Every year more and more new technology emerges and those who live and breathe the printing world are faced with the question “Is print going to be replaced by a new technology?” Will the digital products of Amazon, Apple, Google and others replace the printed word? Everyone knows this is a controversial topic. Clay Shirky, in fact, wrote a provocative piece on this topic last year and his post spurred 1,200+ comments. And so it goes ….
We would be myopic if we were to ignorantly gloss over the forces of the digital age and their implications on the way we do business and the new types of business models that are emerging. There is no doubt that there is a macroeconomic and technological big shift, but in our microcosm of printing promotional materials, we feel the printed word is here to stay.
Advertising and business will forever be interconnected and the modes of advertising are changing, however the Internet is not the panacea. Not everyone is as Internet savvy as the 18 year old college student who spends an hour a day on Facebook. Yes, it’s safe to say that the older generations are gaining significant traction when it comes to the web and social media and those 18 year olds will one day rule the world, but the key to this entire puzzle is figuring out how digital and print compliment each other not how one can destroy the other.
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