The Unexpected Journey to Print Island
If you had asked me 30 years ago if I would become a commentator and speaker in the Print Industry, I would have laughed. For all that time, I imported wine in to the UK and sold it to restaurants and hotels. When I introduced private labels for those establishments in 2005 and subsequently personalised labels as gifts in 2007, I still thought I was in the drinks business.
I started to design and print labels for corporate clients and online retailers around 2010 and by 2013, I was running the largest personalised label gift business in the UK. As a result of this success, I was approached in 2013 by Coca-Cola to deliver the ShareaCoke campaign across 14 countries in Europe during which we labelled 1.6 million individually personalised bottles of Coke in just 3 months.
The Moment of Realisation
Out of the blue, an invitation to speak at a Dscoop conference in the UK, dropped in to my inbox. I’d never done any public speaking before, but I accepted the challenge and shortly after my 30 minutes on stage I was interviewed by a print magazine and their first question was ” How long have you been in the print industry? “. Of course I laughed and said ” oh no, I’m in the drinks industry and have been for 30 years “. Quick as a flash, the reporter replied ” but you’ve been designing labels, printing them and applying them to bottles since 2005…I think you are in the print industry!”
And so began the next act of my working life…
Discovering the Print Community
I’ve been fortunate to be a speaker and commentator in the print industry ever since and I exited the drinks business in 2016 to focus on the wonderful world of print. Along the way, I discovered the most innovative, collaborative and intuitive bunch of people you could ever meet. I kept asking why the wider world of brands and agencies, with whom I’d worked on personalised campaigns with for 10 years, knew virtually nothing about print?
And then I discovered the one talent that eludes pretty much all print companies, communication. They just don’t tell the world well enough what they are capable of and in doing so add fuel to the ” Is Print Dead? ” debate that we are constantly hearing.
The Print Island Speech
In 2018, I did a speech at a print trade show in Brussels called ” The Adventures on Print Island “, a challenge to the industry who I ventured all lived on the same island, knew everyone on the island, spoke to everyone on the island giving the impression of communication BUT..they never left the island!
The speech went down well, the event host, Morten Reitoft of Inkish fame, even said that I had identified the main barrier to growth for the industry.
Print is Tech - But Doesn't Know It Yet
How much easier would it be to attract the next generation of printers and customers if the existing business focussed more on effective and broader communication?
Fast forward 7 years and a chance conversation at a print trade show in Dubai with the legend of marketing that is Chris Minn of Digital Ink. There was something missing in print media, a yawning gap in the market for a new and innovative approach. We put our heads together at the place where all good conversations in the industry happen, the bar!
The Media Opportunity
Most, if not all, print media is financed by the major players in the industry, the manufacturers and dealers of all hardware and software. This media is therefore a vested interest and as a result, is rooted in sales or marketing speak. There was no independent print media, nobody looking under the hood of the vehicle and checking what the manufacturers were telling us about performance and reliability and if it was true or not.
There was a trade show industry (post covid) desperate to survive and as a result, taking more money off less people and a printing industry battling headwinds from every direction. In addition, there was seemingly no place for them to talk with peers about their shared challenges.
Creating the Solution
If it doesn’t exist you have to create it, so Print Island was born. We have assembled a group of highly professional and experienced print professionals from every continent as your guide to the industry as it truly is
Print Island can be many things to many people;
- A global print community to share stories, read stories and hear stories from around the industry.
- A forum to discuss shared challenges, ideas, opportunities and perspectives on the ever changing nature of global print.
- A place for blogs, podcasts, product reviews and our flagship YouTube show featuring guest hosts and interviews with leading industry players from every continent.
- Print Island is not sponsored and won’t use paid for content so it is 100% independent and authentic. It is a simple subscription model with a flat price around the world making it accessible to all and funded by viewers not by salesmen.
Welcome to Print Island 🌴
With the ease of one click, you will gain access to a unique place for printers to talk to printers around the world without ever needing to leave your home …welcome to Print Island.
Richard Askam
Creator
Print Island
