Blogs

I don’t normally flag-up case studies supplied by vendors but I so want to give a shout out to a secondary school in Ontario that’s the focus of a story from Drytac (see the case study at the bottom of this newsletter). The school has introduced a ‘Communications Technology Specialist High Skills Major’ programme that gives students an insight into various creative industries, and one of the first projects saw youngsters designing, printing and applying vinyl graphics onto a snowmobile. How cool is that. What a fabulous way to encourage young people to consider a career in this sector. Should we copy the programme over here?

Given it’s a Bank Holiday on Monday I thought I’d better remind you now that  booking for the jointly hosted Fespa UK/ISA event ‘Making Connections Matter’ close that day - so if you’re wanting to go you’d better sign-up before the frivolities of the long weekend take over!

How do you feel about AI? More to the point, what are you doing to implement AI within your business? It’s clear that this is an issue we can no longer ignore yet for many years now, in our Widthwise survey of PSPs, we’ve asked about investment in AI and we continue to get very low numbers, so how seriously is the sector taking it? I’d love to have your thoughts.

We don’t like talking about what we earn in the UK, but 40% of employers have made at least one higher salary counteroffer in the past 12 months to retain staff according to the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook-Summer 2023, which polled 2,000 employers. Have you done so - and can you give me some idea of how much your wage bill has increased so far in 2023?

This made me chuckle on a Monday morning - a study by Saga has flagged up that more than a third of us over the age of 50 are attending music festivals more frequently now than when they were younger. Just amused at the thought of all those large-format print opportunities there must be….new hotels must be opening up in fields all over the place!

What do you think to Elon Musk’s rebrand of Twitter? I ask because we’ve so long talked about the print sector needing a rebrand of sorts - something to show those not directly involved in the business that it’s not a dirty, inky-fingered and outdated industry so that we’re better placed to recruit the kind of talent we need and deserve. How do we best go about such a reboot?

We're excited! Are you excited? Here's hoping so because you can now download (for free) our Widthwise Report 2023, which analyses the state of the UK’s wide-format digital print sector. The data for this independent piece of annual research - now in its 16th year - comes directly from PSPs, so it’s proper grassroots-based info. You can download your copy at:  https://www.imagereportsmag.co.uk/widthwise

I’ve just received my invite to the pre-Drupa international media conference next March - just after Fespa Global 2024 in fact, though the actual show doesn’t kick-off until May. Will you go to both, or opt for one or the other?

OK, so open days can be great, and there are a lot of them in this sector. I’m interested to know how many you attend, roughly, in a year? And do you go to many just to see what’s going on without having already ‘bought-in’ to the technologies you’re going to see?

A recent Office of National Statistics survey found that only three in ten UK businesses have undertaken cyber security risk assessments in the last year. From 2021 to 2022, UK losses to fraud and cybercrime totalled over £4bn, and the average time to identify a UK data breach was 181 days. Just thought I’d flag up those stats in case it helps focus the mind!

The Forum of Small Business (FSB) recently welcomed the Department for Education's plans to create a digital skills platform that will simplify bureaucracy for small employers hiring apprentices. Do you know much about the changes, and will they impact the likelihood of you taking on more apprentices in your business?

I’ve seen the images of that fab mural MacroArt has delivered for London's Sculpture in the City project and would love to see what large-format ‘artworks’ you’ve created for public show this summer. It’s a great way to show-off the creativity of the sector - as well as that of the artist!

I see POPAI UK - the industry association for the retail sector - is looking for a business development manager to help expand and develop its sustainability programme. Perhaps you use its Sustain eco-design tool? Anyway, it has me wondering if you’re noticing much of a change in attitudes towards eco-print from the retail sector? That the demand for greener solutions is rising is something we’ve been hearing for a good while now, but is that the case within your own experience? I ask because our 2023 Widthwise grassroots research throws up something of a confused picture when it some to all things environmental. You’ll be able to see the data and get the analysis when the report is published in a couple of weeks.  

With news of various print kit and media suppliers extending their reach overseas via new partnership and distribution deals etc., I am wondering if UK-based wide-format orientated PSPs are doing more or less work for markets abroad since you know what - the B word!