2024 PREDICTIONS With the year drawing to a close, we ask industry members what they believe the challenges and trends facing the print, paper, and packaging industries will be for 2024 WHAT WILL BE THE STEERING FACTORS IN 2024? In 2024, we expect to see higher levels of consumer confidence which, in turn, should see total ad spend increase, but only incrementally, as forecasts are not showing high levels of growth compared with 2023. Some growth is expected within most media and formats, particularly online. Media inflation across all media channels is expected to be higher in 2024 than in 2023 (according to ISBA media inflation reports), but trading conditions look set to remain challenging for the industry at large. With the challenging economic cycle and predictions, the economy will, no doubt, be in a shallow dip during 2024. Indeed, a potential general election looming is a driver for brands to sit tight and stick to the knitting rather than try different things, which is a risk. When in fact, 2024 offers great potential for our industry to really push mail as a channel. We should see the DPDI bill in force by late spring 2024, and in conjunction with the demise of cookies coming in 2025, this represents a real opportunity to encourage brands to act now to use mail to build their first-party data and permissions ahead of these changes. It is vital for them to maintain reach in the market as their ability to do this via digital channels will be severely restricted from 2025 onwards. 2024 is the ideal time to use mail to get ahead. My thoughts for 2024 are unsurprisingly all about the people working in our sectors, as that is of course the Printing Charity’s focus. Overall, against the backdrop of continued cost of living pressures, continued global uncertainty and consequent supply chain challenges, and as our sector continues rapidly to evolve, I’m expecting further focus on the trends we’ve seen emerging throughout 2023. More businesses prioritising employee mental wellbeing: Anyone associated with our industry can see that the pace of change has, if anything, sped up over the last 12 months. Amongst this, some businesses are growing, some are at risk, but at the heart of it is how people are supported to respond to the good, and the not so good. More businesses are acknowledging how crucial their role is in providing support to their staff, and the fact that the Lucy Swanston, chair of the SMP Neil Lovell, CEO of The Printing Charity 38 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk January / February 2024 - Issue 346 number of people reached by our helpline has grown by a quarter in 12 months alone reflects this. 25,000 employees, plus their families, now have access to it, but we know we have more people to engage, and we are working hard to do that. Against this challenging backdrop, our help is needed more than ever. More open conversations about mental wellbeing in the workplace: I believe we’ll continue to see real progress here. We increasingly hear from businesses about the ways they create space for these conversations: a space which in some cases is a physical location, with dedicated wellbeing rooms on-site. Things are already changing. Our goal for 2024 is to encourage those who think we may be able to help them to get in touch and start a conversation about what this help could look like. We want to work with businesses in our industry to help to reduce – and hopefully remove – the stigma around talking about mental wellbeing, and asking for help, and we really believe that some of this can start, powerfully, in the workplace. Increasing call on the support we provide: Against this challenging macro environment backdrop, with businesses and individuals impacted by similar factors, which have their roots in the cost of living crisis, we are seeing a steady increase in requests for help which we expect to continue in 2024. Whether the root cause is personal or work-related, the leading reasons people get in touch with the helpline are for emotional support, to address issues with In 2024 we will see paper and packaging prices ease but the benefit may not be felt until the second half of the year
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