End of Print-Centric Buyers —Dana
We're so focused on the evolution of the printing industry—and how printers must change to remain (or become) relevant—that we are overlooking a major class of industry professionals who are just as affected by the same business trends: print buyers.
I'm talking about professionals in companies large and small, including agencies, whose primary responsibility has historically been the sourcing and managing of their company's printed materials.
They are the backbone of the creative team (yes, I'm biased), the go-to people within corporate communications departments, the Jacks- and Jills-of-all-trades who can answer questions about mailing regulations and sustainable printing definitions as easily as they can impress their boss with their knowledge of varnish techniques.
You know them by a host of titles, including Print Buyer, Production Manager, Publications Manager and Purchasing Manager. Already, these titles are changing. I've noticed a trend over the past two years to more, shall we say, modern titles. I'm seeing Print Procurement/Supply Chain Managers, Production Analysts, Procurement Specialists, and Project and Planning Managers. Call them what you will; they count print sourcing among their growing responsibilities.
Fewer and fewer print customers have "print" in their titles. Looking at the titles of registrants we already have for our 5th Annual Print & Media Conference this November (www.printbuyersconference.com), I can tell you that only 18 percent do.
Mariah Hunt, senior production manager at Digitas, spoke of the shift in names at the agency. "We are called 'print producers' here. No more production or print production managers. We also use the term 'offline' to differentiate ourselves from the 'online' crowd."
Irreversible Trend
As offset printing declines in business usage, fewer full-time professional print buyers are needed. In an online survey I conducted early this year among print buyers who were laid off due to the economy, 36.6 percent of the 134 respondents reported that 100 percent of their duties had been related to printing, and another 30 percent indicated that about 75 percent of their duties had been print related.
This is representative of what's happening nationwide. The significance is huge: Print buyers whose primary responsibility is print-centric are most at risk for job loss.
When asked how the print-related work would be handled in their absence, nearly 50 percent of our survey participants reported that their work would be reassigned to other print buyers on staff. Secondarily, some companies (13 percent) would reassign the print-buying duties to designers. (This fascinated me. Not only was most of the work kept in-house, but it meant that the work was not outsourced to brokers or print management firms.)
I predict that full-time print buyer positions eliminated in the recession will not come back, regardless of the economy. The decline in print, coupled with the skyrocketing popularity and adoption of newer digital media, is forever changing the role of the print buyer.
The dramatic shifts in communications media mean that heretofore "print buyers" have the chance to expand their talents and capabilities far beyond print. Limits don't exist anymore. Those who have spent years honing their print manufacturing knowledge are heading down a brave new path.
Here's what I know: The role of corporate print buyer is evolving and will evolve for several years, much like the role of the commercial printing company. Where buyers once "majored" in print manufacturing, they'll have to expand their skills and knowledge beyond print. Businesses are communicating via multiple media, including mobile apps, social media, augmented reality, QR codes, blogs, Websites and so on. Print still plays a role, but often a minor one. Developing a firm's strategies for cross-media applications and deployment will take a team of professionals, including yesterday's print buyers. They will become media facilitators.
Deborah Corn, COO at Print Media Centr, agrees that the role will change drastically. "In 10 years, I don't think 'Print Buyer' will be an independent position. I believe the integration between the print world and the digital world will be in full effect and the 'Media Managers' will oversee all multi-channel components, and the purchases associated with them, barring the actual purchases of advertising space."
Jim Derochea, the vice president of key accounts in client services for PPI Solutions, and a former corporate print buyer with decades of experience, wrote, "Print buying will continue to evolve into more of a multi-channel buying realm. I believe that the standard will be for 'Print Buyers' to manage the deployment of congruous messaging, across various channels 'tomorrow' rather than deploying one message across one channel (print) as we have for so many years.
