What positives are you able to draw on from the experiences of 2022?
Engagement with people again, 2020 and 2021 were just strange, it's great to shake someone’s hand or give them a hug.

Nothing beats a face to face meeting with a client.

What do you think will represent the single biggest opportunity for printers in 2023 and why?
The move from plastic to paper based packaging continues and will be a huge factor in 2023. It seems that all around the world there is a genuine desire at all levels of business to eradicate as much plastic as possible.

What are your hopes for 2023?
We all get our heads down and start the year positively, the future of print is in our hands, as long as there is a need to communicate we need to find creative ways of doing so.

We need to make it unique enough to command the attention of those it is destined for and compel them to explore something they otherwise might not have. 

What piece of advice do you wish you had been given in December 2021 to prepare you for the year you’ve just had?
I really don’t think anyone could have predicted the price increases that were applied month on month to paper. However I was given advice from some very trusted people within the paper trade that materials were going to be in very short supply and I bought up as much as I could get my hands on to keep the presses turning.

Would love to have a crystal ball for 2023!

What was your word or phrase of the year in 2022?
“The World has gone mad!”

What, if anything, will you do differently in 2023?
We all need to spread the message that print generates as much as 30 times more responses than email alone, there is an emotional attachment to a beautifully printed product that you just don’t get with a digital communication, texture, smell, you just can’t beat it. 

In a recession we need to market our products even more thoroughly to get the messages out there.

What’s your favourite Christmas cracker joke?
What do they sing and a snowman’s birthday?
Freeze a jolly good fellow…

Are you making any New Year's resolutions? If so, what?
To look after people wherever I can, this is something we all need to do in the years ahead.