Scott Porter, chairman of Pride In Print, believes the message had gotten through that the alignment towards the print buyer was paramount. He says, “The main driver in promoting the marketing appeal for Pride In Print success is to make the success relevant to products that print buyers understand. When companies take their clients to the Pride In Print Awards Night, the print buyer who has, for example, an interest in the FMCG market will prick up his or her ears when the awards for the packaging category are announced.
“This better grasp of the awards would not have been possible if we concentrated on individual processes such as flexography, gravure and carton board packaging. The focus is now on the product produced, rather than the process used to produce it.”
Fraser Gardyne, convenor of judges at Pride In Print, says the product emphasis was also important because there is now a trend to use a variety of processes to produce certain print jobs. He says, “In the past, jobs that would have been done purely in offset may now be done by offset, digital or perhaps screen printing. Different processes are competing in the same market, so it makes total sense to judge the product outcome regardless of the print method used.”
However, Porter stresses that it is important the industry also realises that Pride In Print will continue to reward expertise in individual disciplines and processes. He says, “We will continue to have awards for the Best in Process. The realignment of categories towards the end product will greatly help the Pride In Print Awards and make the awards night go more smoothly for guests who attend, but we feel it is important also to ensure that there are best of the best rewards for processes too. This is crucial for the sake of craftsmanship standards within the industry. Companies need to know what standards they should be seeking to attain, and who is producing the best quality in their field.”
The 2010 Pride In Print Awards Night will take place on Friday June 18 at Sky City Auckland.
