Bob Cronin

Following is a special report from Day 2 of the 2009 Offset and Beyond Conference. Printing Industries of America's Executive Team is reporting from Caesars Palace, where the Conference continues today. What do you do? If your answer is "I am just a printer", you are not likely to be in business much longer in these turbulent times. Tuesday's general session opened with Making the Transformation from Printer to Marketing Communications Provider.

RECENT ECONOMIC events have left many of us feeling more like we’re auditioning for some “extreme challenge” reality series than running a business. Yet, the clamoring waves and munition shortage are not creating castaways of everyone. Many print companies thrive—in good times and bad—despite even the most harrowing circumstances.

If you think that you can't grow in a mature market, then your paycheck doesn't come from Wallace. The business forms-cum-commercial printing giant knows how to make a stagnant niche look like a bonanza. Up until recently, Wallace drew the bulk of its business from forms, a segment that the company estimates is dropping 4 to 6 percent annually. But you would never guess that from Wallace's sales. "Our market share is about 6 percent of the forms market as a whole," explains Bob Cronin, president and CEO. "And when you have the value-added differentiator that we have in a marketplace, you can grow