Transcript
So we are complete again.
Georgette and Minna, the stage is yours.
Looking forward again from MH and P and Gelato to learn a little bit more about branding and marketing. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Good.
And thank you for staying.
Appreciate that.
Minna, I appreciate you being here.
I wanna ask you.
Yeah. Why the trend?
Personalisation, everything, but what about risk takers?
Christophe got up here and marketing people they’re trailblazers.
They have to be.
And I’d like to empower everyone, couple of words, on doing new, taking risks in marketing, trying new products. A lot of folks have been at my stand.
Oh, we’ve been thinking about canvas.
We’ve been thinking about mugs. We’ve been thinking about whatever.
How do you help as a marketing person getting folks to embrace something new?
It’s a good question.
So let me let me start to introduce myself. My name is Minna Philipson.
I am the CMO for Gelato.
I don’t come from print. I’ve been in print for about three years. Before that I had a long career, in Adidas and I was CMO for Pandora Jewelry. I was head of marketing for TAG Heuer, and also I’ve done some work in sort of transport, audio tech. So I come from quite a different perspective and excited to bring that perspective hopefully valuable to print.
So I think that my reflections on being in print is that it’s an industry that’s facing a lot of really interesting challenges and also opportunity.
It’s an industry that’s facing a generational shift first and foremost.
It’s an industry that’s facing changes in how print operates, going from bigger batches, more B2C, smaller, smaller print runs, more increases in personalisation.
It’s an industry that loves hardware, but has not yet really faced the digital transformation that has, you know, driven significant change and disrupted a lot of industries.
Well, I think print is really on the on the cusp of all of those changes.
And what I observe is that it’s quite often intimidating and a lot of people are sort of a little bit scared to lean in. But I think as we saw in the presentation just now there is also a lot of opportunities for the people that do lean in and that do embrace the new. And I think that the people that are so it’s not going to be perfect but the people that lean in on this journey and that, you know, focus on personalisation, focus on digitalisation, focus on new technologies also really stand to to win big. I think it’s rarely been more important to be an a first mover.
So we have a mix of B2C and of course e commerce is huge.
Where do you see huge markets opportunities? So b to b, b to c, you’ve been in both.
Right now you’re in b to b pretty much, but you’ve been in b to c, TAG Heuer, you know. And a lot of people could have said, well, after Rolex, the luxury watch market is done. But there was always room for the new guy. So empowering that person who comes along second.
I mean, when I think about it, the trailblazers and the internet in the beginning, AOL, Yahoo, a lot of people thought, oh, the market’s full. And the Google guys said, no, the market’s not full and we’ve got something better. So there’s empowerment to be found in every story that’s out there from a marketing and a creative standpoint. But it’s it’s that courage.
It’s that So I happen to have the pleasure of working and the privilege of working with someone who was one of those original trailblazers.
You know, we’re not the youngest Gen Z, but there are a lot of trailblazers. When I think of John Doe, who was a trailblazer in print to begin with, right?
Back in the eighties, printing on equipment that you would laugh at today. It belongs in a museum. It wasn’t that long ago. So the the pace is very, very fast and the investment, especially for manufacturers is big.
So there’s a lot of risk out there. So my question comes back to it and I maybe people maybe there are ways now to take less risk and embrace something new.
Where do you see those opportunities?
Well, so I think first and foremost the the B2B and B2C distinction.
Most of the time the B2B are influenced by the B2C. So when there are consumer trends, sooner or later they also impact business.
And I think personalisation is one of those trends. That’s interesting.
And I think personalisation is one of those trends. So we’ve seen years and years and years of globalisation where big brands they go global and if you go to Milan or if you go to New York or if you go to Stockholm, the high street looks the same. The shops are more or less the same ones, and everyone starts looking the same.
And I think that whenever you have a trend that is that dominant you also have a parallel counter trend and that is that people then say I want something that’s special. I want something that’s made for me.
And you know there you have like the monograms, the things that are, you you know, and you even see Zara now selling, you know, selling all kinds of things that you can actually personalize and you can put your name on it or you can decide what message goes on it. So I think that’s that’s the trend, the first trend. I also think the second trend is that we’re getting, you know, ten years ago if you bought a car and you went to Mercedes in Stuttgart and you bought a car and then two years later you walk into Mercedes in Berlin, you’re not expecting them. Ten years ago you didn’t expect them to know you.
You didn’t expect them. You would tell them I bought this car. I bought it in Stuttgart. It’s over there and they, you know, nod and smile.
Today, if I walk into Mercedes in Berlin and I bought a car in Stuttgart or anywhere else I’m expecting them to have a record of me to know exactly what car I had before to know exactly you know what the upgrade is what the recommendations are for me. So it’s a we’re getting used to giving up data and information about ourselves. We’re getting used to companies storing that data. And as a consequence, we ex we expect a different service.
We expect a different, a different level of personalisation. And I think that that then transcends into the print industry and continue on the car example.
