The objective of printing for PAS 2020 is to use organizations that manage the environmental impacts of producing printed DM communications.
The greenDM.co.uk web site has been developed to be used in conjunction with the BSI PAS 2020:2009 standard. The environmental performance relating to the level needs to be used in conjunction with the PAS 2020:2009 document.
Printing touches many aspects of a direct marketing campaign and can have a profound effect upon your communications strategy and on the environmental effectiveness of a campaign. So despite the rise in popularity of on line channels the use of printed products still remains an effective way to communicate and can complement on line marketing techniques.
Commitment
There are around 10,000 printing companies in the UK that utilise a range of printing techniques. However there are only around 300 that have invested resources in reducing the environmental impact of their business over and above what is already their legal requirement.
This commitment means gaining various accreditations that are audited and being able to demonstrate the printing companies’ commitment and awareness to environmental concerns.
This commitment means gaining various accreditations that are audited and being able to demonstrate the printing companies’ commitment and awareness to environmental concerns.
Print and Direct Marketing
Methods used for the printing of direct marketing products encompasses a wide variety of different processes depending upon the products being produced and the volume required.
Inserts could for example be produced using sheet fed, web offset, gravure or even digital printing. The two key factors that drive a decision as to which process is appropriate are (i) the format (ie. the insert size and folding required) and (ii) volume.
While inserts and brochures in direct mail packs can be produced using the methods described above the personalised letter for direct mail (or application form perhaps) will be produced using either sheet fed, digital or continuous printed stationery. The latter method using ultra violet cured inks. And in some cases, companies can produce the base stationery using web offset printing for subsequent laser printing in order to gain greater economies of scale compared to other methods.
The print and personalisation process described above is completed in a two stages. First the stationery printing is completed and then as a separate process personalisation of the product takes place - either as a flat sheet and then folding it, or as a roll of paper which is then cut and folded to size in one process or as an additional third part of the process.
And there are more options: It is also possible to produce personalised products in one complete operation from a roll of paper to a completed printed, personalised and folded product using either high speed digital printing or even faster web offset printing as a in line process.
Other printing techniques may include flexographic printing for the production of envelopes, and possibly silk screen printing for point of sale. When field marketing is employed as a channel for example, then screen printed point of sale products may be used as part of the branding/communication channel mix.
It is important therefore to understand that each printing technique has a different effect upon the environmental impact of the direct marketing campaign for which it is being used, whether it is the amount of carbon generated, the type of inks and the amount of paper that needs to be utilised for the process.
The costs associated with each method of printing can vary greatly and so the impact of each process on cost can effect the ability of a campaign to generate an acceptable return on investment. It could for example be impractical from a scheduling and cost perspective to produce everything using sheet fed printing with vegetable based inks; it may even be that this method of production for higher volume campaigns is more detrimental from a carbon footprint perspective too, compared to alternative, faster production methods and using an alternative paper.
Marketing Communications Management
What is certain is that the less print produced then the lower the environmental impact a campaign will have. In order to achieve this, what needs to be considered is the introduction of a planned method to help understand the value of each channel used in a marketing campaign; how it delivers value to the recipient in both isolation and as part of a mixed series of messages deployed across all the different channels available. This method can be more simply described as “channel optimisation”. It uses a mixture of multi channel marketing, measurement and analysis to help define the optimum channel(s) that should be used, in what order they should be used and which messages and creative should be used, to drive a better return on marketing spend and because we live in a multi-channel world with print touching so many parts of our everyday lives, it must seriously consider the inclusion of print.
Now your print spend could reduce and provide you with significant cost savings whilst maintaining or increasing the return on investment. This should be considered when used as part of a planned approach that will assist in determining who to communicate to, whether this is on or offline, or both. In addition to then effectively managing the communication outputs.
In order to carry out this process of assessing what the most appropriate print process for your campaign will be, and how it will complement the other most appropriate channels, the right mix of software used by the right people is a key requirement, not only to manage complex research and analysis, but also to assist with the management of the supply chain which drices significant cost reduction.
To deliver all this there are companies that now offer this mix of software, people and experience to deliver an end to end approach, using the right mix of the following disciplines...
...it delivers powerful results.
This is “Marketing Communications Management”.
Visit the Dialogue Solutions website
Level 1
Printed DM communications shall be produced by organizations that:
a) document a commitment to environmental management and establish a baseline for environmental performance;
b) identify and have controls in place to ensure compliance with environmental legislation and other environmental requirements (e.g. standards, codes of practice and/or guidance); and
c) develop environmental objectives, targets and programmes.
Level 2
Printed DM communications shall be produced by organizations that have an environmental management system conforming to BS EN ISO 14001.
Level 3
In addition to Level 2, printed DM communications shall be produced by organizations that publicly report on their environmental performance. This reporting shall include information on how the organizations are performing against the environmental objectives and targets they set themselves in accordance with BS EN ISO 14001.