Anthony Thirlby is Managing Director of ESP Colour, one of the UK’s most respected independent commercial printers.

Since the start of your career what has been the biggest change in media?The Internet. It’s had a huge transitional impact on print. Another big change is the rate at which you now have to change your business strategy. We used to be able to forecast three years ahead; now we are lucky if we can look three weeks ahead. On a daily or weekly basis we are responding to changes in technology.

What is the most important media now?For me, a printed product backed up by an online campaign. My wife still buys every glossy magazine that exists. Magazine advertising still influences her buying decisions, from fashion to cars. If print is aligned with what’s online I think it works very well.

Google and Amazon promoted themselves just online. Are they an exception or can other brands do it too?In my opinion the mix should always be there. It’s a combination of all media channels that helps you deliver your message to a customer. I don’t foresee a time when all brands solely advertise online. Google and Amazon are examples of an exceptional time in the development of the Internet.

Who is showing excellence in integrated communication?Apple over the last five years have been head and shoulders above anyone else, because of the reinvention of what they do through TV, online and print.

Do you personally ‘tweet’?No. I do use Facebook. The fantastic thing about social networking is it gives you a window back to your past. That’s what I use it for. Twitter is great for celebrities, it’s a great way to control their brand. Our business is on Twitter and Facebook to connect with the new generation of customers that is now emerging.

What role can social media play for brands?I have actually been very surprised with Facebook that the advertising is not right in your face. Social media can manipulate brands into people’s mindsets in a very subtle way.

They’re advertising in the background. Facebook seem to be very in tune with its users, and what they expect or will tolerate from online advertising.

Who advises your customers on creating better print work?We take it upon our business development teams and ourselves. Unfortunately we do that in a very small percentage of orders because we rarely have the opportunity to do so. Most people involved in buying print are not trained in print production. There isn’t much dialogue, communication, development or improvement around a print job. I always suggest to any customer to get us involved as soon as possible. Let us participate in the brief and you will never end up with a bad product.

Print is shifting from a marketing to procurement responsibility. How does this affect you?That’s been a huge problem for us, because when it goes into procurement it becomes about unit cost. We all know that it isn’t that simple. Buying a paper clip is not the same as buying print. It amazes me that people still think we’re simply pressing a button and a finished product comes out. Customers are astonished at the capital investment and write downs we have to make, but it doesn’t change their buying practice.

Do you have strategic suppliers?We have aligned ourselves with four or five key suppliers, including paper merchants. The biggest concern I have as an industry is that we keep trying to beat each other on price. I don’t understand why this trade can’t get around the table every couple of months to set industry practices. We have a couple of industry federations, but I do not notice them addressing the urgent issues. They are too detached from the actual marketplace, for example they are still working on the basis that print is a skill. Yes printers need to know the basic processes, but today it’s more about organisation and desire. You’ve got to want to beat your schedule for the day and want to produce a fantastic job for your customer.

What is the next evolution in print that you would like to see?From a business point of view I would like our customers to engage in more dialogue with us. Then I would like to see some industry standardisation - establish good working practice. The question is how?

If print is aligned with what’s online I think it works very well.

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