Better ideas. A page at a time.

PAPER BECOMES USIn a digital world, paper’s tactile appeal speaks straight to our hearts and minds. p.18

SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREESBest management practices safeguard the future of our woodlands. p.24

VALUE TRUMPS PRICETo increase profit, add worth instead of cutting what you charge. p.12

SPINSTRAW INTO

G O L DTransform piles of data into revenue and foster customer relationships with inkjet technologies. p.5

V3

Issu

e 2

2015

DIGITAL

GetPersonal

Statistics show a 28 percent

lift in consumer participation

in loyalty programs due to

personalized messaging.

With customized colors,

variable data, and individualized

messages, personalized bank

statements become digitally

printed platforms that reach

targeted audiences and nurture

lasting business relationships.

www.glatfelterblog.com

ost Valuable Paper. That’s our goal. When a particularly hard-hitting

business challenge has you up against the ropes, we want to be your supplier of choice. The first call you make. The

team you count on to get the job done. That’s why we focus on customer intimacy through

innovation in products and services. The better we know you, the better we can create the kind of paper that makes your life easier (and more profitable, too).

Take high-speed inkjet (HSIJ) technologies, for example. “Straw into Gold” (page 5) delves into the latest in HSIJ and how marketers are using the technology to nurture profitable and long-term customer relationships. By translating the knowledge you have of your customers and their needs into specific data points, you can deliver relevant, personalized direct marketing.

But, let’s not forget what makes paper so personal. “Paper Becomes Us” (page 18) explores how paper is with us through some of the best moments of our lives. Whether signing a birth certificate or marriage license, or getting the first stamp in your passport, paper is often the memento of dreams realized.

What’s your favorite memory with paper? Share it with us on Facebook or send us a tweet. Thanks for letting us be a part of your team!

Tim HessVice President, Sales and Marketing Specialty Papers Business UnitTimothy.Hess@glatfelter.com

Community MattersOur people love to make paper and make a difference in our communities. Spring Grove Mill employees recently teamed with Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a mother and her two children.

M TakeNote

ContentsPUBLISHERTim Hess SENIOR PUBLICATIONS ADVISOR Courtney EnserEDITORMimi BellCONTRIBUTORSLorrie Bryan, Laurie Hileman, Liberty Kontranowski, and Kathryn WillART DIRECTOR Chad Hussle PHOTOGRAPHERSNick Fancher, Brian Johnston/Asbury Park Press, Doug Julian, Amy Mears, and Michael Randolph

Publisher’s Note

WE WANT TO BE YOUR MVP

Beyond Paper, Volume 3, Issue 2, August 2015, is published by Great Lakes Bay Publishing, 1311 Straits Dr, Bay City MI 48706. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Great Lakes Bay Publishing, 1311 Straits Dr, Bay City MI 48706. Copyright© 2015 at Great Lakes Bay Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

2 CASE STUDYStateside Service and Inventory Accessibility Secure a Supplier Partnership

FEATURECustomization Engages Customers

PAPER “U”Value Trumps Price

USE MEOn an Oversized Page, Big Ideas “Stick”

PAPER WORKING Machines in the Making

LOOK WHO’S TALKINGGood Manners—a Handwritten Thank-you Note!—Never Go Out of Style

ALWAYS ON MY MIND “I Love You Madly++, My Darling”

FEATUREPaper Becomes Us

DID YOU KNOW? See the Forest for the Trees

This issue is printed on:Cover: 150# Glatfelter Tiffin Tag Text: 100# Glatfelter Tiffin Tag This cover is coated with:Wikoff Color Soft Feel Matte Aqueous

51213

15

161824

14

Time to ShineNobody puts paper in a corner. Summer marks the launch of the Paper Check-off Board’s national awareness campaign. Glatfelter gladly supports the efforts to elevate—and celebrate—all things paper and packaging. Visit www.howlifeunfolds.com for details.

