On Crystal Balls and Print Ads

“Print is already a target-specific medium and will become more so.”

“Glossy magazines and major publications hold a certain cachet that online doesn’t achieve.”

“With people becoming more and more blind to digital advertising methods, print offers an alternative medium to connect with your audience on their terms.”

These are just a few of the comments from a panel of communications experts who were asked to give their opinions about print and where it fits in the advertising of tomorrow. The comments were shared in an article by the Forbes Communications Council, made up of execs from communications, PR, public affairs, and media organizations.

While a few were skeptical of print’s future — like Sherry Jhawar from Blended Strategy Group, who claims that digital gets you more reach for your dollar – the rest believe print will play a strong role in reaching the omnichannel consumer.

“Advances in technology like AR and image recognition will enable print ads to be the first step in a seamless omnichannel brand experience,” notes Patrick Niersbach of InContext Solutions.

Brandon Ortiz of Salesforce.org believes print is how brands will rise above the noise.

“The ubiquity of digital media has given print media a strange new power. Think of how special it is to get a written letter as opposed to an email,” he writes. “If you’re trying to target a C-level audience, forget email — their assistant will just hit delete. But if you take your e-book, print it as a nice brochure and mail it to the exec’s office, it might get to their desk and leave a lasting impression.”

Others point to print’s abilities to reach a hyper-local market, and its appeal to the luxury buyer, both common threads in our discussions lately.

Crystal balls? Nobody’s got one. But from what we see around us every day, the ability of print ads to reach the right audience is only growing in our digital age. And that makes the future looks pretty bright from here.