What positives are you able to draw on from the experiences of 2022?
When business faces significant challenges, it spurs innovation to overcome them, and this is the single most positive experience of 2022. We have seen print businesses, technology and material developers and our suppliers work with a very significant degree of tenacity to find ways to excite and engage print buying markets. They have ensured print not only remains relevant as a communication and market medium, but indeed we are seeing green shoots of growth and new demand opening up as marketeers and business owners utilise print as a trusted medium that can engage, excite and inform their target audience.

What trend (business or technology) do you think has been accelerated because of the impact of inflation?
The single biggest trend has been the drive for automation utilising advanced software and machinery that can streamline print workflows from the moment a customer engages with a print business through to shipping. The less manual touchpoints there are, the more it frees up print production staff to be more productive and efficient. The drive for innovation to reduce running costs in the face of inflation has also ensured that there is less material wastage and lower energy consumption per unit of productivity on a new wave of print and finishing technology that is coming on stream.

What do you think will represent the single biggest opportunity for printers in 2023 and why?
There is a very significant opportunity for printers to capitalise on a very high level of digital fatigue in the general consumer base. If they can reach out to their customers with samples of innovative, engaging and even personalised print products – demonstrating how they can deliver on their marketing and communication objectives – printers can capitalise on this growing trend.

What are your hopes for 2023?
Our industry is innovative and tenacious, but what really undermines it is instability. The feedback we have had from our members is that even if the economy is depressed or there is a challenging market, stability of those challenges can be overcome. So my biggest hope would be for market stability and a higher level of predictability returning.

What piece of advice do you wish you had been given in December 2021 to prepare you for the year you’ve just had?
Be prepared that the norms of market demand will be upended and that every project needs to have several layers of contingency built into it.

What was your word or phrase of the year in 2022?
Compassion.

What, if anything, will you do differently in 2023?
We will spend even more time speaking to each and every one of our members to understand the challenges they face and help point them in the direction of market opportunity.

What’s your favourite Christmas cracker joke?
Why did the burger win the race? Because it was fast food.

Are you making any New Year's resolutions? If so, what?
Keep calm and carry on.