Let’s ConnectStay on the pulse of the paper industry when you connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media. You’ll find relevant topics in real time. Follow us today!

illing statements are standbys in the lives of most Americans. Month after month, these papers arrive at our homes and businesses, alerting us to outstanding balances, service details, or updated account information. Although we’re more than

familiar with these statements, we don’t often give them much thought beyond dutifully sending them back with our payments, or filing them away for future reference. And that’s exactly as it should be.

However, when you’re one of the nation’s foremost data center printers, specializing in statement and invoice printing for multiple large client companies in diverse industries, the details are very important. It’s crucial to have an adequate supply of paper available to produce systematic mass mailings on schedule. And the printed text on the paper must look professional and be easy to read. Of course, the cost of production must be manageable, too.

Having a domestic supplier to handle these paper needs was imperative for this U.S.-based high-production printer. And Glatfelter, a global paper manufacturing company headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, fit the domestic-partner bill.

The BackgroundBefore its partnership with Glatfelter, the data center printer had been working primarily with an offshore paper supplier. With the constant risk of shipping delays, the data center printer recognized the need for a trustworthy domestic supplier that offered excellent customer service, production flexibility, and cost efficiency.

B The ProblemDue to unpredictable circumstances such as dock strikes, severe weather, and port issues, paper stock shipments were sometimes delayed from the data center printer’s offshore suppliers. These delays compromised the printer’s tight production schedule and threatened the precision timing in which the statements were to be mailed. Further, the data center printer also experienced occasional and unpredictable surges in demand for its services—an issue the offshore supplier might not be able to handle. In a business where there is little leeway for disruptions, the need for a domestic paper supplier partner became apparent.

Still, the data center printer had become accustomed to the contrast of the text ink color it printed on the offshore supplier’s bluish-tinted paper, which caused the text to “pop” and provided excellent readability for the recipients of the statements. If a domestic paper supplier partner were to earn the data center printer’s business, then that bluish shade of the current paper stock would need to be duplicated.

The SolutionThrough a series of conversations, Glatfelter representatives were able to determine the data center printer’s needs and create a custom service solution that addressed each one.

To ensure its client got the print/paper contrast it was looking for, Glatfelter developed a brighter sheet of paper that carried the same bluish tint as the offshore supplier’s stock and one that also worked well with the client’s high-speed inkjet printers. With manufacturing plants and warehouses

Case Study

ON THE HOME FRONTCustomized service solutions provide a statement printer with domestic sourcing and reliable stock.by Liberty Kontranowski

Partnering with Glatfelter has provided the data center printer with a consistent domestic supply chain while simultaneously allowing it to maintain excellent press productivity.

located domestically—each with intermodal delivery options—Glatfelter offered the shipping flexibility the client needed at a commodity price. Offering the client exceptional stateside customer service and inventory accessibility has opened the door to extensive conversations, enabling the partnership to further grow and solidify.

The ResultsPartnering with Glatfelter has provided the data center printer with a consistent domestic supply chain while simultaneously allowing it to maintain excellent press productivity. The client is assured that regardless of production surges or overseas incidents, it will have the stock it needs, whenever the stock is needed. As a result, Glatfelter’s product is now the data center printer’s primary sheet, and the offshore product has become the backup.

Today, Glatfelter and the client have had a nearly decade-long business relationship. Over the past three years, sales and

volume have doubled for the Engineered Products division of Glatfelter’s Specialty Papers Business Unit—a testament to the client’s satisfaction with this application partnership. As the track record of service continues and the relationship evolves, additional creative services will be developed, tailored, and proposed.

*In this case study, the customer’s name and the name of its products have been removed due to the competitive nature of their business

Scott Belisle is senior account manager for Glatfelter. With extensive knowledge of the high-speed inkjet market, he works with clients to find solutions that improve efficiency and maximize their profits. Contact Scott at 740-637-1903, or by emailing Scott.Belisle@glatfelter.com.

