executive perspectives: Making Magic
P+P: How does the economy continue to affect the industry?
DR: The economy definitely affects the agency business. We are built on a service model. People outsource that which they can't do themselves internally. But when times are tough, and the economy is in recession, companies cut back and generally spend less on outsourced materials. We service over 2,400 hotels in our hospitality division, providing them with printed materials with their logo on it, as well as key cards. In a recession, they have fewer customers and they spend less with us. On the non-hospitality side we are essentially a large print VAR, and our business is tied directly to the economy there as well. We don't own the printing presses, but subcontract the work.
P+P: What do you expect to be some of the biggest changes the industry will face?
DR: The Internet has changed everything. I first heard that statement from a consultant in 1997—and it's still true. Look at all the printers that have closed down. Look at the tremendous consolidation in the industry. Look at what's happened to the Yellow Pages. Advertising has undergone a tremendous sea-change in my career. And it's still evolving. But what does not change is the need to create desire and demand for a client's product. That's marketing. It has stayed the same. But the means to accomplish that have changed dramatically.
P+P: What keeps you up at night?
DR: Will we remain relevant? Could all the printed materials we create for franchise stores be replaced by large programmable LED screens hung in windows? Gas stations have finally begun to change out all their printed pricing signs to LED screens. While we are not in the buggy-whip business, printing is not the industry it was 10 or 20 years ago. It's still large, but not as large.
P+P: What do you think is the most exciting, thing your company is doing right now?
DR: The most cutting-edge thing USFI works on these days is digital—specifically RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). These are chips that are embedded in hotel key cards that enable a guest to open [his or her] room door without the use of that magnetic stripe on the back of a card, which fails on occasion. We started providing RFID cards to hotels in the past year and have become a leader in the industry in that time. But we still supply over 25 million magnetic stripe key cards annually.
P+P: What would people be surprised to learn about you?
DR: I have been with USFI for three years, and in that time I have bicycled "around the world," meaning I have biked 25,000 miles exercising over the past three years—equal to the circumference of the world. And, yes, that's a lot of miles on a bike!
- Companies:
- USFI