The world's first museum of print. Admission free.

I had an epiphany about 2 years ago. I suddenly realized all the beautiful print work in my book was about to become defunct. The Internet Age, after years of broken promises, was now well and truly upon us. And my portfolio, the prized asset of every creative person, seemed more Victorian than Obamian.

So I decided to set up The Museum of Print on Flickr (click to view it).

You may well enjoy this foray into the past. And remember, that’s exactly what it is. The past. A nice place to visit if you want to reminisce about the good old days, but no place to hang around if you’re looking for a role in the future.

At this point, I can already hear the violent protestations from the die-hard ad guys who still believe the world hasn’t changed. This breed of advertising lunatics, which I like to call Printosaurus, believe the Internet is just a fad that will eventually die out when everybody gets bored with it (I’m not joking. There are senior creative guys out there that truly believe this view of the world).

For the sane ones in the industry, we know our business has changed forever. Print will be dead in 10 years (most probably replaced by digital reading tablets such as Kindle and iPad). We will move away from communications that broadcast at you to ones that allow full participation. And clients will start to move away from bought media (where you have to pay a third party, like Yahoo, to place an ad on their portal) to owned media (where a client can create his own website, attract millions to it and save millions of dollars in media spend).

The future is exciting. But if you’re a bit worried, take a deep breath and wander around a museum for a while. It’s the best way to prepare yourself for what’s to come.

The difference a little punctuation can make

Below is a dismissal letter to a Printosaurus Creative Director. Unfortunately, the half blind PA that typed it up misplaced the punctuation...

THE WRONG LETTER

Dear Hika, I want a Creative Director that knows what the new world of advertising is all about. You are smart, intelligent, forward thinking. People who are not like you admit to being out of touch and clueless. You have put our client’s brands back on top. Of that I am certain. Things will only get worse if you resign. I will be happy to give you a pay rise. Is out of the question you can leave.

THE RIGHT LETTER.

Dear Hika, I want a Creative Director that knows what the new world of advertising is. All about you are smart, intelligent, forward thinking people who are not like you. Admit to being out of touch and clueless. You have put our client’s brands back. On top of that I am certain things will only get worse. If you resign I will be happy. To give you a pay rise is out of the question. You can leave.

Printosaurus and PA have subsequently been fired.

Campaign to promote print possibly worst print campaign ever!

In a desperate attempt to save the industry, magazine executives have launched a campaign to promote print as a viable medium in today's digital world. 1,400 pages of ads will be sprinkled through magazines including People, Vogue and Ladies' Home Journal.

When a leading Digital Creative Director was asked what he thought of the campaign, he replied, "I haven't seen it. I thought magazines had disappeared years ago. Are they still around?"

Roger Makak, Asia's most awarded Copywriter, was more scathing. "It's primitive. Possibly the worst print campaign that's ever been created," he explained while giving his gonads a good old scratch. "The growth comparisons are bananas. I mean how can you compare 11% growth over 12 years with Google's 56,643% growth over the same period?"

One digital guru was skeptical about the campaign's effectiveness. "I should imagine there will be 0% recall," he explained. "Nobody's reading the magazines except for the people who write them - and media buyers who have to read them to bolster circulation figures."

Dave, a Digital Media specialist, thought the ads were quite good. "I thought the copy was quite compelling. If they put them on the web they would work really well."