Join the conversation.

glatfelterblog.com

FEATURE

by Lorrie Bryan

G O L DS T R A W

Transform piles of data into revenue and foster customer relationships that are golden with inkjet technologies.

i n t o

nformation abounds. Reportedly, Google routinely captures a petabyte (1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) of information every hour. Composed of customer transactions, millions of selfies, social media prattle, business statistics, and more, one petabyte could hold approximately 500 billion pages of standard printed text. That’s a load of data, and most of it is likely worthless to businesses or government. However, the right data can give your company valuable insights that will help you better serve your customers and market to them accordingly. By failing to

properly integrate available data into your marketing strategy, you’re underutilizing an asset that could drive profits. But, if you make it a priority, you can take the right data and transform it into gold.

How well do you know your customers?Knowing your customers and anticipating their needs is an essential element of business success and a cornerstone of long-term customer relationships. One of the most damaging mistakes companies make is believing they know their customers so well that garnering and analyzing information about them is unnecessary, explains Derek Olson, business development manager for Datapak Services Corporation. Datapak Services is a fulfillment provider with a robust recording platform that provides data to businesses. Olson is charged with helping businesses find the best way to utilize data in their marketing efforts.

“In our 30 years of fulfillment, commerce, and data reporting services, we’ve found that for the vast

majority of companies, data analysis often reveals surprising information about customer demographics, interests, and buying patterns. This information empowers businesses to more insightfully and strategically grow their businesses. Studying customer behavior and buying or engagement patterns can spotlight brand growth direction opportunities, identify cross and upselling options, and provide intelligence to influence product development strategy,” says Olson.

Not only will identifying and understanding your current best customers’ distinguishing characteristics help you serve them better, it will help you identify and nurture potential best customers. Your next best customer is probably an existing customer.

I

FEATURE

Knowledge is powerScienta potential est (knowledge is power) is a Latin aphorism first attributed to Sir Francis Bacon more than 400 years ago and quoted by many, including the now infamous Walter White in season one of the award-winning TV show Breaking Bad. In Walter White’s case, his knowledge of chemistry and subsequent business plan unleashed a powerful Pandora’s box (and had the power to keep millions of viewers on edge for six seasons).The phrase generally implies that with knowledge, one’s potential or abilities in life will certainly increase. This is frequently the case in regards to knowledge of your customers; the better you know them, the greater your ability to serve them. Customer surveys and loyalty rewards programs are popular ways to collect data in consumer markets, but not all knowledge yields the same power. You need to sift through the piles of knowledge and cull to gather the most useful bits (or bytes).

The most essential element of successful data analysis is ensuring that you’re capturing the right information, Olson affirms. “As you use data to drive your marketing program, you should set appropriate benchmarks for evaluation. Evaluate this frequently and make adjustments as necessary,” he advises. “Effective data analysis begins at determining what data should be captured and what opportunities exist or must be created in order to capture such data.”

Capturing useable data is not all that difficult, according to Olson. “Companies with an online retail channel have the most significant data assets, but all companies, no matter the size or sales channels, can capture extensive data from their brand’s

The stage is set for an inkjet revolution in direct mail marketing, according to John Crumbaugh, media and ink product marketing manager, Canon Solutions America. “With the increasing availability of a wide selection of high-quality papers that optimize inkjet technology, along with faster, more efficient inkjet printers such as Océ’s newest most cutting-edge press, the VarioPrint® i300, all the elements are in place for personalized direct mail marketing to take off.” Sheetfed flexibility and price point make the new press accessible to a much broader audience in the transaction, direct mail, and book and manual markets. 

Crumbaugh explains that the high-quality paper developed specifically for inkjet technology is the key to producing high-end marketing pieces. “Paper developed for offset or toner-based technology doesn’t work as well with inkjet, and that limited what you could do. Now Glatfelter offers a wide selection of products that work well with inkjet and really gets the most out of inkjet technology. Combining this capability with inkjet’s variable image and data capabilities and affordability, you can now produce personalized high-end direct mail pieces more efficiently than ever before. This creates new marketing opportunities and transforms business models.”

Beyond Paper | 7

New Paper Is a Catalyst for Market Transformation: CANON SOLUTIONS AMERICA’S JOHN CRUMBAUGH OFFERS HIS PERSPECTIVE

by Lorrie Bryan

website, social media, and email marketing programs,” Olson explains. “Data capture and analysis should play a critical role in your short- and long-term marketing and business development plans.” That’s because data collected reveal consumer buying habits that directly apply to your ROI objective.

