Remember the song “Video Killed the Radio Star?” I know it has been awhile and it’s probably now stuck in your head, but think about the meaning behind the song. Before TV, radio was the dominate medium throughout the country. Families would huddle around the radio to hear their favorite shows. However, as TV gained more popularity, the programming on TV and radio changed, but even though TV grew, radio never ceased to exist, it just adjusted.
The same can be said for the printing industry today. With every new piece of technology comes the notion that it will bring about the demise of the printing industry. Printing has been around longer than any other medium with printed pieces being traced back to ancient China. Print has even sustained through the dawning of the Internet and is still the preferred method of communication for a number of applications, including direct mail, brochures and books.
One of the most recent digital innovations considered a threat to the printing industry is the Kindle. The Kindle, a $250 electronic document reader from Amazon which allows users to buy and download books, has the potential to change the landscape of book reading. Yet, the printing industry is not reporting overall loses, but steady gains.
When it comes to marketing, a different strategy is being embraced – a strategy where printing has not been eliminated, but rather taken a turn towards greater targeting, more personalization, and smaller, more consistent runs for greater flexibility. Marketers are smarter about how they’re spending their budgets and printing today allows them to use their dollars more wisely, and for greater return on investment. Print is alive and well as an effective marketing tool, only the approach has surely changed.
Fluctuations in medium distribution will continue as new innovations come forward. Even as we talk about the Kindle’s potential threat to the print industry, there are whispers of its demise due to the iPad. The print industry is not going anywhere. I think it is safe to say that video did not kill the radio star and the Kindle will not end printing.
