WASHINGTON DC, September 4, 2008 – Just one year after the launch of Print in the Mix (PIM), a comprehensive clearinghouse of research on the effectiveness and value of print media, The Print Council, RIT, and six universities around the country who collaborated on PIM say that printers are reporting positive benefits as a result of using the information found on the site.

According to Jim Dunn, President of Heidelberg USA and co-chair of The Print Council, which funds the online clearinghouse, "Print In the Mix research has put forth convincing and verifiable research on the effectiveness and value of print from multiple academic, print and marketing industry sources.  The research helps companies understand how print works and interacts with other media to successfully reach customers and get them to make a purchase decision."

Published by the Rochester Institute of Technology's Printing Industry Center and funded by The Print Council, Print In the Mix (http://printinthemix.rit.edu/) is a clearinghouse of statistical information and research on all areas of print including direct mail, magazines, custom publishing, newspapers, etc.

"The feedback we've received on PIM has been very positive.  It's gratifying to know that PIM has become a truly useful portal into the world of print for all those who study, design, create, evaluate and use the medium for commercial or educational purposes," says Patricia Sorce, administrative chair of RIT's School of Print Media, and co-director of its Printing Industry Center. "From the onset, our goal was to have Print in the Mix become a living, growing communications tool that serves to demonstrate, in very positive ways, the role of print as a viable information medium within the marketing mix, which as we all know grows and changes in many ways each and every year.  We feel that we're achieving this goal and look forward to continuing to build PIM into an even greater resource."

"The Print Council is pleased to continue to support Print in the Mix as part of its mission to provide the best educational resources, to increase awareness, to promote advocacy and to sponsor ongoing research into the field." says Dunn.

Jerry Williamson, co-chair of The Print Council and CEO of The Williamson Companies, says, "The Print Council created and funded Print In the Mix when it determined that printers needed marketing and research tools that they could use when promoting their services and demonstrating the value of print to their customers. The Print Council also found that the justification for print and the message about print's effectiveness needed to be conveyed to the high-level decision-makers who allocate budget resources among different media (i.e., the marketing specifiers, agencies and print buyers), and who require solid reasons for investing in print. That research and those reasons can be found on PIM."

Companies Putting the PIM Research to Work

Since the establishment of PIM in August 2007, companies have been using the PIM research to position their companies and staff in the role of an "expert" in the eyes of their customers. They have educated their sales and marketing staff, informed their customers, and incorporated the research into their collateral pieces.

Jeff Norby, President of Jet Inc. located in the Chicago area, comments that the Print In the Mix research "provides good, fact-based information that our sales team uses to develop and support our approach and story-line with the client. Relevant portions and ideas are incorporated into our marketing materials, and links to PIM have been placed on our website. Because the information is fact-based, our reps are able to talk in specifics at appropriate points in the sales process. This has been very helpful in addressing client concerns about the value of the print option and ROI."

IWCO Direct, established more than 35 years ago and based in Minnesota and North Carolina, is actively utilizing Print in the Mix in a variety of ways. According to Debora Haskel, VP of Marketing, "PIM research helps support our effort to build what we refer to as RSVP – relevant sales and value proposition. It helps justify using print in direct marketing campaigns, particularly for high-volume acquisition direct mail. The ability to incorporate facts and figures – rather than just opinion and anecdotal information – helps solidify IWCO Direct as subject matter experts and a trusted source of industry information. PIM has increased the frequency and quality of our communications with customers by providing a consistent, trusted, and accessible tool for information that helps our customers make informed decisions about the best media and channel for their direct marketing programs. We also use the research at local job fairs and community events to help educate candidates and the community at large about the value of print and job opportunities in both print and supporting disciplines (accounting, human resources, IT, graphic design, customer service, etc.)."