Being tired with all the discussion about the future of press, and all the predictions about its soon death I usually try not to focus on these theories. This time I had to stop for a while, as lately one of the Polish interactive agencies, Artegence, used these theories in its marketing campaign.

One of the services that Artegence has in offer are web content management tools for different companies and organizations. This time the agency decided to address its offer to the Polish publishers. And how to do it better than bringing up the worst possible vision of them all?



The sentence on the grave states “R.I.P. printed press”. The first date is the year that print was invented by Guthenberg. Why did the agency choose 2012 as the year of the funeral? – We just wanted to surprise the market – says Andrzej Szewczyk, Senior Innovative Manager at Artegence – most of the publishers feel the urge to introduce changes in their business models. Artegence shows the publishers the time for change is now.

Maciej Hoffman, the director of the Polish Press Publishers Chamber says he will be the first one to compare this advertisement with the code of ethics. He will also publicly ask the Union of Associations Advertising Council to give the official statement concerning the controversial advertisement.

It seems that publishers in Poland are scared and aware of the threat to their businesses. Unfortunately, they don’t understand one simple rule: the more you speak about something, the more people you may interest in it. And more people may be easily convinced that press is already passé.