We also have global strengths, and nowhere are these clearer than with the Two Sides movement. The initiative, which started in the UK in 2008 and has since spread across the planet, seeks to reassert some balance in the way the world sees print. Paper is not the devil. But it is only through the work of associations like Two Sides that the man on the street will ever realise this. 

But it won’t be easy. It’s lucky for Two Sides we Aussies love an underdog. Anyone who spent sticky January nights sitting up till 2am screaming at Lleyton Hewitt will surely agree. Just like the veteran tennis champ going toe to toe with Djokovic, the battle to reposition print is an unfair face-off. But that’s not to say it is unwinnable. There’s plenty of points to be won for the side of print.

With my devil’s advocate hat on, I accept it’s not realistic we’ll ever break most people’s thought process that ‘print equals logging equals bad’. But Two Sides can quickly make headway in Australia by grasping for low-hanging fruit such as corporations pushing customers toward email statements. Two Sides has already notched up major wins overseas with banks and the like, ensuring their customers know that a switch to email billing is about saving money, not saving the environment.

I’d also like to think the initiative could convince marketers that print has an irreplaceable role in a campaign. As we discuss in our feature on cross-media on page 46, the best messages are reinforced with print – an online-only marketing strategy is not enough.

If you’re sick of hearing people whinge about the evils of print, you will never have a better time to do something about. Next time you’re despairing over the decline of ink-on-paper, don’t reach for a tissue, reach out to Two Sides Australia and be part of the solution.

The group is calling out for help. Start distributing some of their messages or even join up as a member and you will be contributing to the long-overdue public education about printing’s environmental credentials.

If we want to change people’s perceptions of print, we need to take the bull by the horns. No one else is going to do it for us.

Steven Kiernan is editor of ProPrint

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