What is Pre-media? – You Must be Kidding….Part I

Bear with me OK, this blog does eventually get onto Pre-media and why people are asking what it is. Firstly though; what a time we had here at Tunicca last week! The first trade show for our company and now we have had time for our sore feet recover and  analyse our participation at mediaPro 09. Despite the number of trade shows I have done in the past the physical demands involved in standing on a stand for a predetermined number of days never fails to surprise me.  I am pleased to say that the sore feet, back, neck, etc. have now all subsided – and it was only a 2 day show this time, I must be getting old!

I must say that it seems an age ago since last Tuesday’s preparation and the very slight panic that we felt when we realised that we our graphics hadn’t arrived at the venue. At that point in time we had a shell scheme but no Tunicca messages or brand colours! Thankfully our printer rushed the banners to us in time (thanks Paddy) and we were up and running and ready for action.

I have to say that our overriding impression of mediaPro 09 was the incredible amount of people who asked what Pre-media is. What is even more amazing is that this was a show that held Pre-media as a core element of its focus. So why is it that so many, upon looking at our stand, asked us….“so what is Pre-media then?” Is the term really that new? I think not – just ask the  representative of RR Donnelleys who recently insisted that it has been around since 1995 (highly debatable, but I will let Gary tell you the reasons why we contest this).

Anyway that is a small point and the important issue here is that, despite its now widespread use, there seems to be either confusion or total ignorance surrounding this important area.  In Part II of ‘What is Pre-media? – You Must be Kidding…’ we expand on the definition that we recently posted on Wikipedia. ‘Pre-media’ is a term that used so frequently now across the industry and it is a widely accepted part of the media supply chain – so why is there so much uncertainty?

Whilst I am on the subject of Pre-media, here in the UK I must congratulate the efforts of the BPIF (British Printing Industries Federation) who have emraced this whole area by starting an offshoot called DotGain.org. The organisation has been created to assist the traditional UK print sector in satisfying the demand of creatives and marketeers in CPC’s, publishers and advertisers to exploit all of the new access channels that they have to consumers. This should be interesting to watch and, if they want us to, be involved in. The big question is whether it will breathe new life into printers’ pre-press departments across the country as they adapt and flex to meet new demands imposed by this new era – or will it be a missed opportunity? Either way Tunicca will be on hand to help!

Author: Sean Runchman

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

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