LEXINGTON, KY -- WhatTheyThink, the leading news and information portal for the graphic communications industry, today released its special report, Print and Creative Forecast 2010: A WhatTheyThink Perspective on the Challenges and Opportunities for Graphic Communications Companies in the Next 12 Months and Beyond, WhatTheyThink’s annual look at the year ahead for printers, creative firms, and publishers. The 127-page report—written by analyst Richard Romano, with data and commentary from Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center (ERC)—analyzes the prevailing economic environment, the current state of the printing industry (drawing on both U.S. government data as well as proprietary ERC survey data and analysis), and details the major forces the industry will have to contend with in the next year.

Print and Creative Forecast 2010 provides a snapshot of the printing industry, providing such data as:

• number of commercial printing establishments
• value of printing shipments (historical, current, and five-year projection)
• capital expenditures
• printing industry profits

The report also includes snapshots and demographics of graphic design firms, ad agencies, and publishing companies.

Print and Creative Forecast 2010 also provides a comprehensive, qualitative look at current media and information trends and how prevailing and emerging technologies and platforms will impact the demand for print in both the short term and the long term.

WhatTheyThink reports are available for online purchase at WhatTheyThink Store in PDF format.

Researcher’s Comment

“The repeated cry among advertisers and marketers these days is ‘TGIF’—Twitter, Google, the Internet, and Facebook. Where does that leave print? How can the commercial printing industry continue to adapt to changing media trends? What does the social media revolution mean for print and printers? What is happening with mobile media? What other ‘stealth’ trends are taking place among marketers and advertisers that the industry should be aware of? What trends are affecting the creative markets? And, perhaps most importantly, what’s going on with the economy? These issues and more are what we have been studying, and wrestle with in our Print and Creative Forecast report.” —Richard Romano

According to the Report

— September 2009 shipments were $7.5 billion (+2.9% from August) in current dollars, down -$907 million compared to September 2008. Inflation-adjusted shipments for September 2009 were down -$799 million (-9.7%) from September 2008.

— According to a 2009 ERC survey, top planned investment categories for the printing industry were Web-to-print capabilities, bindery, finishing capabilities, and digital production color presses such as the Xerox iGen, HP Indigo, and Kodak NexPress.

— 44% of survey respondents are active on LinkedIn and 18% are active on Twitter—but 43% are not active in any social media.

Availability

WhatTheyThink’s special report, Print and Creative Forecast 2010 is available for purchase by visiting the secure WhatTheyThink Store. The price for the 127-page report is $395. An enterprise-wide site license is also available for $1,580. WhatTheyThink eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events that are timely and relevant o today's busy industry executives along with consulting and speaker services that leverage a talented pool of writers and industry analysts.

WhatTheyThink consists of flagship site WhatTheyThink.com, discussion forum site PrintPlanet.com, and industry blog PrintCEO.com.