Daniel is a widely respected designer, creative director, educator and speaker in the design community. He has written articles for Communications Arts, Step, and Signature, and I can attest first-hand that his engaging presentation was packed with useful information and expertise.

He started the talk by addressing the fact that the means of communication in even the last 3–5 years has been, and still is, constantly changing. The use of the internet and social media have obviously changed the way we communicate and have replaced much of the traditional media, namely print. Duh, right? Honestly, at this point in the presentation, I thought Daniel–being a “paper guy”–was simply going to make an empty case to keep printing going in an effort to sell paper. But he didn’t. He presented a strong case for using print successfully in combination with technology, backed by research and sometimes surprising statistics. He called out the print industry, saying that one of the reasons that so much market share has gone elsewhere is due to the fact that for hundreds of years the printed word has been the main vehicle of communication in the world and our arrogance has kept us from adapting. If we had only made strides to evolve to keep up, acknowledge the changes and accept them, print would play a much larger role in communications today.

So why use print today? Some reasons (Daniel
supported all of these reasons with research):

• Print evokes the highest emotional response
  This has always been my go-to argument. There’s nothing like getting a new magazine or book and opening it the first time, revealing it’s content. It’s holding the piece in your hand, feeling it’s weight and seeing the contrast of the printed word on paper. So much is communicated through that tactile experience. You feel texture, varnish, embossing. No digital media can come close to replicating this experience.
• Print, combined with technology, is THE most effective way to reach an audience
  Market research has shown that direct mail, combined with a social networking effort is now the best way to communicate to your target audience. Just a couple years ago, Daniel said, the most effective way was direct mail combined with a website.
• Print is the most engaging medium
  Most people, when they engage with a print piece, give it more dedicated attention when compared to other media. For example, when you read your mail, you’re focused on the content. When you read a book, you’re focused on the content. It’s more common for someone, like myself, to be on the computer reading content with the TV in the background or carrying on a conversation.
• Print is the most trusted medium
• Print has the highest ROI
  
• Print has the best retention rate

(Sidebar: I’m hoping to get a copy of Daniel’s presentation soon so that I can post the statistics supporting these facts)

So how can print adapt in today’s market?

Here’s just a few examples Daniel gave on how print can be used in new ways:

• Newspapers
  Everyone thinks newspapers are dead. While it is obvious that subscriptions to the printed newspaper are way down and newspapers have shifted much of their efforts to online, there seems to be a revolution afoot. This revolution is already taking place in Europe where newspapers are highly read, accepted and trusted. This “new” paper is pretty different than the traditional one we know. It is printed not on newsprint, but on a #4 coated sheet. It is journal size instead of tabloid. It contains relevant data, not yesterday’s news. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the US…
• QR (Quick Response) Codes
  You’ve probably seen these around. After downloading an app to your phone, you can snap a photo of these codes, and they will push information to you such as a website url. Apparently Europe and Asia are light years ahead of us in this realm as software comes preloaded on phones there. Restaurants are posting these outside so potential patrons can immediately get the menu, specials for the day and most recent reviews. Daniel told of another brilliant use of these codes: Harrod’s, the department store in London, put these codes next to each of the items in their display windows that would take customers directly to a web page for that specific item where they could view colors, sizes available and buy the product right there. Brilliant, right? Daniel also said that there has been much success in using these codes on direct mail pieces since there’s only so much room for information in direct mail.
• Augmented Reality
  Ok, I had heard of this and seen some examples, but it’s still blowing my mind. See the black box that Robert Downey Jr. is sitting on in the Esquire cover pictured to the right? Basically, when you hold this box up to your computer or laptop’s camera, it plays a video. Rotate it 90 degrees, it plays another video. Esquire had a total of 4 boxes in the magazine (16 videos) including one box with videos for each of a fashion designer’s spring, summer, winter and fall collections. Beautiful.
• Customized Magazine Content
  Maybe the most mind-blowing example that Daniel gave was a site that doesn’t exist anymore due to overwhelming response. It was a survey site that had you rank your top five magazine choices out of 8 well-known titles including Sports Illustrated, Real Simple, TIME, and a few others. The magazines represented a wide range of target demographics. After ranking them, you’re given a survey of 25 very unconventional questions such as, “Do you sing out loud while driving?”. After all of your answers are compiled, the system takes that data and basically custom-creates a 36-page, digitally printed magazine that pulls articles that would interest you from all 8 magazines. I need this. Bad.

