What do you think will be the greatest opportunity for and threat to the print industry next year?
My prediction for next year is that change will be the only constant. The industry is undergoing a very dynamic period and I believe the impact of inkject on litho will be as fundamental as litho was to letterpress. It will substantially alter the model. The challenges to manufacturers will be head-on, and the gap will widen between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.
Other potential threats include the ongoing crisis in the eurozone and the possibility of a double-dip recession.
What do you believe is the most under-recognised aspect in printing that is likely to gain more prominence in 2012?
How dynamic the medium of print is and that e-books are not the panacea. Printed media still has an important place in society, but there will be less of it.
What do you expect to see at Drupa 2012?
On the digital side of things I expect to see the technology become faster, wider and possibly cheaper. On the litho side there will be fewer players present. What we would like to get out of Drupa is confirmation that our investment strategy – which included a £3m investment in inkjet technology in 2011 – was the right way to go.
What can the industry do to increase its profile next year?
It can continue to deliver solutions to customers’ problems
What will you do differently next year?
Everything! We want to change the way we run our business and the technology we employ, and we want to offer additional solutions to customers’ problems.
CV - Matt Whipp
Personal details
Address
136 Oxford Road
Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 5DU
Contact:
Home: 01753 832 118
Mobile: 07920 287582
Email: matt.whipp@gmail.com
Profile
An effective and goal-oriented senior editor with a passion for quality content and productive data-led online strategies. As editor of printweek.com, I built a small team to relaunch a b2b website covering the commercial print industry to command 1m pages and 100k uniques in two years, and a 96% UK market share in four.
Prior to this as Online Editor for the Dennis IT portal, I helped grow the fledgling websites of Dennis Publishing’s IT titles to a dynamic portal that was profitable for several years and achieved in excess of 1 million unique visitors a month.
Career History
April 07 – date Editor, printweek.com
Reporting to: Wayne Morgan, Online Publisher, Haymarket Business Media
Brought on board to build and lead an editorial team, initially in competition with its magazine counterpart, I took the website from 22,000 uniques and 220,000 impressions per month to in excess of 100,000 uniques and 1m impressions within two years, and to a market share of 96% in four. I achieved this through focussing on editorial quality, and building the strongest community within HBM.
During this period I received internal awards for the relaunch and for our work on video which helped cement a key commercial relationship with one of the biggest names in the industry - I also presented my strategies to other HBM brands undergoing web relaunches. Additionally I oversaw key research into our paid-for access policy in order to identify the strongest commercial model and am currently managing our first US project.
Responsible for the day-to-day running of the website, deciding news coverage, managing sponsored content such as bulletins, microsites and white papers, organising and running webcasts; also monitoring traffic to identify threats and opportunities within that data, liasing with HBI dev teams on fixing issues and larger projects such as redesigns.
Manage a team of internal and freelance editorial and production staff as well as covering duties for the magazine where necessary.
Sept 00 - April 07 Online Editor,
Reporting to: Editorial Director, Dennis Interactive
Starting as Online Editor for the Computer Buyer website, progressed to Online Editor for the portal,comprising PCPro.co.uk, Computershopper.co.uk, CustomPC.co.uk, MacUser.co.uk and ComputerBuyer.co.uk.
Responsible for the day to day running of the website, liaising with print, sales, production and design departments.
I manage a team of freelance news editorial as well as providing editorial content where possible and am confident interviewing industry leaders at the highest level.
July 00 - Sept 00 Senior sub-editor, PCW magazine (monthly consumer IT title)
Reporting to: Editor
Responsible for headlines, captions, standfirsts using Quark XPress on Mac, as well as chasing and subbing copy; checking film; liaising with editorial, repro house, ads and marketing teams.
Training includes libel issues and HTML (to advanced level).
I contributed towards the redesign of PCW, in particular cleaning up and defining section styles and assisted in putting together style sheets. I also took on the editorial role of Games Editor which involved sourcing products and writing and commissioning reviews.
July 99 - July 00 Sub-editor, PCW magazine - as above.
Jun 99 - July 99 Sub-editor, London Newspaper Group (Four local weekly newspapers for West London)
All aspects of production: from laying out pages and scanning and placing images through to sending pages to repro.
May 99 - Jun 99 Sub-editor, Melody Maker (weekly music paper)
Subbing copy, writing captions and headlines.
May 97 - Apr 99 TEFL teacher, Active Language Learning
Responsible for organising and preparing lessons for mixed ability classes of up to 18 students. Also timetabling, setting exams, grading and marking work, streamlining resources for colleagues, pastoral duties. Achievements include having started and ran school magazine using Quark Xpress on PC and Adobe Photoshop, organised some special events and activities for students such as nationality evenings and organised and wrote marketing material such as advertisements and newsletters for the school.
Sept 93 - Apr 97 Writer
Created half-hour situation comedies for television and radio. The Whites of Blandford, a pilot for a six-part series, was commissioned by Radio 4.
Interests and other qualifications
Completed Security Fundamentals course at Internet Security Systems
Course in sub-editing at the London College of Print
RSA/CELTA TEFL qualification at SKOLA teacher training
I can also get by in Italian, and enjoy guitar, piano, script-writing, running and karate.
Education
Sept 90 - 93 University of Kent at Canterbury
BA (Hons) in English and American Literature
Aug 88 - Jun 90 Richard Huish Sixth Form College, Taunton
A levels: Physics (B), Pure and Applied Maths (B),
English Literature (C)
Referees
Darryl Danielli | Dominic Mills |
Editor in chief PrintWeek W6 7HN | Editorial DIrector W6 7HN |
