From Pixels to Print: As Digital Becomes Traditional, Print Can Be Personal

On the 27th of October 1994, the very first digital banner advert was posted online and the fast-moving migration from physical advertising to online began. Agencies and brands were quick to take advantage of wide-reaching, cheaper digital ads, which soon hoovered up the majority of marketing budgets, often at the expense of print and physical media.

Now, as a creative production agency, we love digital. With our own talented team of animators, editors, producers, social media strategists and more, we’re constantly working with ambitious brands to create eye-catching and scroll-stopping digital creative content. 

But 30 years on from the first banner, and with some in the industry starting to diagnose oversaturation in the digital landscape, we believe there’s now a unique opportunity for marketeers to go beyond pure digital and enhance their ad campaigns with more bespoke, physical branding. Branding that ironically delivers personalisation at a level that feels as new and exciting as when digital first burst on the scene.

Be it unique in-store branding, premium product packaging, personalised direct mail, or stand-out print and posters, creative campaigns that exist in the real world bring a draw that can’t be replicated via a digital device. Physically present, an ad can be there to tempt you into buying a coffee or treat yourself to that premium product you’ve been waiting to go on sale, while you idly stand at a petrol pump or register. It’s part of the real world around you, inescapable, unique, and highly effective.

And with 68% of consumers saying they believe that a brand’s personality is conveyed through its physical branding elements[1], clever brands should be looking at how they can reach out beyond the digital display and make real-world impact.

But if brands are looking for print experts to help shape their strategy, they may well find it a struggle, as the skills required to bring these creative campaigns to life are now becoming rarer and rarer. There’s now a whole new generation of marketers that have only ever known the all-encompassing and enticing pull of digital. With fewer agencies pushing the benefits of effective print and physical media, brands can often miss out on learning how to successfully bolster their digital campaigns.

It's this knowledge and expertise that we’re proud to be able to draw upon at cain&abelDDB. With over 90 years’ experience between our print production team, when brands come to us looking to stand out with real-life creative campaigns, we’ve had the luxury of tackling new, exciting ideas, supported by a bedrock of experience and expertise.

Supported by our own creatives, design studio and print knowledge on-site, we’re in a unique position to not only be able to advise clients on best production services, but be able to produce, check, and adapt the majority of campaign assets into delivery. Working with brands from day dot, by utilising the team’s full list of contacts and expertise, it also means brands can expect everything in a creative campaign to be linked. From creative ideas, through to positioning, digital strategy, and physical branding, clients can be reassured that they’ll receive – pardon the pun – the full package. 

And it works. If clients are looking to be smart and stand out in a world of swiping, flicking, and scrolling through ads, it makes sense to also tap into underutilised mediums that separate them from competitors. Every consumer brand will target people with emails, but not everyone will send you a personalised direct mailer from your local dealership to convince you to upgrade your old Golf to a stylish soft-top. Or bring to life a famous character from your favourite TV ad in the form of a collectible cuddly toy.

Another big reason in the past for side-lining print and physical media was down to sustainability. But, with the advancement of modern technology, not only is the quality of printed products now extremely high, they also often offer brands a lower-price, more sustainable alternative (as digital costs continue to rise and more stories come out about the energy it takes to keep digital servers running). Ironically, we see clients taking the same steps that pioneering companies did in the nineties when it came to digital; looking at sustainable, lower-cost opportunities in new exciting spaces, targeting audiences that have only ever experienced one dominant type of media.

A lot of these new spaces can also offer consumers a unique experience with a brand, that can strengthen loyalty as well as entice new lifetime customers. Much like the first exploration into digital, new tech brings new opportunities to personalise brand messaging. Clients can now enhance their marketing methods by incorporating both smell, touch, and taste to their physical and printed media, bringing with them an experience that consumers won’t forget in a hurry.

So, don’t get us wrong, brands should absolutely be utilising the power, creativity, and unparalleled reach of digital advertising to target consumers across numerous touchpoints ­– we’re helping clients do it on a daily basis. However, if brands want to look to avoid waste with an over-reliance on digital assets, make sure their campaign messaging is joined up at every touchpoint, or simply take the opportunity to deliver thrilling, new marketing ideas that make real-life impact, clients should also be looking to agencies that can leverage the timeless power of print and physical production.

As we gear up to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the first digital advert, we truly believe we’re seeing an exciting new renaissance for print and physical media that will form the perfect partnership with growing digital creativity. And, luckily for us, unlike with digital, this time we don’t have to learn it all from scratch; we’ve conveniently spent decades honing these skills.