June 4, 2002 Trade associations are essential to any industry and the printing and graphic arts industry is no different. In fact, the industry has numerous regional support associations and several high profile national organizations. In recent days, industry associations have been popular topics as two of our largest (NAPL and PIA/GATF) will change leaders in the near future. At the same time, association related issues have reached peak awareness - due in part by the economy and the accelerated convergence of digital technologies. Recent issues include: Government Printing Office reform, rising postal rates, lower trade show and seminar attendance and the general challenge of maintaining and/or increasing association membership. Recently, we asked many of our members to offer their ideas and comments about trade associations. This article states only the most common comments received. The report assumes the positive aspects of trade associations and is primarily aimed at exploring improvement ideas. The findings will not surprise association executives and board members - they are generally very much in tune with their members. Our goal is to bring these findings to our audience and create a better understanding of these important issues. - - - Industry Trade Associations: What Printers Think The printing industry is in the midst of enormous change. One of our contributing columnists, David Dodd, calls these changes “evolutionary” and they happen in every industry. In a recent series of articles written on industry evolution, Dodd states: “Because industry evolution is an ongoing phenomenon, printers must analyze that evolution periodically in order to keep business strategy in tune with current and emerging market realities.” The same can be said for our industry associations. They too are not immune to this inevitable process. Indeed, each of our associations spend a tremendous amount of time receiving feedback from members, examining industry statistics and discussing ways to make sure they are at the forefront of industry change. Overview: Industry associations serve an essential purpose. While some of the printers we spoke with have their reasons for not joining associations, not one completely discarded the overall good they do for the industry. The printers who assisted us for this story are members of a variety of organizations. (see sidebar) To place this article in context, we received many positive comments about each association mentioned in this story. Example: Mike Sternfeld, president of Prints Charming/Printing Express is a member of PIA/SC in Los Angeles. “They are a wonderful organization, offering seminars, local breakfast meetings, credit union, collection services, insurance services and more. But the best thing I like about our chapter is the people running it. From the president on down, they make the members feel like they are working for us. I have personally been able to call many staff people, as well as the executives, and they are always there with help, great advice, and encouragement.” What do associations do and how are they different? Rick Schildgen, President of C L Graphics is a member of four different associations. He says their purpose is to serve as a resource - giving members information and direction on issues common to all of the industry, and to offer specific help on problems that are unique to association members. Schildgen believes that many associations originated from or migrated towards different areas of expertise. “The main focus of NAPL is towards business management and leadership - with economic reporting and forecasts, management certification, and strategic planning. GATF has always been the technical, research-based organization and PIA more in tune with operations. Print Image International has been the driving force behind the quick print or small commercial shop. IAPHC encourages individual participation as a 'craftsman' of the industry and strives to 'share your knowledge' amongst other members.” That being stated, the primary focus of this report is to examine positive changes printers think will improve associations. This in turn, will improve the printer's business and strengthen the associations. Improvement Ideas We only included the four most commonly presented ideas. If you would like to view the other three themes that were edited out for space and ranking purposes, please contact us. Government Representation Overall, the most commonly cited purpose of industry associations was by far education and government representation. It was interesting that government representation was cited almost evenly by small and large print firms. Different associations have various programs to lobby and influence local, state and federal legislation. A key concern is that these efforts should be communicated often and be a top priority. Sandy Alexander is a $130 million printer headquartered in New Jersey. Jonathan Fogel, senior vice president and director of marketing, explains their requirement for this type of representation. “(The) organizations must become as effective as possible in being the entire industry's advocate with the multi-layered regulatory environment that exists. It is not uncommon for a typical printing company to need to address the requirements of federal, state, county, and municipal regulatory bodies at the same time. And the requirements of each may not always be consistent.” Donald Johnson, Chairman of The Business Word thinks non-print related trade groups do a much better job in government. “What printers need help with in Washington is the Postal Service and its continuing rate increases and strict mailing rules, which are discouraging marketing by direct mail. Mailers seem to do more lobbying on (the industry’s behalf) than printers and mail houses.” A print executive in Chicago who is a member of IPA and PIA is afraid that association leadership prioritizes technical education at the expense of lobbying. “The industry should get serious about tracking the performance of our lobbying attempts, invest more in these areas and quit making it second fiddle just because education is easier for our current leaders to be measured by. I’m all for education, but I’m worried that policy changes in Washington will make it where I won’t have any employees to educate.” Branding the Industry There’s always discussion of the best ways to brand the print industry. Many see other campaigns and wonder why we can’t raise our profile in the same manner. Barbara Silverman, Vice President of Sales at K/P Corp says associations should market the industry. “I often think about the "Got milk" ads and wonder why there is nothing like that for our industry. Maybe