The Time's Are A-Changing

So, much like the E.F. Hutton of old, when Time Inc. talks, people listen. And the company’s recent announcement that it would only accept digital ads as PDF/X-1a files beginning June 1 is not without significance. The decision is laudable in that it endeavors to impose a unilateral standard that will benefit publishers, advertising agencies, prepress suppliers and printers. It also signals that the company is readying itself to take advantage of the many cross-media opportunities that are currently being cultivated. But if advertisers are going to adhere to the standard, Time Inc. must implement an effective communication strategy.

Why PDF/X-1a?

Several factors contributed to Time Inc.’s decision to adopt PDF/X-1a as the file format of choice. Explains Erik Cullins, associate director of digital development: “PDF is not a new technology; it was originally developed ten years ago. Many others in the industry have been building and printing with PDF workflows for years. PDF/X-1a is the print-ready version of the file format. In addition to our internal PDF workflow, PDF/X-1a is recognized as an international standard. ISO, ANSI, CGATS and SWOP all support PDF/X-1a for digital file exchange.”

Having just celebrated the Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications association’s (www.ddap.org) 10th anniversary, Executive Director Barbara Hanapole is especially welcoming of the publisher’s decision: “The DDAP association applauds Time Inc.’s adoption of PDF/X-1a as the preferred method of receiving digital ads. PDF/X-1a is the internationally accredited standard for file exchange that the graphic arts industry has been waiting for. You can generate it very cost-effectively on the desktop and still be ensured of its reliability on press. Just consider the fact that the PDF/X-1a specification requires that all fonts and images be embedded in the file and the color space defined. This will eliminate many preflighting nightmares for ad production managers.”

In addition to the reduction of preflighting headaches, the proofing process will also be simplified. “[Agencies will experience] cost savings from viewing intermediate and final proofs as PDFs. It’s really going to ease the approval process as we now have a format that we push the ad around electronically to individuals that would have had to been shown a hard copy of the ad,” says Brad Mintz, vice president/manager of graphic services at McCann-Erickson (www.mccann.com).

Get ready

In order to become PDF ready, Time Inc. has been hard at work retooling its internal workflow. The company hopes to transition to a PDF format for ad submission in order to support the new workflow, according to Cullins. “[We are] preparing for our PDF workflow with both technology and skill investment. We are upgrading our tools for preflighting and preparing files. We have completed training for our ad production teams,” he explains. “Our edit production systems are also being updated to PDF readiness. Finally, we are continually testing with our print partners to ensure a smooth transition.”

Through the efforts of organizations like the DDAP association, print production professionals have been given a head start to ready for the shift to PDF/X-1a. Within six months of the standard’s accreditation in December 2001, “DDAP had low-cost tools supporting PDF/X-1a in the marketplace,” recalls Hanapole. “These tools enable smaller agencies and regional publishers to generate PDF/X-1a and take advantage of its benefits. DDAP is striving to speed the adoption of PDF/X with the recent release of DDAP PDF/X Verifier 2.0, a tool that will test the conformance of a given file to the PDF/X-1a specification.”

Cross-media capabilities

Beyond simplifying workflows, saving money and boosting quality control, PDF/X-1a lends itself nicely to cross-media publishing. “Time Inc. is looking to PDF as a cross-platform technology,” Cullins confirms. “There are a few internal benefits of the PDF technology to our cross-media publishing scheme. We are building our e-book platform for magazine distribution. In addition, all of our content is warehoused in massive databases, for online publication, reselling and repurposing. PDF helps enable these workflows.”

Cullins continues: “The magazine publishing industry as a whole is being increasingly pressured in our traditional content delivery models, newsstand and mailed subscriber copies. Because of increasing costs in the postal system and wholesaler business concerns, many publishers are searching for alternative delivery methods.”

Advertising agencies will also benefit from creating ads that can span a variety of media. “By producing these PDFs, we can repurpose them in other media applications,” says Mintz. When repurposed, ads created as PDF/X-1a files for print can leverage such technologies like speech synthesizing, but “if the advertising content is not intelligent, or is a simple raster image, the feature is lost,” states Cullins. “As publishing evolves into more than just print media, these types of features are important.”

While some in the industry have raised concerns that imposition of the standard may alienate clients, Cullins believes embracing PDF/X-1a can only lead to higher quality ads and subsequently, more satisfied advertisers. “In many cases, [production professionals] are receiving advertisements in native application files, often requiring repair. By printing an error, they run a greater risk than asking for properly built files,” he posits. “I think that by allowing anything to be submitted they are doing a disservice to their advertiser. First, they are increasing the potential for error. Second, they are preventing others in the industry from adopting standard file formats.”

Skill communication

Unlike the “if you build it, they will come” maxim set forth in Field of Dreams, an edict from Time Inc., implementing a standard does not necessarily mean that advertisers will follow suit. Therefore, clear communication is a must, a fact of which Cullins is well aware. “Though standards are critical, they will not work if not unilateral. We, as an industry, must work together in developing and adopting such standards,” he explains. “The publisher should … work with the advertiser, educating and supporting its adoption of a standard file format. It is through personal partnerships with advertisers and printers that we will succeed.”

And Time Inc. has hit the road doing just that. Company representatives have been active spreading the word about PDF/X-1a at industry functions and in-house events, in addition to meeting with software vendors. The company has also adopted DDAP recommended settings and added PDF creation tips and downloadable settings to their Web site (www.direct2.time.com).

Through her tireless efforts to encourage the submission of digital ads, Hanapole understands how important it is to heighten awareness. “Communication and education are key to raising the advertising industry’s comfort level with this new format,” she asserts. “Time Inc. has taken a major step by launching an excellent Web site that provides some very comprehensive information and tools for working with PDF/X-1a.”

The company earns high marks to date for their efforts. “I think Time Inc. needs to continue to do what they have been doing, educating the masses,” believes Mintz. “I’m sure they will do a good job of this by supporting and presenting to the various industry organizations and advertising agencies. But they also need to stress that they will have the quality assurance processes in place as they do today for their other workflows.”

PDF proliferation

Critics fear that an endorsement of PDF/X-1a will overrun the industry with poorly-produced PDF files. Cullins concurs that this is an issue, but that PDF/X-1a inhibits many of the errors that can—and do—occur in PDF files. “With the splintering of traditional prepress roles, many who never were trained in building print-ready files are now being asked to do so. One can create a ‘bad’ PDF file,” he notes. “PDF/X-1a limits the types of errors, but one can still create a valid PDF/X-1a file that is not specific to its intended output. Poor file creation and preflight are separate issues from output file format. I’ve read that Time Inc. represents 25 percent of U.S. magazine advertising volume. With that many files being shipped, file creators will be experts at generating PDF files. The tools and technology to create PDF files are becoming more widespread throughout the industry.”

Time Inc.’s reputation instills confidence in Mintz that the company will handle the transition with aplomb. “Time has once again pushed the envelope by early adoption of this standard. I’m confident that within their workflow they have done the proper testing to assure us the quality of reproduction that we are accustomed to,” he believes. “I don’t have any concerns about Time’s decision to move forward with PDF/X-1a. It’s an accredited standard and we have known all along that PDF or a variation of it was going to be the dominant file format of the future. Outside the U.S., PDF is already the leading file format. Over the next few years, PDF will become the file exchange standard for the publishing industry worldwide.”

-Rebecca Churilla