Ten years ago, you would probably print, you know if you were a you know a provider to Mercedes you would print ten thousand of the same catalogues.
Today you’re probably being asked to print ten thousand individual catalogues that are going out to Peter who last time bought this model in red. And now the new model is coming out and we’re recommending based on Peter’s options the new car that he would likely would likely buy. So I think that those trends is a lot that consumer trends sooner or later sort of make themselves into into B2B.
And I can go on on the challenges that that brings and the solutions that I think especially on the personalisation topic.
But yeah, that’s how I see it.
So I’m curious, how many in the audience here are involved in personalisation already?
Okay. And is everyone else who’s here interested in that? Is that a topic that, okay. So because I’m gonna challenge Minna on something she said. If I walked into Berlin and I said, well, you know, I bought a car a couple years ago in Stuttgart and they said, oh, yeah, Georgia, we know you. I would run the other way.
I would feel like my privacy has been Maybe I live in Germany too long. I don’t know.
But who would be with Minute and go, Oh, yeah, hi. And who’d be with me and go run the other way? So who’s in Minute’s team?
And who’s on my team?
I see. See we’re all shy. Like the hands went up like this, right? So, but it’s so it’s very challenging for companies.
People like me do exist.
And in the world of personalisation, if someone gifted me a beach towel and it had my name on it, I I would cut it up into rags. Like, it would be I know. Isn’t that awful? So, personalisation for me, I want, like, the company to know, but it doesn’t have to be public.
So there are a lot of, I think, personalisation opportunities in the private arena.
So I called my bank, they knew who I was. My telephone number is in there. Or or any other provider where I’ve given them my telephone number and I call and they answer the phone. They know who I am. They know what my maybe what my issue is, my last correspondence.
I love that kind of personalisation because I think it allows a higher level of service.
And I think, for example, you’re working with software that is trying to provide a higher level of service too, at that level. So, but I want to talk about, for, for the folks here who are invite, involved in personalisation.
One of the trends we see coming is we’ve been very focused on the towel that has someone’s name on it or the sleeping bag or the hat. But what about B2B? So if you own a company and a lot of you are company owners or managers in companies, this whole idea of onboarding someone with company corporate, SWAG.
Right? And the opportunity to have a relationship even with your preferred provider.
And you’ve got eight articles listed and already planned out. And you allow a personalisation, a personalized onboarding for someone. Are they gonna wear a t shirt or a mug or are they gonna like a hat? And I I think that’s one of the trends that one of the biggest shoppers out there are gonna be small companies.
I mean, they’re the backbone of all the economies around the world. Everybody talks about the large corporations, but they’re not the ones who actually employ the majority of people. It’s small business that do. And small business competes against those big guys.
So using personalisation at the B2B level for an onboarding, for example, or for someone’s ten year anniversary, remembering that and personalizing brings loyalty, I think, to a company.
And you wear where you’re at. And I think it’s a, it’s an opportunity for print service providers to offer.
It’s bulk purchase, but on an individual basis.
And I think it’s an opportunity for business owners to provide to provide loyalty on medium, small, medium sized companies.
Am I am I talking about a trend that you agree with?
So I’m not fully sure what the question is.
Well, it’s Yeah. It could be. It’s it’s personalisation.
One of the trends I see is less b to c than b to b. Offering corporations, small companies, I’m not gonna call them corporations, I’m gonna say companies, the opportunity to, personalize something like onboarding or anniversaries combining company swag, loyalty with personalized objects but the purchaser is not then a consumer, right?
It’s a No and I mean that that’s what I what I what I mean when I say the the car brochures have gone from the same brochure to everyone to the the brochure that’s particularly relevant for you and I think that that you know is is is one B2C though? I was sorry. No, no, no, no. Yeah, no, no, not necessarily because you’re still providing for Mercedes. You’re still providing for Mercedes. Mercedes are just you know, so it’s a b2b relationship. It’s just that Mercedes they have in turn customers that they service and their customers especially when you’re talking about higher price point products are no longer happy with the one size fits all they want something that is made just for them and I think the if I take that from a macro perspective like what does that mean for a printer?
That means that where you used to produce ten thousand and one now you’re producing ten thousand Now you’re producing one ten thousand times So the batch sizes become smaller, become smaller and smaller and the print runs become shorter and shorter and I think that has that’s really like a core issue for printing because as you if you’re set up for, you know, print runs and I think there’s a stat that says like print runs used to be on average three thousand and today it’s like below three hundred. So it’s like a significant shift. And if you were set up to do the former then and now doing the latter, you’re gonna you’re gonna start feeling that in your profitability. Like there is complexity.
There is like a different way of operating and that is gonna be a lot more manual, a lot more time consuming and you start feeling that on your profit margin. That’s where I start pitching software because we think well the company that I work for and what we think is that the solution to that there is a way to do this to do micro orders profitably But you need to rethink software. And that’s where I come from the this is an industry that loves a big sexy machine and and who does not love a big sexy machine?
