The Intersection of Branding and Packaging

examples packaging and iconic branding

Packaging is designed to contain, protect, and transport products.  Packaging provides a fourth purpose – to inform the consumer.  The information on a package can be a deciding factor during the 7 seconds an average consumer spends to make a purchase decision.  Approximately 70% of shoppers are influenced by packaging to some extent.  The package […]

Timing is Everything When Educating Customers About Print Marketing

Educating Customers about print marketing for print sales success

Timing. Is. Everything. Do your print customers know this? Do they know the clock is ticking? Do they know that time is flowing and tomorrow things may look very different?  Are you prepared to educate them so they can get time on their side? Then and now.  I help a friend sell ads for our […]

The Compound Benefit of Raising Your Rates

“Marilee is distraught,” said my friend, “So I gave her your name.” My friend’s boss, Marilee, published a highly-targeted magazine, printed and mailed to a paid subscriber base. She wanted to talk to me not about her readers but about her advertisers.  Marilee had not raised her advertising rates — ever — although all her […]

3 Takeaways from HOW Design Live to Help You Connect with Print Customers

HowDesignLive_title_Print Media Centr

Last week I attended my first HOW Design Live thanks to the fine folks at The Association for Print Technologies (APTech) who helped me secure a press pass. Attending a HOW event has been a dream of mine since my advertising days. HOW magazine was (and I assume still is) a must-read to stay current on […]

Tales From The Trail: #ProjectPeacock Saddles Up for Digital Print in Austin, Texas

Miralupa AR Project Peacock Print Media Centr

After successful meetings in 2017 with over 300 professional print buyers and creatives in NYC, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Project Peacock saddled up and launched our 2018 tour last week in Austin, Texas. Me and my Peacock partners Canon Solutions America, Domtar Paper, Scodix and Miralupa, had 3 fantastic days of visits sharing printspiration with […]

5 Reasons Why Printers Will NEVER Get Inside an Advertising Agency

calling on ad agency-print-media-centr

Greetings Citizens of The Printerverse. It’s me… though today I’ve swapped-out my Intergalactic Ambassador antennae for my Print Buyerologist hat while I am writing this post. We are 41 days into 2018 and I have been keeping track of the meaningful vs. meaningless marketing material and “cold-call” emails from printers and suppliers that flood 4 […]

2018 CMYK MANIFESTO: PROVIDING THE PRINT EXPERIENCE

2018 CMYK Manifesto print media centr

The following topics are over and done with in 2018: SHRINKAGE! There is less print in the world. Deal with it. Darwin called it “Survival of the Fittest.” Your biz, and the communications you produce or create have to be optimized for effectiveness at all times, or you will become extinct. SAVE A TREE? Psst… […]

2017 Survey Says: Print Buyers Need Time and Have Money

2017_print-media-centr_print buyer survey_Time

Greetings Citizens of the Printerverse! This post is about results from my 2017 Print Buyer Survey. The survey background info can be found here. If you haven’t read it please do that first, it will be helpful. Additional results can be found in this post: 2017 Print Buyer Survey Says: When it Comes to Driving Print Sales, Stay in […]

GCSF Scholarship Winner Natalie Alcide on Print, Design and Industry Mentors

Andy and Natalie at the GCSF Spring Fling-print-media-centr

“This is the best industry in the world.” Those were the words of Natalie Alcide, a young graphic communications student and valedictorian of her class at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech). If you’re an elder in your professional tribe, you’re doing your duty when your heirs speak in this way. I […]

How 1970s Brands Influenced a Generation Through Print Packaging

Forty years is a long time for a brand — primarily through print packaging and some silly songs — to sustain a consumer’s attention and loyalty. It hardly seems possible. Yet the print packaging of my husband’s childhood is what guides him, to this day, through the aisles of the grocery store. He does his […]

More Than Diversity – A Layer Above Personalization

Solages_Diversity_print media centr

Whenever I’ve discussed cybersecurity and information security with clients or team members, I’ve often returned to how security should be considered during the initial design and implementation of technical infrastructure and processes. It can’t be an afterthought where an organization just buys a fancy system a vendor promises will keep them safe. That’s what I […]