But data by itself is only the beginningWith the right data in hand, now the real alchemy can begin. Using what the data have told you about your customers’ needs, you then can appropriately and optimally tailor your marketing to each and every one of them.

“When you deliver a relevant message to an individual—one that is meaningful for them and delivered at the right time—you will get a better response rate [to your marketing campaign],” says Paul Adler, director of marketing solutions at The F.P. Horak Company, a full-service print and marketing solutions provider. “So the more personalized you can make the message, the better the results and the greater the return on your marketing dollars.”

Inkjet yields the personal touchInkjet technology is the magical spinning wheel in the mix that enables the data you collect to have extraordinary value. “It empowers you to take the data and marry it with art files so that the output is a very personalized communication

with every element—name, images, typography, headlines, and copy—appropriately customized. Every piece that comes off an inkjet printer is different, more relevant,” Adler says.

As an example, Adler cites an onboarding program that financial institutions use. “Each new customer gets a personalized letter welcoming them, and, based on their demographic and existing services and products, they receive additional promotions. If they are in their 20s, they might receive information about their first credit card, car loan rates, or mobile apps. Older customers might receive information about mortgages or retirement plans.”

Adler notes that integrated cross-channel and multi-touch campaigns are still considered the most effective way to get your message across. “Direct mail, emails, social media, blogs, YouTube, smart phone apps, personalized URLs—the best campaigns use multiple channels with multiple touch points. That is very efficient because you are using the same creative and content, so you are leveraging that investment to send a strong cohesive message. Digital plays well with print. Digital delivery per piece is less, but staying power of print is higher. So, when you roll all that together, you are able to develop a solution that delivers a good ROI for you,” Adler says.

Once upon a time…In the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, “Rumpelstiltskin,” a droll-looking little hobgoblin is able to magically spin plain straw into gold. And, as the

8 | Beyond Paper

A C C E L E R A T I O N I S A C C E L E R A T I N G : T H E F U T U R E I S

A R R I V I N G F A R F A S T E R T H A N

E X P E C T E D .

“

”~ Steven Kotler, science and

technology writer

king provides larger heaps of straw and demands more gold in return, Rumpelstiltskin spins faster and faster. With increasing speed and efficiency, he produces ever larger mounds of gold…and they all lived happily ever after. Likewise, print technology, data analytics, software, and paper are all evolving so that businesses can transform data into successful marketing campaigns with increasing efficiency and effectiveness, yielding greater ROIs.

It’s inkjet printing technology that is the most significant catalyst for increasing ROI. The print quality and efficiency have improved tremendously along with the quality and the selection of the corresponding paper. “Inkjet has come full circle,” affirms John Crumbaugh, media and ink product marketing manager for Canon Solutions America. “Originally, the quality just wasn’t there for high-end marketing, but now the technology has matured, and we have great paper and great quality. More and more companies are doing personalized internal promotions on their own bills and statements, but the exciting new frontier in inkjet is the direct mailer,” he says. “Commercial printers are embracing the new technology and producing true personalized direct mail pieces. And part of the reason is the quality of papers available. The papers produced by Glatfelter and other companies are allowing direct mail firms to do quality direct mail on inkjet printers. Glatfelter has one of the most complete lines of inkjet papers in the industry, everything from

Beyond Paper | 9

FEATURE

uncoated to fully coated. As Glatfelter brings new papers out, the market moves into it,” Crumbaugh explains.

New cutsheet color inkjet technology from Canon Solutions America (the Océ VarioPrint® i300) offers relatively low acquisition cost, high productivity, and just-in-time workflows at more competitive cost levels than digital toner devices. Crumbaugh says that this press is a game-changer, achieving high-quality, high-production output at top speeds.

But it’s not just the speed of the inkjet presses that is increasing: The pace of innovation is increasing as well. As science and technology writer Steven Kotler purported earlier this year, “Acceleration is accelerating: The future is arriving far faster than expected. For the first time in history, the world’s leading experts on accelerating technology are consistently finding themselves too conservative in their predictions about the future of that technology.”

