Creating A Brand — Do Monikers Really Matter?

AS GRAPHIC arts establishments transition into full-service communication solutions providers, an interesting marketing dilemma has emerged. Now that most graphic arts companies offer more than just printing services, some have felt a name change is necessary to better portray the full power of the newly offered capabilities.

Steven Schnoll, managing director of Schnoll Media Consulting in New Providence, NJ, feels it is a tremendous challenge for a company with the word ‘print,’ ‘graphics,’ or ‘litho’ in its name to remain successful in today’s business climate.

“It is simply guilt by name association,” Schnoll observes. “If you call yourself a ‘printer’ you will be judged and evaluated as ‘printer.’ The reality: if you call yourself a printer, you are a printer, and will have great problems discussing other value-added services.”

Schnoll offers the example of a sales rep making a cold call to a potential client. He feels that when the contact person hears the company name, they will immediately conclude the salesperson is soliciting printing only. If they don’t know exactly what the company does, they may listen a little bit longer, he says.

“As any good business executive will tell you, innovation is a compelling argument for growth,” Schnoll continues. “If you are labeled for only one thing—print—you will have a real challenge overcoming that perceived moniker that is considered an ‘old media’ technology. I am not suggesting that offset litho or flexo is dead; I am only making the case that new communication alternatives supported by print are more of a success formula than just trying to sell print alone.”

Offering an agency perspective, Bruce Kielar, executive vice president and chief creative officer for Rochester, NY-based Roberts Communications, feels it is important that printing companies—or any company for that matter— represent what they do clearly. Having the word ‘printing’ or ‘graphics’ in the name is a positive, from his perspective.