Thousands of printers have celebrated International Print Day on social media and in events around the world with a bigger reach than last year.
The campaign, now in its second year, aims to promote open global knowledge sharing and networking among print workers, by encouraging them to share print-related content on social media.
It takes place entirely on social media, with the stated objective to get #IPD15 and #PrintNOW trending so it is noticed by tech savvy businesses, marketeers and consumers.
Numerous Australian companies participated including KW Doggett, Carbon8, Dolphinworx, Cartwheel Printing, Pepper Print, Same Day Printing, Eclipse Print, MBE, and Vivid Print.
Examples of elaborate print jobs, photos from office parties, celebratory print discounts, 100 brilliant print ads, Australia Post bashing, and discussion of print’s environmental credentials were some of the highlights on Aussie social media feeds.
[Related: IPD14 highlights]
Efforts to celebrate the day offline were less successful, with a breakfast in Melbourne only attended by four people apart from the organisers and speakers, and an accompanying webinar by another four, despite much bigger expectations.
Dolphinworx chief executive Stephanie Gaddin, who organised the breakfast and tweeted constantly throughout the day, says while attendance was disappointing, the global social media effort was more effective than last year.
“While we hoped for a lot more people, it is only the second year of International Print Day and our first breakfast so it takes a while to build up and you can’t dwell on it,” she says.
“Because we had an intimate number of people were able to have a really good discussion about how printers can use social media in their businesses, and other issues.”
Two Sides Australia executive director Kellie Northwood and Future Print’s Peter Barnett spoke at the breakfast with Kim Taunt from Dataforms Printing, Wayne Eastaugh and Lee Robinson from Marvel Bookbinding, and graphic designer Natalie Bourke as guests.
Gaddin says everyone involved had a good time and will give it another go next year with better pre-event marketing.
Global organisers says 1362 participants around the world shared 7793 #IPD15 tweets, and posted content that reached more than 27 million Twitter feeds over the 26 hour event.
This is compared to 1271 participants sharing 8683 #IPD14 tweets and posting content that reached more than 23 million feeds last year.
Posted content included samples of work from printers around the world; examples of print’s effectiveness; tips and ideas on printing, selling and marketing techniques; pro-print messages and slogans; print-related humour; and a whole lot of self-promotion.
More than a year after its creation, Ikea’s much-loved ‘book-book’ parody catalogue ad was also doing the rounds again.
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