Imagine then, Overmatter’s, mixture of delight tinged with alarm to find one of print’s own featuring in the current issue. 

Gaining fame among the title’s 700,000 readers by appearing in the ‘Desperate Marketing’ spot is none other than Portsmouth’s Bishops Printers, which contrasted the arrival of its new 10-colour Speedmaster XL 75 with the Royal family’s latest addition, Princess Charlotte. “Ours won’t mean sleepless nights for anyone” quipped the firm. 

Fortunately Bishops boss Gareth Roberts is also an avid Eye reader, and has taken it in good part. He told Overmatter: “I picked up my own copy on the way out of Waterloo on Tuesday evening and almost fell out of the carriage with a mixture of embarrassment and a perverse sense of pride.

“The really funny thing was that when I saw the first draft of this theme from my marketing manager, I actually said to her ‘this reminds me of a feature in Private Eye, which always makes me cringe’!”

Anyway, we think the Eye’s judgement is a tad harsh. Bishops should surely be in the running for PrintWeek’s Marketing Campaign of the Year Award.