Digitial Printing Council Forms Alliance With PRIMIR

SEWICKLEY, Pa. & RESTON, Va.—As part of its Digital Print 2007 initiative, the Digital Printing Council, a core service of PIA/GATF (Printing Industries of America, Inc. and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation), today announces that it has formed an alliance with PRIMIR. PRIMIR, the Print Industries Market Information and Research organization formed when GAMIS and NPES Market Research merged in 2005, will provide unique, in-demand content for PIA/GATF DPC members. PRIMIR content based on its unique research will appear as a regular feature in Digital Printing Report.

The first PRIMIR content appears in the January issue of Digital Printing Report. The Digital Printing Report is a monthly newsletter containing industry news, trends and data relating to analysis of the digital printing market. The newsletter, distributed to DPC’s premiere members and available online, is also being bound into PIA/GATF’s Management Portfolio and GATFWORLD magazines as an insert in 2007.

“This is a tremendous value-add for our members,” says PIA/GATF CEO Michael Makin. “Our strategic emphasis on digital printing in 2007 mandates that we provide the best and most relevant information to our members, and what we will be able to give them through our own extensive resources, as well as courtesy of PRIMIR, is exactly that: high caliber, quality research that complements perfectly our existing and new digital printing programs. We’re always happy to be able to collaborate and combine our extensive resources and expertise with organizations such as PRIMIR for the benefit of our members.”

“From the time PRIMIR was formed, Michael Makin and I agreed that we would find ways to bring PIA/GATF members PRIMIR’s important, and very relevant, industry data,” says William K. “Kip” Smythe, PRIMIR president. “Our content contributions to the Digital Print Report is the first step, and we are confident that PIA/GATF members will consequently seek further PRIMIR information and possibly participate in PRIMIR research activities.”

Jackie Bland, PRIMIR’s managing director, says her colleagues and PRIMIR’s board were quick to approve the plan. “PIA/GATF gives us the opportunity to reach not only more printers, but printers who, given their membership in PIA/GATF, are predisposed to appreciating the worthiness of the in-depth research we provide.”

“The value of what we are getting from PRIMIR can not be overstated,” says Digital Printing Council Director Julie Shaffer. PRIMIR, she says, is giving PIA/GATF members significant slices of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of primary research.

“PRIMIR offers quality material on par with what we generate here at PIA/GATF; but fills in some important subject-area gaps.”

And because PIA/GATF will bring its productivity-oriented analysis to the PRIMIR research—thereby drawing connections between PRIMIR findings and members’ real-world applications—PIA/GATF members gain even more benefits from the relationship.

PRIMIR’s Unique Methodology
Printing industry experts hold PRIMIR research in high esteem for many reasons. One of the primary factors in making the research so desirable is the organization’s unique methodology. To begin with, the organization employs a multi-faceted process for selecting research topics. PRIMIR surveys both PRIMIR and NPES members regarding market research study topics every year. The PRIMIR Executive Committee compiles a list based on that input, and this list is sent out to PRIMIR and NPES members for ranking. The result is a proposed roster of topics that are identified for funding.

A PRIMIR “task force” is charged with determining the best course of action for each study. The task force actually looks at all PRIMIR industry segments—such as printer, paper, ink/chemicals, equipment, presses, and supplies, and collaboratively determines the key issues and challenges for study. PRIMIR market research is designed and managed by the PRIMIR members themselves. Industry and subject experts are commissioned for the studies in which extensive interviews, surveys and review of secondary research are conducted. Recent research topics include package printing, trends in printing processes and run lengths, the future of catalogs, electronic displacement of print, and color proofing dynamics.