Page 16 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2022

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Injection of confidence
The news that the industry’s two major associations are merging is a real fillip or printers, who have been buffeted over the past two years, but who, according to Kellie Northwood, CEO of the new association, have plenty to be confid nt about. Print21 editor Wayne Robinson reports.
Unity is strength. Everyone from a kids’ footy coach to the prime minister acknowledges the axiom. The print
industry has struggled with unity, partly because of its fragmented nature – thousands of different companies, hundreds of different sizes, a dozen different sectors.
Its voice too has been fragmented
in recent times, but in a bold new move the two big associations,
the 133-year-old Print & Visual Communication Association, and three-year-old The Real Media Collective, are joining forces to form one ‘super industry body’, in what the protagonists say is a ‘call to arms’ to the print industry to come together and ‘build the strongest industry we've ever been’.
The merged association will
have approaching 1000 members, across virtually all sectors of the industry, bringing the paper, print, mail, packaging and publishing sectors together, leveraging from the foundation of the existing PVCA Registered Organisation authority, and the programmes, growth and membership of TRMC.
Kellie Northwood will become CEO of the merged association,
with current PVCA president Peter Clark likely president, and IVE CEO and TRMC chair Matt Aitken, likely vice president. A new board will be formed, with an equal representation of board officers from each of the existing boards.
Details such as the location of head office have yet to be worked out, as has the name of what will be by far the biggest association in the industry. The merger will initially carry the PVCA name, and will look to renaming and rebranding projects in the new financial year.
It will bring together the strengths of the two associations, enabling them to leverage those distinct strengths into one cohesive whole,
to represent the interests of print businesses and the print industry as one, to government, to markets, to
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suppliers, to the corporate, retail and agency worlds.
Kellie Northwood, who will become CEO of the new association says, “The biggest thing the print industry needs is an injection of confidence, and we have plenty to be confident about.
“We are one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the country, we are essential to the economy, we are an essential proven channel. We are one of the largest manufacturing employers in the country, and we offer real
Print has plenty to be confident about: Kelly Northwood
opportunity. We are eager adopters of new technology, we are aggressive environmentalists – because quite apart from the fact that we all want to help make the world a better place, it optimises manufacturing. We have a stable and respectful relationship with our trade unions with little of the volatility that we see in other sectors. We are an industry of skill, endeavour and innovation.
“We need to stand together, to
be loud and proud, to be clear that print has a great part to play in the future of the country, and having one major association with one voice, drawing on the distinct strengths of the previous years, will provide the platform that we need.”
Safe to say then that Northwood has lost none of the fire in her belly that has seen her become probably print’s best-known advocate
over the past decade, well known for taking every opportunity to promote print and put herself in front of a range of stakeholders – industry, customers, government, consumers, students – as often
as possible, as she has worked to highlight the benefits of print.
Print has a great story to tell – a strong local manufacturing sector, producing a sustainable channel, with proven engagement levels. But it has been under assault
from various vested interests over recent times and has suffered unfair comments and a warped perception, with people variously thinking print is dead, print is responsible for killing forests,
and print is ineffective in a digital world. Those in the industry, and those who bother to listen, know all these claims are nonsense, but as the saying goes, perception is king, reality doesn’t matter.
One of the big jobs of the new mega association will be to counter these claims and present the
reality to the world at large, and
to bolster the efforts of local print business owners and managers as they seek to grow their businesses. Printers across the country can have