Convergification
Every year in the industry there seems to arise a popular buzzword that gets used - and maybe even a bit overused. Some years ago it was “transpromo.” Another year it was “marketing services provider.”
Every year in the industry there seems to arise a popular buzzword that gets used - and maybe even a bit overused. Some years ago it was “transpromo.” Another year it was “marketing services provider.” “Digital transformation,” “synergy” and others come to mind.
This year, the buzzword appears to be “convergence.” The term is used to indicate the “convergence” of seemingly disparate services under the auspices of one service provider. While it may be more accurate to call this phenomenon the diversification of offerings provided by service providers, it is nevertheless being used to indicate the long-held trend of printers offering more services to their customers and even reaching new customers by producing new types of printing. Many have already commented on this, including our own Frank Romano in one of his famous Friday morning videos.
It seems to me that some may be confusing two things: Printers’ businesses and a new trade show. While putting everything under one roof is indeed “convergence,” what is happening to the businesses of printers is diversification. Diversification isn’t really new. It’s been happening for decades across the industry; and indeed, it is just a normal business strategy. Anyone in business should always look to diversify and find ways to generate new revenue streams. Convergence among trade shows has also been happening for years.
What is new is SGIA/NAPCO’s effort with PRINTING United to bring disparate but tangential industry segments together in one consolidated show. The argument that “convergence” among the offerings of industry service provider was driving this effort always did confuse me some. I’d argue the better term is diversification - or divergence. What SGIA is doing is clearly convergence, but it appears to be in response to divergent behavior among printers. Say that three times quickly!
Maybe it’s just all semantics. You could argue bringing different services under one roof - or print business - is a convergence of services. The semantics aren’t the important thing. What’s important is responding to industry trends and moving the industry forward. Our response here at WhatTheyThink has been to watch and listen to our member printers and continue to diversify our content offerings to help inform and engage them in a way that moves the industry forward. It’s our strategy behind content sections and magazine editions to offer coverage of different technologies printers can leverage to diversify their business offerings. We think it’s important to tailor information to different industry segments, but also to expose everyone to a variety of things because you never know what will inspire service providers to diversify their businesses.
Since acquiring the magazine you are reading, our goal has been to mirror what we’ve done online in terms of industry segments. Those interested in print software can easily find that content on WhatTheyThink. The same with Wide Format, Labels & Packaging, Textiles and Finishing. Since re-branding the magazine to a WhatTheyThink masthead, we moved to a versioned edition strategy. Some subscribers get a Printing News edition, which highlights the commercial printing content. Others get a Wide Format edition, highlighting information of interest to the signs and display graphics market. We feel it’s important to educate everyone on all aspects of this ever-changing industry, so we include in each edition much of the content from the others. Eventually, we’ll be able to target a certain percentage of content to a single edition - thus enhancing the coverage we can give to a given segment. We also plan to launch several other editions under the same WhatTheyThink banner.
Look for the following editions soon: Labels & Packaging, Finishing, Software, Textiles, and Industrial & 3D. It’s important that we understand which edition is right for you, and we’ll ask about that very soon.
So in this age of consolidation, convergence and diversification, look for WhatTheyThink to continue to lead the industry in providing targeted industry intelligence. Consider it "convergification," or call it what you like! We’re just happy to continue serving you no matter what you call it.
Eric is the President of WhatTheyThink and is always happy to hear from subscribers. You can reach him at [email protected] or 740-517-3333.
