All Media Is Dead! Long Live ______________! (Fill in the Blank)

No matter how you wish to describe print—as a legacy technology, smart print, dead technology, ink on paper, or the term I prefer “New Print”—it has a future. Perhaps this future is not a bright as it was, but to have a future at all in this world of high gas prices, lower consumer spending, stock markets up one day down the next, is, as I see it, a very positive statement.

If you have been a regular follower of this blog, you know I have been looking to redefine print for some time. Over the past 12 months, I offered several different definitions, none of which I really found to be "the" definition. So I decided to rethink the process and create, develop, conceive of a brand new characterization.

I now have what I think is the perfect definition (which has been adapted to include any move into a future of 3-D or 4-D printing, and much more), and that definition can be credited not only to me but to many other print-based executives I interviewed who have endorsed the end results of my efforts.

What is NEW PRINT!?

New media integrated with legacy media;
Engaging tool, establishing a dialogue;
Worthy of the prospect in quality and message, and offer.

Personalized messaging, relevant offer, content and imagery;
ROI, each project goaled to generate positive ROI;
Interactive across multi-media (electronic, Web, digital, offset, etc.);
Networked across educational, social and supportive new media;
Tractable, measured, and data captured.

What do you think? I and those who I interviewed all agreed that after some modifications to the previous draft, I hit it on the head. In future blogs I will discuss the individual components of this definition—line items, a few at time, but for now before I etch this definition in stone, I really want to know what you think.