Industry Insights: Adapt and Thrive

Less common, but equally welcome as a sign of evolutionary thinking, is an awareness of the potential of cross-media elements such as Quick Response (QR) codes: although only 18.2 percent of service providers have integrated such features into creative designs, 13.1 percent are working on it and 20.4 percent plan to. According to one respondent, they were totally ignorant of interactive components less than 12 months ago but now offer QR code integration and website development to clients as a matter of course.

Differentiation from competitors is a key element in breaking out of the price-driven, commodity print business, and a significant number of businesses regard certification in international color standards as a means to do this—24.1 percent are already certified, and 42.9 percent are either in the process of gaining certification or planning to do so.

From my perspective, research like this contributes substantially to our community’s grasp of the commercial dynamics that impact our sector and each business in it. It shows that the majority of print service providers do see the need for exploration and innovation. It also underlines FESPA’s vital role in helping printers channel technology, creativity, and service to meet their clients’ changing needs.

Our team will be using this research, together with the market information and feedback we gather from our worldwide exhibitions and summits, to ensure that we continue to deliver events that help printers along this ‘evolutionary road.’ That’s our mission at FESPA Mexico 2011, which takes place in Mexico City (Augsut 18-20, 2011), and—looking a little further ahead—at the second FESPA Americas show, already scheduled to come to Miami, FL, from March 1-3, 2012.

See you there!