Boss who has brought together the digital and printing worlds

The print sector has probably seen more disruption than any other industry in recent years. Digital has changed the way people and organisations send and receive their communications.

Despite the great changes Gurdev Singh, a stalwart of Yorkshire’s print industry, continues to play a role in the sector.

Just as he thought he was done with print after he left Communisis, for a second time – in 2013, he was pulled back in.

“It was The Yorkshire Post business desk’s fault actually,” he says.

Mr Singh went for a coffee at the Radisson Blu hotel in Leeds and as he was leaving he picked up a copy of the paper.

When he got home he saw a printing company in Pocklington called NorthWolds Printers advertised for sale in that day’s newspaper.

Mr Singh said: “To cut a long story short I ended up buying it. It’s a little company there’s 18 of us altogether. We’re in Pocklington and we do some really great work and it’s just small, fast turnaround, high quality litho and digital print.”

Two weeks ago Mr Singh celebrated his second year at the helm of this small print company, which has been going since 1978.

However, to pigeon hole Mr Singh as simply a printing stalwart would be to do him a great disservice.

His communications expertise has seen him land non-executive director roles at print giant Paragon and digital agency Bloom.

But what exactly does someone who cut his teeth in the traditionally analogue industry that is print bring to a digital agency like Bloom?

“I’ve made them think bigger,” says Mr Singh, who joined Bloom in January 2014. He added that he has done that through connecting Bloom to people who don’t think like agencies and by broadening the firm’s horizons.

When he joined in 2014, Bloom had gone through a difficult period, losing contracts and having to shed staff as a result. Though with Mr Singh’s arrival it seems that you can teach a new dog old tricks.

He said: “When I joined it was more or less pure play digital. As a board we decided strategically that everything was more or less becoming digital and we needed to become an integrated agency.

“It took some time, a lot of effort and as a board now I think we’ve achieved that.”

To illustrate his point Mr Singh produces a printed catalogue he commissioned Bloom to design for his own print business.

He also got them to create an insight-driven website for NorthWolds that tells the company’s story.

Over the years the print industry has contracted. Mr Singh talks wistfully about the days of the late Victor Watson, former chief executive of Waddingtons, a time which he says saw a lot more innovation.

Mr Singh said: “There was a lot more innovation and that hasn’t happened so much. Except it is now in the middle sector because direct mail, for instance, is making a comeback in a big way.

“People aren’t opening emails and how else do you grab somebody’s attention, get them to go to a website and order online?

“You won’t see order forms in catalogues anymore. It’ll just be a lovely beautifully printed catalogue that tells you a story about them.

“It’s tangible and there’s a host of middle-sized companies and smaller companies that are taking advantage of that. They know it has to be really good.

“The message, the content has to be absolutely pertinent and relevant to the individual it is being sent to. It’s personal like online can never be.”

Speaking about NorthWolds, Mr Singh says the firm “had a terrible time at the beginning of last year”, in the run-up to the election.

“We had a big bad debt. We had three really quiet months because a lot of the funding for our three biggest clients is government funding,” Mr Singh says.

“I really did think what the hell have I done,” he added.

But owning a small business is a different ball game to working at a large corporate. Mr Singh says many PLCs wouldn’t put money into a business that was losing money. NorthWolds took the decision to invest in diversifying its client base.

Mr Singh said: “Despite the fact that we made a massive loss for those three months we made a profit for the year.

“We brought on half a dozen new customers in different sectors and we were able to do that because there’s only three of us making decisions.”

The next challenge is investing further in the business and seeing what new frontiers NorthWolds can reach. Mr Singh says they’re looking at 3D printing as a potential area for innovation.

NorthWolds has also attracted interest from Burberry and recently quoted the fashion giant for some work.

Will the ink ever run dry for Mr Singh? Well in his career he has had three periods of gardening leave, at six months at a time.

“I’ve done plenty of garden leave but I’m still not a good gardener,” explains the owner of NorthWolds.

Mr Singh has a simple mantra in life and that is that “if you do nice things, then nine times out of ten, nice things will happen to you”.

And that is a major part of why he still remains active. Looking to connect people within the communications sector.

It’s perhaps telling that when he is asked what he is most proud of, his answer is his work with The Printing Charity, which he was encouraged to get involved in by the late Victor Watson.

In the process he helped create an opportunity for this particular reporter.

Gurdev Singh factfile

Title: Owner of NorthWolds Printers, non-executive director at Paragon and Bloom.

D.O.B: 10.2.62

Education: Carlton Bolling School and Airedale and Wharfedale College.

First Job: Trainee draftsman at Lucas Aerospace.

Last Book Read: I read quite a lot but, A Selection of Poetry by Felix Dennis.

Favourite film: Shawshank Redemption

Favourite song: O Mio Babbino Caro by Puccini

Favourite holiday destination: Favourite city is Palma, Majorca. For sun I go to Tavira in Portugal. For snow Seefeld in Austria.

Most proud of: Having the influence to be able to help young people get a foot on the career ladder.