Some say that we’ve only just begun to envisage how the melding of data and technology can be optimized for highly personalized marketing communications that successfully build and foster deeper, better customer relationships. That is likely no fairy tale.

CUSTOMIZATION ENGAGES CUSTOMERS

FEATURE

Inkjet technology trailblazers have helped vendors work out the kinks, the adoption has been steady, and now the production color inkjet market is growing rapidly. Industry leaders are saying that inkjet technology is quickly approaching a level of refinement that will drive the production color inkjet page volume beyond that of color toner and make it increasingly competitive with offset technology. Why the growth? Due to recent innovations, inkjet brings all

Inkjet innovations are changing the way we communicate with our markets.

the advantages of digital printing—personalization, electronic collation, workflow automation, and high speeds and productivity—to a higher volume band.

In the production of transactional documents, direct mail, and promotional applications, new technologies are converging to accelerate one-off printing and segmented communications incorporating variable images and text.

FASTER AND CHEAPER. New inkjet printers have higher productivity and lower consumable costs along with improved image-quality capabilities. It is the sweet spot for quality that catches the consumer’s eye at a cost and speed that the market demands. And that sweet spot is growing as the technology’s efficiency grows.

PERSONALIZATION + RELEVANCE = CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT. Improved collection of data and analytics means that transactional documents and direct mail have the potential to be more personalized, more relevant, and more engaging to the recipient than ever before. This is key to strengthening customer relationships, delivering real value in marketing communications, and delivering substantial ROI.

These innovations will transform the industry by enabling valuable communication and marketing products and services that were previously unavailable.

10 | Beyond Paper

by Lorrie Bryan

YEAH, we’re in

thereUNCOATED PAPERS

CARBONLESS PAPERS

BOOK PUBLISHING PAPERS

SECURITY PAPERS

ENVELOPE & CONVERTING PAPERS

ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

glatfelter.com

by Lorrie Bryan

Paper U

When you make a personal purchasing decision, do you buy based on price or on value? If you buy strictly based on price, then you’ve likely stayed at uncomfortable discount motels, poured some pungent wine down the drain, and ended up with a stash of unused junk. Cheap motels aren’t a good value if you can’t relax, box wine is not a good value if it tastes bad, and you paid too much if your bargains remain buried in your closet. At home and at work, savvy buyers recognize the difference between price and value—what something costs and what it is worth.

In a hyper-competitive business environment, companies are often tempted to lower prices to attract more buyers, but this can be a fatal mistake. As pricing specialist and thought leader Stephan Liozu points out, price wars are bad for companies and for industries as a whole. “It is easy to go down that road without realizing the consequences,” says Liozu, “but engaging in a price war is an irrational, reactive, dangerous behavior with no positive outcome.”

Liozu suggests that instead of reacting to your competitors’ price cuts and pondering how low you can go, businesses

VALUE TRUMPS PRICETo increase profit and extend customer relationships, adding worth is a better strategy than cutting what you charge.

need to explore how they can add value and thus increase their pricing power. Here are three key steps you can take to identify and shore up your value proposition so that you have a sustainable business model and avoid a price war.

Pay attention and learn. Be in constant contact with your customers and prospects. Know the markets they target, the processes they have in place, the challenges they face, and the goals they have set. Become an expert on their industry.

Adapt. “You must adopt a mindful, agile mindset and an innovative spirit. Explore your value proposition and what distinguishes your company from your competitors. Look for ways that you can leverage your assets and technology, innovate, and enhance the services you offer—in a way that better meets your customers’ needs,” explains Liozu, who has a doctorate in management.

Transition away from transaction-focused sales. Instead of focusing on closing the deal, focus on becoming a long-term valued strategic resource and partner. If you are selling a mere commodity, you can always be undercut. Instead, sell priceless solutions to your clients’ problems. That’s true value.

