Five Minutes: Five things that are good to know
What we’re hearing:
If you ask a group of converters – any size, anywhere in the US – about the biggest issues facing their company – recruitment and retention will always be at the top of the list. In this year’s State of the Industry report from Print+Promo magazine, Andrew D. Paparozzi, chief economist, SGIA noted “For the Printing Industry, the challenge isn’t simply a cyclical problem … it’s also structural – an old economy image that makes it difficult to recruit young talent.”
At the latest FLAG (Flexo Label Advantage Group) annual meeting, renowned millennial speaker Ryan Jenkins shared the three top things the next generation want to know about an organization:
- Culture and values
- Perks and Benefits
- Employee Perspectives
And here’s a handy tip that surprised us – the top platform the next generation uses to learn about an employer? Not Google, SnapChat, Twitter or Instagram – but YouTube! What kind of videos will prospective employees find on your YouTube channel?
What we’re researching:
….That formidable European market report of all formidable European market reports, the FINAT RADAR!
We’ve been speaking with European label sourcing peeps, talking about their label volume consumption projections for 2020 and their plans with label designs and application technologies.
One of the central questions we ask brands and packaging buyers when we’re putting together the FINAT RADAR is what type of decoration migrations they’re anticipating in the coming year. This allows us to track growth in the shrink sleeve, in-mold and other non self-adhesive (pressure sensitive) markets.
As the graph below indicates, we’re seeing an increased allegiance to pressure-sensitive in both Europe and the U.S. and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues. Note: Percentages add up to more than 100 due to some companies choosing more than one decoration migration.
What we’re going:
This past fall, Judy Abelman has been our intrepid road warrior. She ran our Ohio office over the summer; presented at the summit on social media in labels and packaging in Chicago in September; helped organize and run the FLAG Annual Meeting in Rochester in October; then was back to Chicago and on to Greensboro, NC to help two of our clients (Graymills and Acucote) start strategizing for 2020. Hard to believe it’s already time to be thinking about next year, but it is – especially if you want to grab the best advertising and digital opportunities.
What we’re writing:
Not able to make it to TLMI printTHINK this year? We had a great time speaking on the “Marketing Makeover” panel. The hardest part was condensing social media tips and tricks for the label and packaging industry down to just one presentation so we wrote up our 8 favorite ways to drive traffic through social media and put them in our latest LPC blog –
take a look. We love creating social media content that drives interest and leads for our clients.
What we’re thinking about:
How much we appreciate the trust of our clients for their marketing research and marketing communications needs. We’ve had very healthy growth this year – and we’re fortunate to work every day with some of the most progressive and challenging companies in the industry. And we’re looking forward to spending time over the next week or two recharging our energy, and eating, drinking and laughing with family and friends.
Happy holidays to one and all!