Hot Markets for 2007 — Prepare for Growth

The largest spate of across-the-board consolidations will exceed the record in 2006 and bring tremendous demand for open-web, sheetfed and hybrid/digital financial printing. Also bigger in branding will be the exchanges. NYSE Group’s merger with Euronext NV, its acquisition of Marco Polo Network, and the NASDAQ/London Stock Exchange (LSE) link-up, underscore globalization of trading and investing. Initial public offerings will also shatter the ’06 record, which overturned the previous record in 2000. Mutual funds ($1.4B to print, +55 percent) in post- consolidation will come back with direct mail and ROP marketing. Number 3 medical products/pharmaceuticals ($373B, +3 percent; with $12.9B to print, +4 percent) will be led by pharmaceuticals and wellness ($8.3B to print, +7 percent) as new and rebranded medicines come to market and as government intervention impels generics. Packaging, point-of-purchase (POP), ROP and bind-in placements will be at half last year’s growth because of price and regulatory pressures. Medical products ($3.0B to print, -6 percent) and biotechnology ($0.8B to print, -14 percent) will slash print buys as Congress and class-action lawsuits hamstring product introductions.