But how do you run that machine? How are you how are your different workflows connected?
Is your procurement and your inventory automated?
Are you, you know, optimized in logistics in terms of sending the right size package?
And I think, you know, we talked about print on demand earlier and I know that that’s something that that you look at as well.
It’s still not as as big as the b to b business, but I I think it’s a really interesting way of looking at how you can change print.
And I think print on demand is interesting because it it leads in terms of automation and in terms of looking at software differently.
I think it’s also a wonder it gives a wonderful opportunity to personalize items. We have to be careful though that we’re not asking for digital print on demand personalized product at offset pre prices. That’s, that’s a big challenge that manufacturers have. Everyone is so used to paying the prices of ten thousand of these, right?
So, it only costs three cents. And now I only produce one and of course it doesn’t cost three cents. So, there’s a lot of challenges in this marketplace and I’m not really sure. Well, we we have a long road ahead of us.
There’s a lot of, dynamic. And now we look at AI, what’s happening. Every week, there’s a new release out there.
And this is something how many of you are manufacturers that have actual hard inventory, right? And managing machines and trying to buy machines that are going to be as adaptable as they can. I see one of my clients in the audience. I hope our machines are as flexible for his, changing, daily changing business as they possibly could be.
We try to think ahead and that’s challenge for manufacturers. And you’re visiting here a lot of manufacturers, We’re challenged by that all every single day. I think the software guys have a little bit of an advantage because when they issue a new release, they just do a download. When we issue a new release, it’s not a download, it’s a new machine.
So, here we are living the the pairing of it. I see Frank getting a little antsy here. Are we at the end?
We could talk another half hour.
Can I can I say one minute? Yes. Just minute. Can I make the monde the final word? Yes.
The car industry is, like, ninety nine point six percent automation.
The print industry is, on average, about fifty percent. Like, that is not because the print industry can’t be automated. It’s because it hasn’t happened yet and like AI, I understand a lot of people think AI, you know, it’s scary and you know for sure there are some ethical questions we can debate not right now But I think that AI is such an enormous opportunity and I just I just wanna give an example in terms of automation because it’s very fresh in my mind, but we we had a customer, a PSP in the US who had said yes to a new a new customer and they, had been onboarding that customer for about nine months.
So I’m not I’m sure many of you have been in that situation and incredibly painful and they, you know, they want more business but the actual onboarding process is so manual and so painful. And, our team of very, very incredibly intelligent developers who absolutely love AI, they in two days, built an AI agent and they did three hundred thousand products. So this this PSP had managed to do a hundred and eighty products in six months. They did three hundred thousand products in eight days.
And now that is automated. So the next p n sits in our software. So the next PSP who wants to onboard this customer and uses our software can onboard that customer in approximately five seconds.
Like that is, you know, that is the power and the opportunity of technology and of AI.
And and I know that it’s it’s scary and it’s a learning curve. So my my final advice is, partner with someone who leads.
You don’t have to know if you have the right partner. So partner with someone who leads. I’m obviously gonna make a case for for us being leading. But if it’s not us, I would say find someone else who leads and and don’t let the fact that it’s unknown hold you back.
Good words to Livan. Thank you very much. Good luck in all of your businesses. These are challenging times.
I’m really impressed to see everybody here. We were wondering, are people concerned? You know, economies worldwide, everything’s a lot of change. So it’s really great to have an exchange and look for new inspiration.
And there’s a lot here at the trade show and even just lots of the conversations going on. It’s really terrific. So stop by, see us, look for us. Mena and I, we’re on the same stand actually over in hall twenty five on, stand five.
And everybody else here who’s at these tables, they’re also gonna offer exciting insights and conversations.
Thank you.
Thanks. And when I take the right now that I have the microphone, normally I ask question the audience. I have now one.
Which of the processes you just said, the whole workflow, why don’t you tell me a little bit can really help in different areas to improve the process of production more efficiently?
So today and mark my words when I say today, today our focus is digital product based workflow, but it’s an ends it’s an end to end software solution that you’re buying, your inventory management, all the way through to your workflow and your logistics solutions. So the uniqueness about Gelato Connect is that it goes end to end for digital product based printing. So if you have, you know, web to print customers, if you have, you know, big volume owners like Cloud Printer, Minted, you know, those types of customers, this is a software that basically automates everything from beginning to end.
Great. It’s just And and and a great logistics module, she said. I didn’t I didn’t add a word, but, a a great logistics module.
Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions from the audience? It’s the last session today, the last of the personalisation experience.
Now or never, don’t leave me hanging out here, but I’m also happy to just call it a day. The last three days were an absolute blast. You were a terrific audience.
I have done this for many years, but I have to say this was a very well attended personalisation experience. I appreciate how much time you spent to join us here. I appreciate what the speakers did. My name is Frank Tuckmanter, and I thank you very much for being part of FESPA twenty twenty five. Have a great evening.
See you next year.