Monday, January 17th marks the birth date of Benjamin Franklin, America’s patron saint of printing, and this year it will also represent the launch date of the new Choose Print campaign, initiated by the Printing Industry of America’s Southern California affiliate (PIASC) to promote the effectiveness and sustainability of print.
The PIASC is timing the launch to coincide with Print Week and is planning to make this a year-long crusade.
The association will be implementing a monthly postcard campaign targeting ad agencies, graphic design firms, and communication executives within its region, and the group is calling on its member companies to also participate in the program.
With the growth of online communications and the rapid redistribution of marketing and advertising dollars around the world, the drop in demand for print has hit hard around the world.
In response, campaigns to promote print have been sprouting up globally. The initiatives have either been founded by associations or in many cases by individual businesses (especially paper companies).
Following is a partial list of current or past crusades to promote the power of print and paper:
Choose Print – PIA Southern California
The Choose Print campaign will be launched on January 17, 2011, during Print Week (celebrating the birth of Benjamin Franklin)
Two Sides –
‘Two Sides’ is a UK-based initiative by companies from forestry, pulp, paper, inks and chemicals, prepress, press, finishing, publishing and printing. Its goal is to promote the responsible production and use of print and paper, and dispel common environmental misconceptions.
Print Power –
Print Power is a European organization dedicated to promoting print media. The organisation comprises a range of companies representing the entire print media value chain—production, distribution, printing, content and delivery.
Print Council –
The Print Council, based in the U.S., is a business development alliance formed by leaders across the graphic arts industry. The Print Council’s goal is to influence and promote the greater use of print media. Sponsors include commercial printers, industry suppliers and paper companies, as well as the US Postal Service and marketing firms.
Print in the Mix –
A clearinghouse of research on the effectiveness of print hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s print program.
paper – part of everyday – Australian Printing Industry Assoc. –
A campaign designed to improve perceptions of and lift morale in the print and paper industry.
Paper Because – Domtar –
Domtar has launched the PAPER because campaign to highlight the key role paper plays in our lives and the reasons why it’s an environmentally sound choice.
Go Paper. Grow Trees – International Paper –
The demand for paper contributes to landowners planting about 4 million trees in the U.S. every day. When you go paper, you grow trees, notes International Paper.
Life With Print – Sappi –
To share an enthusiasm for the bright future of paper, Sappi its informative series, Life With Print. Each edition of Life With Print includes qualitative examples of the value of print in the media mix.