Reliving recent history

Jul 1, 2006 12:00 AM, By M. Richard Vinocur

Vinocur's Perspective

Recently my wife instructed, “Clean up your home office, or else.” As I’ve never been able to determine what the “or else” might be, I set to the task. I keep clippings on topics I’d like to write about, and this month’s column will cover a number of those subjects—a potpourri of “stuff.” In going through the piles on my desk, I also uncovered some old copies of Footprints, the newsletter I wrote and published for nearly 20 years.

Signs of the times
The first item I found in a 1990 issue of the newsletter was a prediction about the newspaper industry. I had just been to a Scitex meeting, at which a product in development was introduced. It was designed to allow business people to prepare their own individual, personalized newspapers. Remember, this was several years before the Internet became a major source for news.

After seeing the product, I suggested the newspaper was in for tough times and would lose readers over the next couple of decades. Recently, Colby Atwood, a newspaper analyst at Borrell Associates, was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “Newspaper readers tend to be older, and they’re dying.”

The Wall Street Journal carried an article shortly thereafter headlined, “Me, Me, Me.” The subhead read, “The personalized newspaper was dreamed up two decades ago. We’re getting closer and closer.” It listed six Web sites that serve as innovative news sources.

David Carr, a media columnist, recently wrote about young journalists who are pondering their fates in the years ahead. Ad sales are slumping and profitability is declining. Said one young journalist, “Something happened to our generation where we were not trained to do something our parents do every day. I have friends who are smart people, who are very well informed, but they don’t feel the need to get a paper.”

In another past column, I’d advised readers not to spend big bucks on Internet sites. It was back in the early 1990s, when several millions of dollars were spent to create a transactional site. I received much response from “techies,” who told me I was outdated and should join the technical revolution. When Bill Gates of Microsoft wrote his book “A Road Ahead,” he confirmed that the information superhighway was three to five years away from being a real marketing tool, but I never received an apology from my critics.

All together now
Another prediction I made in the late 1990s, in the midst of industry consolidation, jumped off the pages of Footprints. Considering all of the acquisitions of smaller printing companies by consolidators, I predicted the number of commercial printing companies would continue to decline. Back then, PIA pegged the total number of firms at 40,000.

Today, there are less than 25,000 printers—and for the most part, they are doing very well, thank you.

In that column, I also suggested the same phenomenon would occur on the vendor side of the business. I speculated that eventually there would be one vendor: “Heidelscitexkodak.” Little did I know Scitex would sell its graphic arts unit to Creo, then Creo would sell to Kodak. Nor did I have any knowledge that Kodak would eventually roll up so many other companies. Anything is possible.

The power of print
At the top of the pile, I’d found something more recent. It was the program from the 54th annual Franklin Event, sponsored by the Assn. of Graphic Communications (AGC), the PIA/GATF affiliate for the greater New York area. The event celebrated the 300th anniversary of Ben Franklin’s birth, and more than 600 people showed up for the festivities.

The Franklin award recipient was Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp. Mulcahy urged her audience to listen to their customers, and everyone at that reception probably had a customer in attendance. The “Power of Print” awards went to George Amann, president and CEO of UNIMAC Graphics, for printing; Victor Basile, senior vice president of Publicis, for advertising; and Jerry D’Elia of Hearst Magazines, for publishing. A special award for industry achievement went to Harvey Brice, managing director of Superior Printing Ink Co.

Also on hand was the United States Public Printer, Bruce R. James, the biggest customer of them all. I had the opportunity to spend time with James and his wife, Nora, prior to the ceremonies. “I thought you were retired,” I told him. He replied with a twinkle in his eye, “It appears the President currently has more important things on his mind than selecting my successor.” And here’s a little-known fact: George W. Bush is the 42nd president, but James is only the 24th U.S. Public Printer. Can you believe it?

James stole the show. He opened with, “I’m the only speaker who didn’t get a standing ovation, and I buy more printing than anyone in the room.” And at that point, the entire room rose to its feet, clapping, screaming and whistling in appreciation. It was a special moment.