Quad/Graphics

PI's longtime technology editor, Mark Smith, was a visionary who foresaw how the Internet would redefine the publishing and printing worlds. But, at age 51, Mark lost a six-month battle with mouth cancer on Jan. 21. His goal from day one was to lead our online efforts, including building www.PIworld.com from the ground floor and, subsequently, the launch of our daily e-newsletter.

Keeping an open mind, recognizing profit potential and identifying a point of entry was all the fodder that Quad/Graphics needed to embark on its mobile technologies platform, Interactive Print Solutions (IPS). Actually, it was a direct result of QIC (Quad Idea Catapult)—the company's innovation process management framework—vetting the technologies and creating IPS as a vehicle toward delivering mobile technologies to customers. It helps that Quad/Graphics CEO Joel Quadracci not only gave the endeavor his full blessing, but acts as an evangelist for the mobile technologies.

Commercial Printing Industry News Briefs from Printing Impressions’ January 2013 edition, including items on Quad/Vertis, AFL Web Printing, PBM Graphics, DMH Printing, Brown Printing, Press-Enterprise newspaper, Southeastern Printing and Arandell Corp/Schumann.

It's hard to believe that this marks the 29th anniversary of our annual Printing Impressions 400 list of the largest printers in the United States and Canada ranked by annual sales. The consolidation trend has intensified, albeit more from the result of shrinking print markets coupled with the economic fallout from the Great Recession.

Direct mail is still considered the marketing channel of choice by a vast number of marketers across verticals ranging from telecom and utilities to nonprofit, publishing and financial services. According to the Direct Marketing Association's “2012 Response Rate Report,” the rates for letter-sized direct mail (3.4 percent) were 30 times higher than those for email (0.12 percent). The belief that direct mail is dead or dying will have to be suspended for the time being.

Multichannel marketing continued to be the main focus for both publishers and catalogers in 2012, with the integration of print and electronic media being a key driver. As mobile technology such as smart phones and tablets gained more popularity, publishers continued to look for ways to monetize and incorporate them into their mix. The adoption of QR codes, pURLs and Augmented Reality applications also continued to grow.

If anything, the emergence of eBooks as an über niche tucked inside the book publishing space has provided more opportunities for the printing community to show off its diversity to publishing clients. Some of the nation's largest book printers have dug deep into their coffers to fortify printing capabilities and capacity, a sign of health despite an economy that refuses to break into full recovery model.