PA ERP

Show us your very own masterpiece! Do you have a paper product or project you are particularly proud of? An example of ingenuity, creativity, or great craftsmanship you’d like to see featured in an upcoming issue of Beyond Paper? If so, send a copy, including your name and contact information, to us at: Glatfelter’s “Use Me” C/o Great Lakes Bay Publishing | PO Box 925 | Bay City MI 48707-0925 | Or by email: paperinfo@glatfelter.com

Use Me

Generating new ideas. Coming up with creative ways to solve pressing problems. Leading interactive training sessions or important presentations. Self-stick easel paper probably is not the first thing that comes to mind when you’re talking about these important business or learning techniques, but it shouldn’t have to be—such a tool should be there to allow the meeting or presentation to run smoothly and efficiently, no matter what.

The wide, blank space of these self-stick pages serves as a place where people can come together and collaborate to get the ball rolling and to make things happen. Each fresh sheet is a channel for new possibilities.

The sheer size of the sheets—25-inches-by-30-inches—allows the content that takes shape to be seen from anywhere in the room, meaning no one is left out or left behind, and everyone is on the same page.

The pad’s design allows for effortless attachment to most easel stands, and these self-stick pages make it easy to jump from one idea to the next—even if that means that brainstorming takes a U-turn. And because the sheets can stick and re-stick almost anywhere, there’s no need to worry about your ideas not holding up.

It’s on these pages that the next big ideas take shape. Partnerships are formed. Companies are built.

On an oversized page, collaboration and creativity produce big ideas that “stick”by Kathryn Will

Beyond Paper | 13

3M POST-IT® EASEL PADS

Well Made!

MACHINES IN THE MAKING

W hen Kevin Burkett first laid eyes on a papermaking machine, he was hooked.

“Some of this equipment is so massive and so cool and so unique in operation, it really drew me in,” recalls Burkett, about that fateful stop on the college engineering tour.

Twenty years later, he’s still awestruck by the enormity of the machines and their high rates of speed. He notes some produce paper rolls at 9,000 feet per minute, winding them at speeds close to 90 mph.

Today, those same machines from yesteryear run vastly different products thanks to engineers like Burkett. Drawing on his knowledge of statistics, fluid mechanics, chemistry, geometry, matter and energy balances, unit operations, and laboratory procedures, he and his team develop new products based on continually evolving market demands.

“There’s something exciting about trying to make something you never have before,” says Burkett. “We get to answer the question, can we make it?”

NAME: Kevin BurkettJOB TITLE: Manager, Quality and Process Engineering MILL LOCATION: Chillicothe, OhioPAPER IS…changing.

Paper Working

by Laurie Hileman

Look Who’s Talking

THANK YOU, KINDLY

“No duty is more urgent than that of RETURNING THANKS.”

Express your gratitude with a handwritten note. by Laurie Hileman

Shoot a text. Send an email. Some might say the handwritten thank-you note is a lost art form in today’s digital world. But, as it

turns out, writing thank-you notes is not only good manners, it’s good for the mind and soul as well. According to the New York Times, recent scientific findings link gratitude to increased optimism,

stress reduction, and a better night’s sleep (yes, please!). Coupled with mounting evidence surrounding handwriting and its ability to help kids learn to read more quickly, generate ideas, and retain information, and suddenly the handwritten thank-you becomes even more noteworthy.

But, best of all? Getting a thank-you note in the mail makes us feel pretty darn special. Take a look at these gems Glatfelter employees received recently from students at Tiffin Elementary School in Chillicothe, Ohio, and try not to smile.

“I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”

January is National Thank-you Month

~William Shakespeare, 16th-century British poet and playwright

~ James Allen, 19th-century British writer

~ Henry Ward Beecher, 19th-century American clergyman, abolitionist, and social reformer

“Gratitude is the fairest blossom, which springs from the soul.”

On Kirsten Bresnan’s 50th birthday, she received a lovely card from her husband, Bill.

But it wasn’t her first card that birthday from her husband. It was the fiftieth.

Those 50 cards for her fiftieth birthday are only a fraction of the cards, notes, and love letters Kirsten—or Krissy, as Bresnan sometimes calls her—has received throughout the couple’s 38 years of marriage. The actual total hovers just over 10,000.