"Print will not die. Overall volume may be reduced and more diversified, but will likely be used in the communication mix in new and different ways than we have become accustomed to," Derochea adds. "The 'Print Buyer' will not only have to be knowledgeable in the other channels, but will also need to learn and adapt to the innovative new ways that print (and the other channels) will be incorporated into the communication mix.
"The next 10 years will feature vast changes and evolution of communication techniques and protocol, which will be challenging to keep up with. But for those who embrace this and expand their knowledge and skill base, it is likely going to be a very exciting time!"
For some buying pros, the evolution has been in the works for a long time. Take Mike Santasiero, offshore production manager for Thomasnet.com at Thomas Publishing. "In children's book production, this evolution started 10 years ago. I had to learn the production processes for plush toys, printing on various substrates, different methods of plastic production, sound chips, lenticulars, packaging, and the list goes on. We also had to learn to process our scans so that they can be usable when either shrinking the trim or blowing it up by a certain percentage—since gaining access to original art years later can be dicey sometimes.
"So I can foresee more of that evolution happening for production pros as the publishing paradigm grows, diversifies and evolves," he says. "A production professional will have to be 'platform agnostic' in making things happen, whether the destination is a printed piece, Web publishing, e-book platform (whatever that will be), video, audio, ancillary merchandise, holograms or whatever else is thought up in terms of format."
"We no longer use the term print buyer in my office," notes Blair Weidig, SVP, production services at LehmanMillet. "The job is evolving, and if one is to stay current, the print buyer had better learn some new technologies. Just as it's important to stay abreast of new printing technologies, it's now more important to stay current with mobile, social media and other new media. …A traditional print buyer now has a much broader role than ever before, and if we play our cards right, that role will continue to expand. The print buyer has evolved into a media mentor, ensuring that all campaigns work in all media."
Changing Definitions
Daniel Dejan is the North American ETC print and creative manager for Sappi Fine Paper. An award-winning graphic designer, art/creative director, production manager and print buyer, he's widely respected as a graphic arts educator, author and consultant. Dejan has presented at PBI's annual conference every year since its debut. I asked him about the role of tomorrow's print buyers.
"The print buyer will certainly become a media buyer and/or communications purchasing or multi-channel procurement manager. The moniker will have to reflect that integrated marketing has numerous touch points used in different combinations and defined by the project or campaign. But companies will still need someone in charge of managing the process, of contacting service providers, purchasing any number of media, and following the existing standards and guidelines for each of the channels."
Printers and print buyers are co-evolving. "We're really talking about printers as solutions providers, media groups, or communication hubs," adds Dejan. "Printers will need to take content that has to be output to print with variable data. They'll also be asked to publish this content to a Website (which the printer might be hosting).
"The facilitator, or 'new' print buyer, will be saying, 'I also need to push this out in multiple versions.' As a designer, I create this very content-rich piece. Then I strip away pieces of information that still keeps the document contextually vibrant. But it is not as wordy and, moreso, it's appropriate to be put on the Web. I then take that version and use it to create a tablet version. Ultimately, I will strip it down one more time and put it on a mobile app of some sort."
The roles of designer and print buyer will change in lockstep, notes Dejan. Customers will expect these creatives to be fluent in lots of languages. They must understand both Macs and PCs. Then they must understand HTML, XML, XHTML and XMPie. Traditionally, print buyers have been fluent in things like typography, inks and press proofing issues. Tomorrow's professionals will still need that fluency, but must master even more "languages."
Print buyers will become media generalists. This evolution is full of challenges and opportunity. The titles are insignificant. The roles are what matters, and these will be defined and redefined over the next several years.PI
—Margie Dana
About the Author
Margie Dana is the founder of Print Buyers International (www.printbuyersinternational.com), which offers educational and networking opportunities to those who work with the printing industry. She produces an annual print buyers conference (www.printbuyersconference.com) and has written her popular e-column, "Margie's Print Tips," since 1999. Dana speaks regularly at trade events and offers consulting services as a print buyer specialist. She can be reached at mdana@printbuyersinternational.com.
