes chromed copper cylinders; very large and complex systems for prepress, press, paper handling, and bindery; and long, long runs.

Regrettably, few people in the printing industry ever visit a rotogravure plant. Not long ago, on a business trip to Italy, I had just such an opportunity. It had been years, of course, but I found that very little had changed. The shortest run? Conceivably, about half-a-million copies, but from a practical standpoint, really still a million copies.

Sure, plants in the United States, with a higher emphasis on demographic versioning, produce somewhat smaller runs, but the process is still the long-run option. And in Italy, as in Europe, where rotogravure remains a much-utilized process, the emphasis is still not on versioning but on producing the exact same copy of the newspaper, magazine, or periodical, from the beginning of the run to the end.

This coexistence of long- and short-run processes ensures print's long-term viability as a communications medium.

I want to call your attention to page 28 in this issue. It is the announcement that Earl W. Wilken has stepped down from his long-time position as associate editor of GAM. In gratitude for his service and in deep respect for his work and talents, we all bid him farewell and all the best. He's been a great colleague, a tireless editor, a catalyst for change and improvement, and best of all a friend. We already miss him.