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This week’s Power of Print conference delivered on its title, highlighting where print sits in the media landscape and sharing myriad ideas and opportunities to capitalise on its effectiveness, including details of 2026’s Love Paper Week.
The day was broadly split into two themes, the morning sessions were focused on impact and innovation, with the afternoon sessions looking at connectivity and sustainability.
Around 140 delegates attended this year’s event, which was opened by Two Sides managing director Jonathan Tame and BPIF chief executive Charles Jarrold.
The event is jointly organised by the print and paper advocacy group and the industry federation.
In his state of the industry address, Jarrold highlighted that while, as ever, there was a varied picture across the sector’s many verticals, the picture in Q4 was broadly positive and despite the uncertainty around the looming budget the industry was looking at a strong finish to 2025.
He detailed that while he believed the structural changes of recent years had largely “played out”, the industry’s drive to diversification remained unchanged and the effective use of data was central to that, something that was a recurring theme in the morning sessions.
One example was the joint presentation from Tom Ridges, CEO of data modelling specialist Herdify, and Ben Briggs, managing partner of media agency Join the Dots.
Ridges introduced the joint session as “framing the conversation around getting more people to use mail”.
Ridges looked at the purchasing power of trust
He talked about how the virus-modelling Herdify was commissioned to undertake during Covid applied to marketing “because the spread of a virus is similar to the spread of influence” and how the rise of AI influencers would kill influencer marketing within five years, opening up a significant opportunity for a trusted media channel such as print.
Briggs picked up the trust baton highlighting that trusted media was set to become even more important in a society where 11% of adults get their news from TikTok.
Trust was the focus of Royal Mail Marketreach planning director Eve Stansell, who spoke about how it was measured and where mail sits in the metrics. She urged attendees to look at Marketreach’s ‘Trust Explorer’ tool to create compelling arguments for using print.
Anthem Publishing founder and CEO Jon Bickley shared how, in attempting to migrate its business model away from what was perceived by the market as vulnerable, traditional newsstand sales, the company doubled down on them and growth accelerated as a result. He talked about how leaning into print, being agile, renewing its focus on niche titles, exports, and forging stronger partnerships with retailers had driven newsstand sales growth at the Bath-based business.
Meanwhile, award-winning photographer Clive Booth, an ambassador for headline Power of Print sponsor Canon, focused his session on the emotional power of print. His striking images were displayed in the event’s networking areas.
Speaking to Printweek at the Stationers’ Hall hosted event, Canon EMEA marketing and innovation director Mathew Faulkner said Power of Print was an important event in the industry’s calendar.
He highlighted how some sessions like Booth’s inspired the audience, while others gifted practical insights.
Faulkner used the Marketreach presentation and its data on the trust in, and effectiveness of, mail as an example of the latter.
“Because that is something you could use with a creative agency or a brand to highlight how consumers unconsciously react differently to different media. That’s powerful.”
He said that vendors like Canon and the broader industry have a responsibility to focus on the positives of print, to share insights and highlight the opportunities it offers to brands and marketers, especially younger marketers.
“It’s up to everybody in the print industry to do their bit, to continuously educate about what’s possible. Because what’s possible is getting more advanced all the time, not least in terms of the use of data, which has come up a few times today.”
While the focus shifted after lunch, the afternoon sessions were equally well received.
The Aroma Company founder Simon Harrop focused on the sensory power of print and Greg Brooks, chief marketing and commercial officer of io.tt, shared his thoughts on the connectivity potential of print and its role in generating first-party data for brands. After the break, Biffa waste strategy and packaging manager Roger Wright and Sizzle founder Trewin Restorick dedicated their sessions to sustainability.
The day was wrapped up by Tame, who highlighted the activities of Two Sides on behalf of its 600-plus members, and the broader industry, over the past 12 months and summarised the day’s sessions.
He surmised that the core message of many of the days sessions mirrored Two Sides’ own consumer research: “That print is trusted, and we need to make sure our customers and everyone else is aware of that.”
He also disclosed that ‘Love Paper Week’ 2026 will take place 2-6 February next year, with various activities to be revealed nearer the time.
Tame said following the inaugural Love Paper Week in 2025, Two Sides had learned many lessons that it would apply to the 2026 campaign to significantly raise its profile.
More details and free to use marketing assets, including logos, email signatures, virtual backgrounds and a raft of social media material can be found at lovepaper.org.
Two Sides is hosting a webinar next week to highlight how print businesses can get involved in Love Paper Week. The one hour session will run 9.30-10.30am on Friday 14 November. To tune in, register here.
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