Chief operating officer Julia Hutchison has been heading up the APA since 2004, prior to which she spent 15 years working in the communica­tions and media industry, dedicating much of her time to the printed media arena.

The APA’s own modest print spend, of around £50,000 per annum (most of which goes on its Guide to Customer Publishing) is dwarfed by the massive £113m that was spent by the sector it represents in 2004.

“APA members produce hundreds of customer magazines,” explains Hutchison. A report by Mintel puts the number for the whole sector at around 100m magazines per year (82.4m were produced by the 70% of customer publishers surveyed), with the average circulation in excess of 275,000.

No matter what run length is involved, the requirement for high-quality account management remains the same, with printers often required to communicate effectively with both the client and the publisher, in order to produce the best product.

Hutchison says: “As is the case with all markets, customer publishers are under extreme pressure from their clients to deliver cost effectively and to a strict deadline. Print suppliers therefore must have a good idea of how customer publishing works in order to make the process run as smoothly as possible.”

Hutchison is adamant that print is and will remain the foundation on which the market is built. “Despite rapid growth of alternative media channels such as online, the two highest sources of predicted growth revolve around print: 76% of publishers believe they will see higher spend by existing clients on printed publications; and 73% think they will experience more spend on printed publications from new clients.”