And it grows every day. The couple, from Toms River, New Jersey, first met in

1974. Bill was teaching a night class for professionals wanting to become licensed in the securities industry when “in walks this beautiful, blond, obviously Northern European woman, and it was kind of like the bolt of lightning when Michael Corleone visits Sicily and meets Apollonia,” recalls Bresnan.

Not long after, he and Kirsten began commuting to and from Long Island together on the Long Island Railroad. They exchanged notes, drawings, and “little scribblings” on beverage napkins while having coffee on the train.

Eventually, they married, and the napkins were replaced with postcards from business trips, funny cards, and greeting

by Laurie Hileman

I LOVE YOU MADLY++, MY DARLING.”

“

cards for special occasions. It might even have been a simple note complimenting Kirsten on something special she had cooked that night for dinner. Without conscious thought, Bresnan began writing to his wife every day.

Every note, every card ends the same: “I love you madly++, my Darling,” followed by the infinity sign.

In a pinch, Bresnan, who spent 20 years on Wall Street before hosting a radio financial call-in show for the past 33 years, will make cards. The self-described “hopeless romantic” carefully cuts out small pictures that have special meaning for the two of them, and glues the pictures onto pieces of paper.

And Kirsten has saved them all, including those first napkins from the train.

The collection started in a series of scrapbooks, but as the books became too unwieldy, the Bresnans created a hanging Pendaflex file system that is organized chronologically by month and year. “It’s not just an expression of love and emotion; it’s also like a love diary,” says Bresnan. Their love diary is neatly arranged in 25 hanging file storage boxes in their attic.

Not every couple is likely to have such a collection, but Bresnan encourages us all to take time and enjoy our loved

Always On My Mind

ones, rather than getting caught up in the glare of household and handheld electronics that throw out information most of us don’t even need.

“I get crazy if I go to a restaurant with Kris and see a young couple sitting there and all they’re doing is staring at their electronic devices. Their thumbs are going like crazy, instead of talking to each other, instead of looking at each other,” says Bresnan. He prompts us to stop focusing on the minutiae and to concentrate on what’s real.

To him, love is a commitment, and the key is to keep working at it. “There can’t be any secrets, there can’t be any unresolved issues, and you have to just stay in love every day. It is a choice, and you do make it every day,” says Bresnan.

The Bresnans raised three daughters and a son, and they are now enjoying time with their four grandchildren. Both have battled—and beat—cancer (yes, he did write notes while he was in the hospital), but as Bresnan approaches 75 years of age, his greatest fear is that one day he’ll forget to give his wife a card.

“I don’t want that day to come too quickly. I intend to continue it as long as I can. I have no intention of stopping,” he says.

OPPOSITE: Bresnan pens a love note to his wife, one of the thousands he’s written since the couple met in 1974 on a commuter train.ABOVE: Bill and Kirsten Bresnan, of Toms River, New Jersey, have been married for 38 years.

BRESNAN ON PAPER DECLARATIONS OF LOVE“I believe that if you write something down, it’s a whole lot different than if you say it,” says Bresnan, “because you can’t take it back! This way it’s sort of immortalized or memorialized, if you will.”

by Laurie Hileman

For every special moment in our lives, paper is there. A record. A memento. A gift for the soul.

b e c o m e suspaper

“Because everything that matters to us happens on paper. Without paper, we are nothing. We are born, and issued with a birth certificate. We collect more of these certificates at school, and yet another when we marry, and another when we divorce, and buy a house, and when we die. We are born human, but are forever becoming paper, as paper becomes us, our artificial skin.” ~ Ian Sansom, Paper: An Elegy

Yes, we begin and end on paper: two certificates marking the passage of human life through this world.

And all along the way, we collect more paper. Diplomas, driver’s licenses, voter ID cards, and, if we’re lucky, maybe a vehicle title and property deed. If we’re really lucky, we might collect drawings from our children, photographs, love notes, and birthday cards filled with sappy sentiments and funny jabs from friends and family.

