All the times I have been in-between Agencies and Freelance jobs, I have day-dreamed about becoming a Gun For Hire Print Production Auditor – I know, kinda print geeky and not as many travel perks as an astronaut, which was second on my day-dream job list. My plan was I to go into a company and review all the Print estimates FROM Advertising Agencies before they approved them, and my fee would be 10% of what I saved them each quarter. I figured it wouldn’t take long before I could sip tropical drinks on my yacht if I found a few high volume clients since I know where the Agencies bump up costs and such. I would also have a chance to help companies print smarter, which I always associate with them being able to print more.
This is how I totally see this IPG/Pitney Bowes Initiative. Helping clients save money on print so they can do more projects is a good thing! It’s a fact that traditional media marketing dollars have been cut and allocated to social, mobile and digital efforts by every major brand out there, and they aren’t increasing their budgets to make this happen. Consolidating print buying and putting 5-15% back into those budgets means more projects are possible. Some of those projects might be print projects, some may not, but the alternative is not having the money to do any. And the notion that clients will keep those savings vs reinvest into marketing is pretty funny to me… anyone know of a Marketing department that RETURNS money to Corporate and essentially proves they don’t need as much to operate the following quarters?
We don’t want our industry to become Costco, and having worked at many IPG agencies there is no way they will lead that charge. IPG has always been my favorite to work for and has some really creative shops in their network. They won’t support dumbing down the work to save the client a buck, and with better spending resources and management in place for their clients they will have the opportunity to utilize print in a manner that will help all us us remain relevant.
ps… if anyone from IPG or Pitney Bowes is reading this Im ready to help!
Interpublic Launches Unit Focused on Lowering Print Costs
By: Rupal Parekh
The Orion Holdings unit of Interpublic Group of Cos. has spun off a unit that, in partnership with Pitney Bowes, will focus on leveraging the ad holding company’s global print spend to pass on savings for its clients.
Robert Hoad will oversee the unit as its global managing director, reporting to Orion Holdings Worldwide President-CEO Brian McMahon. Mr. Hoad’s background is in purchasing and procurement, and prior to Interpublic he spent time at retailer Marks & Spencer and Barclay’s Bank.
While social-media and digital-marketing channels are sucking up ever-larger portions of client-marketing budgets, a significant amount of ad spending is still devoted to printed marketing materials, particularly in certain markets in Asia or in Africa, Mr. Hoad said. Interpublic is now dangling as a carrot to clients the notion of cost-savings on print, which they can in turn either keep or reinvest in other marketing activities.
Asked what sort of cost savings could be attained on printed materials, Mr. Hoad said the “potential range, albeit very wide, is between 5% and 15%.”
Continues at: Interpublic Launches Unit Focused on Lowering Print Costs | Agency News – Advertising Age.
