In my first year in the print industry, I’ve somehow ended up writing articles, taking part in podcasts, attending brilliant networking events, speaking in Parliament, and winning the IPIA 2026 Young Leader Award. Yet I still feel like I’m only just getting started. My friends tease me for being “the only person who actually looks forward to Monday,” which usually gets a few eye rolls, but they’re not wrong. I genuinely enjoy what I do. I’ve fallen in love with print: the people, the history, the problem solving, the creativity, and the constant change. With print in my family for generations and a background in digital marketing, I’ve landed in a space that feels like the perfect mix of both worlds. Print’s Evolution: Far From “Print vs Digital” Honestly, it’s an exciting time to have joined the industry. Print is evolving faster than people realise. From sustainable materials to automation, programmatic mail, and smarter workflows, the whole sector is shifting. Print is now faster, greener, and more strategic than it was even a few years ago, which is why the old “print vs digital” debate feels outdated. One example of this evolution is personalised print, and importantly, it’s not new. The print industry has been delivering highly personalised, data driven communications for many years. At Latcham, we can tailor mailings down to the individual: images, names, offers, and even entire content blocks, all driven directly from customer data. For a long time, many marketers assumed personalisation was a digital only strength, but digital print has offered true one-to-one personalisation for decades. It delivers the same level of precision as digital channels but with the added impact of being tangible, memorable, and often far more effective at capturing attention. The challenge is that many modern marketers simply aren’t taught this. Their understanding of print is often based on traditional litho methods, so they don’t realise how advanced, flexible, and dataled today’s digital print solutions really are. Once they see what personalised print can already do, and has been doing for years, it completely changes how they think about using print within their campaigns. Why This Matters to Me The industry also feels personal. My great grandmother worked in print in the 1950s, then my grandfather, then my dad, and now me. But academically I went the other way. On my Marketing Communications degree, print barely came up, and by final year everything had shifted fully to digital. During my placement as a digital marketing assistant, I didn’t touch print once, despite feeling drawn to it. That’s part of the wider challenge: many people in marketing aren’t taught how print fits in or how to measure it – and that’s a missed opportunity. Print is still one of the most trusted communication channels, while digital brings the speed and reach. Neither replaces the other. The Real Power: Combining Print and Digital The real magic happens when both print and digital work together. Print grabs attention, people see it, hold it, and remember it, while digital offers instant interaction. Combined, they create a smooth customer journey: print leads someone to a personalised landing page; a QR code triggers an online action; digital reminders follow up a Tackling the Print Versus Digital Argument FRESH PERSPECTIVES | REBEKAH HUGHES After winning the Young Leader Award at last year’s IPIA Recognising Excellence awards, Rebekah Hughes from Latcham gives her thoughts on opportunities available in print, and how to approach the print versus digital marketing argument When people share knowledge freely, younger professionals progress faster, new ideas spread more quickly, and the industry becomes more resilient to change 27 www.printmonthly.co.uk Issue 359 - March | April 2026
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