My eyebrows shot heavenwards when I read elsewhere that Unite, the union behemoth that encompasses workers in the printing industry, was canning the printed version of its quarterly members' magazine United in favour of a cheaper digital version to be distributed via email. Good news for the union's coffers, perhaps, but not so great for printer Wyndeham Heron although the title is no doubt small beer in the overall scheme of things that are high on Wyndeham's priority list right now.

Fortunately PrintWeek's Adam Hooker stepped in to ascertain the facts of the matter, and a swift rebuttal was issued by Unite. Yes, they are adding digital communications, but not at the complete expense of printed matter. Hoorah! With around two million members Unite is the country's biggest union and I did wonder how on earth they would be able to keep track of all those transient email addresses. Assuming all members have access to email, that is. Perhaps this explains why the e-magazine will be sent to a trial readership of 120,000 in the first place.

Having looked at the digital version here, my suggestion would be that the union would do well to look at a more targeted, multi-channel communications plan involving relevant and tailored content for members in the 24 industrial sectors it embraces. They don't have to look very far to find a sophisticated print service provider or two who could help.

Meanwhile, delighted to see that Royal Bank of Scotland sees the benefit in getting its message directly into people's hands and is upping the run of its Sense customer magazine (published by John Brown, printed by Southernprint) by 300,000 to 1.5m.