it's financial but there should be more that can be done.” Steve Kittay, President of Creekside Printing agrees. “Today’s young people seem to be caught up in the newness of the Internet and give little attention to print. We believe the print industry, possibly in a cooperative with the paper mills and the USPS, need to "get the word out" in a similar manner to the way the cattlemen rallied around the beef industry. It is imperative for the survival of the industry. As we faced with desktop, we need to educate and reeducate the end users. Now is the time for our associations to help us bring print back to the forefront.” Earlier this year, "Print: The Original Information Technology" was adopted as the heart of a print awareness campaign by PIA, GATF, and the Printing Association of Florida (PAF) to champion the value of print to the general public. These efforts were praised, but some did not see the “needed consensus” to make the campaign work. Said one PIA member in Georgia, “I don’t know where it stands, but before they do this, they need to get all the associations using it, a billboard campaign, television, make the trade magazines display it and make it a bigger deal. It seems that visual industry spots either knew little about it or have ignored it.” Kathy Deets of Unique Printers & Lithographers likes the overall idea. “I like the concept of the new initiative to market print. I think I have seen the logo, but not much more from it. I think we need a program like this and it needs to be loud and clear. We need to get this message out to the print buyers, not the printers. I don't think one of my clients here in Chicago could say they have seen the message.” What to Do About Membership Many of the ideas printers have to strengthen the associations will contribute to increasing membership and retention. But on this point, printers collectively say that membership must directly show reduced expenses for their company or increasing profits on a continual basis. A few even suggest a year-end review that helps members see these benefits in black and white on their balance sheet thereby making association membership as essential as paper and ink. Of course, the associations can’t make their members participate or access their information. Says Dena Crow of St Ives Cleveland, “I believe industry associations are vital to the success and growth of all professionals. Individuals should be encouraged to join, participate and volunteer on boards to get to know the key players who can help them with their success.” Ann Mitchell of CBS Music City Printing & Mailing thinks that maybe there is too much emphasis on quantity. “I think association leadership and many of the vendors who support association programs have to realize that the value of the association is not based on the number of members, but the quality of the services they provide.” Rick Schildgen, President of C L Graphics thinks retaining membership is the single largest challenge. Schildgen sees a new society and culture emerging, one that is more immune to social interaction, yet busier with more competitive distractions. “Either we will choose to seek out ways to better organize this overload which associations will need to capitalize on, or the opposite will happen, and we will slowly eliminate the many different sources of information that do not provide real value. Just as it is becoming more and more rare that the local neighborhood is our network of friends and confidants, the same is true for trade groups. The tradition of membership will not hold for new employees. It is important that the leaders within the many businesses communicate the value of membership as well, and lead by example - through attending and encouraging others to attend seminars and conferences.” Consolidation In working on special reports, we can sometimes know within reason what to expect during the information gathering process. We were unaware that the most suggested idea for improvement within trade associations would be to proceed with further consolidation. Jonathan Fogel of Sandy Alexander explains. “As our industry continues to change, with both a more careful focus on the bottom line and eroding profit margins, as well as on-going consolidation, there are several challenges to the industry associations. (There) continue to be too many. In today's economy, companies have neither the finances or time available to support a variety of different organizations, often times with overlapping objectives and activities.” True to form on such a sensitive topic, many commented asking us to keep their name private. One industry executive who has belonged to NAPL and is a member of PIA/GATF said, “I believe that one national organization that takes the best features of each organization - GATF, technical and education; NAPL, management and education; PIA, organization; - would serve our interests well.” Another executive who wished to remain unnamed said consolidation would be transparent to members if done right and would solve many challenges associations face today. “We can envision a big association with presidents of major industry sectors. It would help us communicate with the world with one voice on government regulations while meeting the technical and management needs within different print firms. Competition between the (major) associations continues to hamper their effectiveness.” Mark Yanny, Operations Manager at Quad/Graphics agrees. “I would try to consolidate. Associations compete with each other. This is the printing industry not the gravure, offset, flexographic or direct digital. We are all printers and our medium is being threatened by other media. Competition for membership has diluted the pool. Quad/Graphics belongs to them all and probably some more. I could spend one week a month attending these things and many of them are just plain redundant and a poor use of resources.” Tim Keran is President of Western Graphics located in St. Paul, Minnesota. His company belongs to PIA and the local affiliate Printing Industry of Minnesota and NAPL. “I would merge the two associations into one and at the very least have a combined annual top management conference and management training institute.” Keran concludes, “Double dues is a problem as is the double communication resulting from competing newsletters, seminars, and reports. Times have changed for the print industry and consolidation will continue. The associations should lead by example and join forces.” Summary Based on the printers we spoke to, we believe that the principles mentioned in David Dodd's series on evolution can be applied to the associations. Dodd wrote, "Changes in printing industry performance that result from the evolution of the industry present a very different situation. These changes demand a strategic response. Because evolution alters the competitive structure of the printing industry, printers must design new business models and formulate new business strategies to succeed in a changed competitive environment." What Dodd wrote about printers is equally true for trade associations. As the printing industry evolves, so must its trade associations, if they are to continue their long tradition of providing valuable services to the industry and its participants. We hope these ideas can be added to the thoughts of industry leaders charged with shaping tomorrow’s associations. We have listed many of the associations that printers indicated they were members of with links to their web site. Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications, (DDAP), www.ddap.org Digital Printing & Imaging Association, (DPIA) www.dpia.org Document Management Industries Association, (DMIA) www.dmia.org Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, (GATF) www.gain.net IDEAlliance, www.idealliance.org International Association of Printing House Craftsmen, (IAPHC) www.iaphc.org International Prepress Association, (IPA) www.ipa.org International Publishing Management Association, (IPMA) www.ipma.org International Reprographic Association, www.irga.com National Association for Printing Leadership, (NAPL) www.napl.org Printing Industries of America, (PIA) www.gain.net (includes affiliated associations like GATF, the Web Offset Association, Association of Graphic Communications and Label Printing Industries of America.) PrintImage International, www.printimage.org Research and Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry, www.recouncil.org Xplor International, www.xplor.org Last Year, In Their Own Words We conduct many interviews each year with printers, print buyers and industry suppliers. Last year, during the course of several interviews, we asked printers to give their thoughts on industry trade associations. To see the full interview, click on the person's name. Mark Trumper, MaverickLabel.com “If you are not a member of a trade association you are doing yourself an injustice. The knowledge and the networking opportunities are worth your time and money 10 fold. Find out which ones your competitors belong to and join. There is nothing better than to be around the industry's most successful people; in addition friendships and camaraderie will last a life time. A good trade association is worth its weight in gold. In today's fast paced changing world having access to information is key to succeed in business today.” NOTE: Mark is this year’s President of the Document Management Industries Association. Tim McClellan, Progress Printing “The printing industry has several very strong, active national associations, including NAPL (National Association of Printers & Lithographers), PIA (Printing Industries of America), GATF (Graphic Arts Technical Foundation), and of course the statewide PIA affiliates. We find these diversified resources to be clearinghouses for up-to-date, valuable business information. There is a tremendous amount of relevant data, newsletters, reports, books, and studies available. Since much of it is on-line, it’s right at your fingertips when you need it. “We also participate in industry associations that relate to our customers—ad clubs, chambers of commerce, travel associations, education groups and so forth. These help us keep in touch with the real issues with our market bases.” Ray Gendreau, Apex Press “As the President of our local trade association - NEAQP: New England Association of Quick Printers - I see the local associations offering more than the national associations with networking being the primary benefit of the local associations. Our local group has meeting attendance in the 75 - 100 range yet the national association, Print Image International often cannot get even half that many to one of their seminars.” Ray Spinner, Jr., Spinner Printing “Their greatest benefit lies in their broad knowledge of local printer's challenges, and they can provide helpful information when we have workman's comp issues, trade customs, sales training materials and slow-pay/credit problems. They also provide industry specific training from pre-press to outside sales, which is of great value to our employees.” Gene Toepfer, The JohnsonGroup “The associations are only as good as the members. If you are passive, you get marginal benefits. If you are active, you gain more than your share! I do believe that most associations do need to reach out to members more.” Jim Dittmer, JDA Creative Color “We aren't currently members of any. In all honesty, I'd rather be a member of my client's industry associations than my own. Knowing my clients problems so I can help solve them is much more important than the problems of giant printing conglomerates.” Scott Shreve, Regal Press “For us, we have not had great success with the equitable distribution of benefits among the member base of certain national and international industry associations.” George B. Glisan, Hickory Printing “It is difficult to comprehend the value of what PIA, GATF, NAPL and PICA - our regional association - bring to us and our customers. They are a resource that insures that the cause of printing is continually being advanced and improved. If they did not exist we would have to create them.” Special Thanks We would like to thank the following members of WhatTheyThink.com for their comments and enormous help in shaping this report. In no particular order: Rick Schildgen, President, C L Graphics, Inc. Mark Yanny, Operations Manager, Quad/Graphics Timothy R. Keran, President, Western Graphics Steve Kittay, President, Creekside Printing Tom & Angie, The Printing Place Mike Sternfeld, Prints Charming/Printing Express Eddie McGehee, Publications Coordinator, Mukilteo School District Marco Cappuccio, Digital Technology Manager, SS Studios Kathy Deets, Unique Printers & Lithographers Glenn Arnold, VP/OPS, Smith & Sons Printers, Inc. Jonathan Fogel, Senior Vice President, Sandy Alexander, Inc. Michael Monette, St. Joseph Corporation Donald Johnson, Chairman, The Business Word Inc. Stephen Grech, President/CEO, Dispatch Graphics Inc. Dena Crow, St Ives Cleveland Chris Hunt, IT Manager, Peake Printers, Inc. Carl Baldwin, President, Falcon Graphics, Inc. Bruce Kearns, Repro-Media, Inc Barbara Silverman, VP Sales, K/P CORPORATION Chuck Pappas, President, Arlington Swifty Printing Ann Mitchell, CBS Music City Printing & Mailing Andrew Field, President, PrintingForLess.com Dennis Dater, Allegra Print & Imaging and many more who wished to be unnamed.