I sit at an unusual junction of media convergence. This “cruel crossroads,” as I call it, includes creative, marketing, print and education. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not an expert in all of theses channels, but I do have a unique and unusual view of the traffic that heads up and down the highways of these related industries and that collides at the cruel crossroads.
As I see it, there is a need for collaboration across these and many other channels—or verticals—to achieve profit and business success for all today.
Recently, a “Print Confessions” blog on PIworld.com shared five “things” that a print salesperson should should share with young designers. BTW, things are defined by experienced based knowledge.
Well, I see this as a problem. We no longer live in a business world in which one helps another. We live in a business world in which the need to collaborate across identified and covert channels is the future.
Sure, a print salesperson should tell a young designer those five “things” mentioned in the blog (a well-written blog, I may add), but the young designer should tell the print sales person five more “things” in turn. And the marketer should hear those 10 things and share his/her own five “things.” Same goes for the educator when he/she has been included in this expanding discussion.
The cruel crossroads is a roadblock of sorts. The crossroads is a trap—trapping knowledge by bypassing the exchange point that a crossroad offers by using a series of short cuts.
I’m not saying the “Print Confessions” blog is wrong. I’m saying its right, but did not go far enough.
I have said this many times before...print is NOT the only link in the chain of communications; it is one of many links that can be duplicated within the chain depending on the program and the marketing need. Print—as well as other related media—is, as they say, “Not alone.”
Why stop at talking print? Why not talk digital media, social media, media convergence, interaction, integration, etc. And why not COLLABORATE across these fields that need to be allied. Allied against the enemy, defined as confusion, weak profits and non-performing marketing efforts.
The four fields I mentioned are not the only ones that need to be open and offer interactive discussions and exchanges. No, there are many more.
So to begin this exchange, I will very shortly introduce a website (and perhaps a town hall meeting type webinar series) that will allow this knowledge transfer to begin. I will start the process now by sharing four items of interest to all four fields:
1) Print sales people: Consider the designer an enabler, a point on the map where your profitable journey can begin.
2) Creatives: Look to traditional and emerging technologies as a means and method to gain new business and expand your horizons.
3) Marketers: Look to both your print and creative counterparts not as partners, but collaborators to the process that will make the end result measurable and profitable!
4) Educators: You must realize that YOU start the process and that the starting line is—as is the finish line—always moving forward.
Send me your collaborations and they too will be added to my knowledge transfer site. Send them to thad@nakinc.com.
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- Business Management - Industry Trends
Thad Kubis is an unconventional storyteller, offering a confused marketplace a series of proven, valid, integrated marketing/communication solutions. He designs B2B or B2C experiential stories founded on Omni-Channel applications, featuring demographic/target audience relevance, integration, interaction, and performance analytics and program metrics.