Promote the power of print. This is the cry of The Print Council, a not-for-profit business-development initiative dedicated to promoting print media. One of its goals is to educate advertisers about the inherent pull power of the printed image.

The organization behind the initiative is funded primarily by the vendors: Kodak, Xerox, Agfa, Heidelberg USA, MAN Roland USA, Sun Chemical, International Paper and more. Other members include large commercial printers such as Quad Graphics and Sandy Alexander. Educational organizations and graphic arts publishing companies are also involved, such as GATF, NAPL, Cygnus Business Media and North American Publishing. There are also a number of agencies who donate their time. They include Leo Burnett USA, Bradford & Maloney and my very own Group M Inc., among others.  

You can find the complete members list at www.theprintcouncil.org. The reason I am listing so many of them here is to demonstrate the obvious absence of any newspapers. And if anyone is in a position to benefit from promoting print, it is you, the everyday producer of the printed page. So here is my plea: Go upstairs and tell your boss how joining The Print Council can help your company to sell lots more advertising. How will it do that? Read on.

Advertising to advertisers

The Print Council has launched a series of ads directed at marketing executives. They are running in publications such as Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek. The headlines include “Double your online success. Just add print.” And “Generate an extra $3,300 per person. Just add print.”

The Print Council is also launching a pilot program with the U.S. Postal Service that stimulates the use of print media through an event, then providing case studies to show the effectiveness of print.

Gathering the facts

This includes building a portfolio of success stories, not only from members who can quote returns from print advertising, but from renowned organizations such as the Direct Marketing Association. The DMA compiles compelling statistics about print, one of which is the dramatic rise in the effectiveness of all other media when combined with print.

The Print Council is preparing a knock-your-socks-off presentation for print and ad sales people that flaunts the facts and demonstrates the effectiveness of print. This will be something no ad rep should be without.

Evidence that the facts work

In the Sept. 12 online edition of BtoB Media Business, Marie Griffin explained how publishers are using statistics to increase print advertising. Pennwell Publishing, for example, uses Baxter Ad Effectiveness Studies to show competitive advertiser scores. When Penwell presents the scores to advertisers, it uses the opportunity to highlight readership profiles. Then it gives the advertisers with the highest scores an award. According to Pennwell, with their competitive juices flowing, advertisers really take notice.

Griffin also encourages publishers to test digital and print editions. She says it will help you make the case for print. She gives the example of publisher 101communications, which released an independent study of 75,000 print and digital subscribers to four of its titles. It showed that print and digital readers behave similarly and respond to ads equally well.

Your role in The Print Council

It’s a no-brainer. The Print Council is a natural for newspaper publishers. With your involvement, The Print Council will work to develop tools that are designed specifically to attract newspaper advertising. Become a member of an organization with your goals in mind. And support the power of print.

For more information about membership, you can contact me at rmonaco@groupm.org or David Humphrey at d.humphrey@bmcorp.com.

Rosemarie Monaco is the president of Group M Inc., a marketing communications and consulting firm specializing in the graphic arts. Send comments and questions to rmonaco@groupm.org.