Conclusion
I went into this talk thinking it would be a rallying cry for the print industry. In a way it was, but I came out of it inspired to think more about how print can be used effectively for the clients I work with when it is combined with the internet, social or other media. I also came out of it knowing that print is not dead, it could just use a little resuscitation and maybe a little willingness to change on our part.

And what about this kid, Shaun White? I know that everyone is talking about him and how good he is, but man. He’s IS good. I thought one of the commentator’s lines summed it up well when they said something to the effect of, “Shaun White is loved in the snowboard world, and your mom likes him too.” While this statement may sound odd out of context, it communicated to me how big of a “brand” this kid has become. When I think of top sports figures who I would consider to be big brands, I think of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods* (you know what the asterisk means). While White’s estimated net worth ($90 mil) is nowhere near that of Woods and Jordan, it is amazing to think of where he’s at while in a sport that isn’t as mainstream as the NBA or PGA. He is the greatest snowboarder of all time. His sponsorships include Burton Snowboards, AC Retro, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse, Park City Resort, Target, Red Bull, Adio, and HP. Not to mention he has his own video game. His signature red flowing hair adds to the aura of who he is. If a brand is defined by perception, Shaun White’s brand continues to grow.

It was quite interesting to sit in the meeting and try to process the data from our client’s perspective. Presentations of these kind sometimes seem to produce some uneasy feelings from the client because in most cases you’re telling them where their brand is failing.

We explain to our clients that brand’s communication components involve a brandmark (or logo) as the foundation, and a series of touchpoints. A touchpoint is any way that a potential consumer could interact with the brand, whether it be a business card, website, signage or brochure. We tend to take a holistic view when we discuss a project with a client. For example, if a client asks us to build them a new website and the current brandmark does not effectively communicate the desired message, a new website is not going to solve this problem and in most cases is a waste of resources. However, if a client has a beautifully crafted brandmark and successful touchpoints, but the product or service they offer is poor, the brand will still suffer. Our strength is seeing the bigger picture, developing a plan and delivering exceptional execution of the plan.

At FORGE, we strive to work with companies that offer exceptional products and services, because there are no limits to how the work we do can help to advance the brand.

When you think about this from a branding perspective, kids are bombarded daily with so many messages. My two year old is just to the point where he’ll see a commercial on tv, say “I want that,” THEN see that product in a store and recognize it. He points out every McDonald’s (or, as he says it, McDongal’s) restaurant we drive by and knows that’s where he gets the coveted happy meal. He’ll even see a Nike swoosh, mention the nike golf ball I gave to him several months ago and say, “Tiger Woods uses Nike golf balls”. Okay, I’m the guilty party on that one…

Here’s some stats on kids and commercialism from newdream.org:

• Advertising directed at children is estimated at over $15 billion annually ? about 2.5 times more than what it was in 1992.
• Over the past two decades, the degree to which marketers have scaled up efforts to reach children is staggering. In 1983, they spent $100 million on television advertising to kids. Today, they pour roughly 150 times that amount into a variety of mediums that seek to infiltrate every corner of children?s worlds.
• A task force of the American Psychological Association (APA) has recommended restrictions on advertising that targets children under the age of eight, based on research showing that children under this age are unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and unbiased.

The entire article can be viewed here.

It’s a bit scary to think about how much impact marketing has/can have on kids. It can affect their attitude, whether or not they’re accepted by their peers, and their self-esteem. I’m certainly more aware of the techniques being used now that I have kids of my own. And “McDongal’s” is getting a lot more of my money too!