The event at ContiTech’s Northeim, Germany, headquarters presented speakers from print sites and vendor partners, in addition to the host.

ContiTech’s Markus Gnass told visitors, “Newspaper printing companies will continue to be successful and to work economically if they embrace innovative ideas and new approaches.

“Publishers need to see themselves as service providers for their customers and not purely as information mediums.”

Other speakers include WAN-Ifra director Manfred Werfel, focussing on innovative products in newspaper printing. Among practical examples he talked of Brazilian daily newspaper Correio de Bahia, which reinvented itself with a complete redesign and employed unusual marketing campaigns to almost triple its paid circulation figures and share of young readers within just three years.

Allgäuer Zeitung established a foothold as a local brand with campaigns under the name of Griaß di`, which had a powerful impact on the market. He says the German daily newspaper has a well-designed online participatory portal for Griaß di`, publishes a free monthly magazine of the same name, hosts events from Oktoberfest to Hüttengaudi under the brand name, and markets brand products ranging from baby socks and Seppelhüte (traditional Bavarian hats) to six-packs of beer with a matching mug under the label.

Interesting technical solutions including formats such as half cover or flying page, open up or bottom down, or even super panoramas are another way for printing companies to reposition themselves in the market. Unusual advertising methods such as adhesive advertising posters or booklets with discount coupons are ideas that could respark interest among advertising customers and consumers alike.

In his conclusion, Werfel argued that there is one thing that makes newspapers virtually unbeatable: You can take them with you wherever you go and read them anytime and anywhere in the world.

More creative ideas came from Klaus Schmidt of press maker KBA, who showed a supplement from Würzburg daily Main-Post, featuring five advertising formats: By folding, glueing and perforating, three panorama pages were combined with two zips designed to be ripped open.

“Using this level of creativity, printed media can secure additional brand advertising,” he says.

Oswald Grütter of Swiss consultancy quality&more explained the importance of quality assurance and process excellence. “The good-quality appearance of a newspaper does not start with printing,” he says. “It starts a lot earlier with good photography and suitable editing – a modern layout must be aligned to the process, the printing ink, and the format.

“Printing companies need to master all of their processes perfectly at each stage of production and produce high-quality and cost-efficient publications. This includes standardising work processes just as much as standardising all output systems,” he says. “However, it is not the technology itself that determines the quality but rather the employees who operate the technology.”

Manfred Janssens, production manager at Belgian waterless newspaper plant EPC discussed the potential for energy savings. The company uses ‘green’ production techniques including waterless printing and internal optimisation to achieve huge savings on water and energy costs.

Cooling on presses using compressors, pumps, and towers is being replaced by free cooling in a cooling tower – outside temperatures permitting. Air conditioning systems in the press hall had been “significantly down-regulated” after switching to direct cooling, and water from a lake was being used instead of fresh water.

And he says waterless printing “represents a new standard of printing and offers outstanding benefits and perfect printing quality”.

Hans Leuenberger of Müller Martini talked about flexible mailroom technology: “Newspapers not only offer an unparalleled mix of information and entertainment and constitute an ideal advertising medium, but they are also a masterstroke of logistics – current, punctual, and updated every single day,” he says.

Pictured: WAN-Ifra’s Manfred Werfel (Photo: ContiTech)