Advertising Age organized it, and Eastman Kodak and The Economist were among its co-sponsors. But even with these paragons of printed communications backing it, the recent “Media Evolved” (ME) Conference in New York City hadn’t much to say about the place of ink or toner on paper in the media mix.

The dearth of commentary didn’t mean that print was being snubbed or denigrated. It stemmed from the fact that for most of the speakers and the nearly 400 media professionals, brand managers, and content creators who attended, detecting print in the ever-expanding digital universe of earned, owned, and paid media means listening for an ever fainter, ever more distant ping. As a vehicle for B2C communications, print simply isn’t sending out the signals that these iPad-centric promotional spenders are most sensitively attuned to.

A printed page, after all, can’t be retweeted or tell its publisher who’s looking at it. The book or the magazine that I’m reading can’t reach out to others in my social network, let them “friend” me, tell them where I am, or clue them in as to how I’m spending my time and money. Do retailers or manufacturers have hot offers that they really, really want to put in front of me, right now? If I have a mobile device and they have my opt-in, I’m all eyes and ears—and I’m probably getting the message at or close to the intended point of sale. In print, the best that marketers can do is wait until something sealed inside an envelope finds its way into my non-virtual mailbox (and then hope that I’ll eventually get around to opening it).