Business Management - Marketing/Sales

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor Early on it was apparent to LAgraphico that, when it came to the creative and conceptual link in the print production chain, burning the midnight oil was best left to Midnight Oil Creative. The Burbank, CA-based sheetfed printer, with roots tracing back 25 years to L.A. Filmco and A&L Graphico, was founded by Al Shapiro—who started out as a print broker—and his wife Liz. He migrated into color separation services and gradually added sheetfed presses to service the needs of the entertainment, advertising and promotional businesses. "We do a lot of work for Hollywood movie studios," states Peter Szillies,

Boy am I worried. The editor-in-chief of this magazine and the publisher are taking me to dinner next week. We are going to a very private, out-of-the-way, quiet and exclusive restaurant. I'm scared that it's going to be one of those mob hit dinners where I take a Louisville Slugger to the back of my head just as I'm slurping my first spoonful of hemlock soup. After all, this is Philadelphia, the home of creative mob rubouts. Or, maybe they're gonna strip all the buttons off my jacket and drum me out of their writers' corp. I can see myself limping out of the

I don't understand why one day is a great day and the next day has to be a disaster. This happened to me on September 13th and 14th. It's tough on my psyche to go from euphoria to—boom—the pits in the space of 24 hours. Saturday, the 13th, was perfect. There was a great sale at K-Mart. I now have 24 large cans of Maxwell House French Roast coffee, 108 rolls of Viva paper towels and 108 rolls of Scott toilet tissue. As you know, these are some of my favorite brands. It's not the bargains that thrilled me; it's the stockpiling I'm after. I

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Just when it seemed safe to go back online, the specter of short-sighted Internet business models has risen to threaten print margins. It's the players, more so than the concept, that is new. Reverse auctions are now being touted by accounting firms and business consultants as a means for Corporate America to dramatically cut the cost of print work.

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor The evolution of the commercial printer Website has been an interesting journey. Initially, many printers bought into the "me, too" mentality of Internet accessibility. The catch phrase of 1997 may have been, "We have an Internet presence, as well." To not have a "presence" was to sneer in the face of technology—your thinking was inside the box and your paradigm certainly wasn't shifting anytime soon. It just wasn't proactive, darn it! If being techno hip wasn't bad enough, the Website took a narcissistic turn for the worse. Who needs substance when you have flash (make that Flash)? Home page greetings,

I've decided to write another book. This book will have lots of pictures and maybe 16-point type. This way, slow readers, like me, can say they read a book and will have something to talk about at cocktail parties. I have a title. It's a little long, but it covers the book's contents. It's going to be titled, "The Mañana Man's Guide to Cooking, Selling, Parallel Parking, Marriage and Happiness." The literati, those erudite academic phonies who are my critics, will say, "What qualifies this idiot to write about cooking, selling, marriage and happiness?" They will assert that parallel parking is not even worthy of

The past three years have been horrendously bad for the printing industry. Some industry experts say that printing market conditions were the worst in 40 years. I heard horror stories every day. I witnessed bankruptcies, I saw lost jobs and I grieved over padlocked companies. It was depressing and I considered buying an ocean-side bar in the Caribbean, or joining a traveling carnival, or running for governor of California (who cares that I reside in Pennsylvania?) or developing an online psychotherapy Website for unemployed printers. I was committed, however, to sticking it out because I had sponsored The Second Great American Print Sales Prospecting

It really chaps my cheeks when a great writer like me gets "tainted" by the unscrupulous acts of hacks like this Jayson Blair guy at The New York Times. It zaps the creativity right out of my bones. You all read or heard about Mr. Jayson "Phony Phacts" Blair in the newspapers or on CNN, Fox and MSNBC. The notoriety of his sins has slopped out of his pigpen and swamped my sty with some vile accusations. Just listen to this memo that I got from Attila the Editor and his nasty little henchmen. Dear Mañana Man (or whoever you think you are today): The recent New

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many readers have written us to inquire about the creative process behind Harris DeWese's zany columns in our magazine. The source of Harris' inspiration is a mystery to us. We do know that the fool has a monthly creative meeting with his alter ego, The Mañana Man. We share your curiosity, so we tape recorded the pathetic "creative meeting" between DeWese and The Mañana Man that led to the column that follows. Audio Transcription: DeWese is heard muttering to himself, "He was supposed to be here an hour ago. He's late for every creative meeting every month." DeWese: Oh, there you are.

This will be a two-part column. Part one will be my blockbuster predictions for the future of the printing industry. Part two will be invaluable education for print salespeople and company owners. I am truly blessed with healthy modesty. Occasionally, however (never more than once a day), I go on to the Internet to the Google search engine and type in "harris dewese." Up jumps about four pages of references to me—vitally important stuff that I've written, enormously significant stuff I've said, and places where I'm scheduled to appear where I will say even more valuable stuff. Sometimes, my wife of 41 years,