No matter how old or young, whether in crisis or cele-bration, we mark our momentous occasions with paper. But what makes a moment special? When does a moment become a memory?

Here are the stories of four individuals, disparate tales of moments big and small. The time when paper, like the very fiber from which it’s made, becomes woven into our lives. The time when paper becomes us.

***

FEATURE

Ann exhaled, realizing suddenly she had forgotten to breathe. Her mind settled. Her heart lifted.

Yes, she thought, thinking of her own mom again. Yes, she was ready. She took another breath and turned back to the form.

Mother’s Name.

Ann pressed the pen to the paper and began to write.

Weeks passed before the official birth certificate arrived in the afternoon mail. With her baby napping quietly in her arm, Ann slid her index finger under the envelope flap and tugged. Unfolding the crisp, smooth paper, she felt the bumps of the clerk’s seal before tracing her finger over the magical words.

Mother’s Name: Ann Marie Sorenson.

She flashed back to that moment of panic and awe in the hospital. The exact moment she realized she, too, was a mother.

“Thank you, Mom,” she whispered, as she brought her daughter’s sleeping face up for a kiss.

***

All That Glitters “It’s funny the little things you notice,” says Susan Poplawski, addressing a crowd of volunteers gathered at the North Carolina processing center. They were about to begin shipping thousands of shoeboxes filled with donations to disadvantaged children around the world.

“And, sometimes, it’s the things you don’t.”

Recounting her trip to a Romanian orphanage the year before—where the children had been shoebox recipients—Susan wanted to underscore the importance of the volunteers’ mission.

“Because the first thing I noticed,” she says, “was the paper.”

She quickly explained that in years past she lined her shoebox donation with wrapping paper. It usually was an

Mother’s Name Ann’s hand paused over the words.

Mother’s Name.

Marion Keysor, she thought, with a mix of certainty and panic. Surely, it must be Marion Keysor—her rock, her lifeline, her mom—not herself, Ann Sorenson. Gripping the pen a little tighter, she readjusted the plastic clipboard pressing on her sore belly and read the words on the birth certificate paperwork again.

Mother’s Name.

It can’t be, Ann thought. Despite a lifetime of dreaming, years of trying, nine months of tremulous pregnancy, and 12 hours of labor, she suddenly felt ill-prepared. Their daughter was here. She was her mom. This was real. Was she ready?

Looking up, Ann caught her husband watching her with a look of adoration and pride. Nestled neatly in his arms was their darling girl, swaddled tightly in a white-striped hospital blanket, looking like a baby-faced burrito.

20 | Beyond Paper

afterthought, and almost always with whatever leftovers she had on hand.

But there in Romania, amidst the drab, gray walls and utilitarian cribs of cold, blue steel, were squares of brightly colored wrapping paper carefully taped to the wall. Sparkling pink stars on a background of silver, Christmas reds and greens, and balloons shimmering in a kaleidoscope of colors.

The orphanage attendant had noticed Susan curiously eyeing the paper and explained how much the children loved the mismatched collection, still creased and slightly torn from shipping. They had no money, she’d told Susan, for pictures or colorful paint. For many of the children, the bits of wrapping paper were the most beautiful things they’d ever seen.

It was the paper, of all things, they treasured most.

“You see?” says Susan, tears gathering in her eyes at the recollection. “Too often we’re so focused on what’s going in the box—the toys and trinkets, toothpaste and candy—that we don’t notice the true gift. Something as simple as sparkly paper can be so much more. The gift of beauty. The gift of hope.”

***

Heritage Lost, Heritage Found Frank Schulz approached the ticket counter and presented his passport to the agent.

But it was more than a passport. The agent would never know that this little blue booklet, like the hundreds of others that passed through her hands every day, represented a lifetime of hopes and dreams come true.

He’d saved for decades for this trip. A trip to the dairy lands in the valleys of Austria, the home of his ancestors. Until now, his life as a small dairy farmer in Wisconsin never allowed for much. The grueling demands of his animals, morning and night, afforded little money and no time for travel.

Instead, Frank settled for what tales from his father he could remember. He’d been gone 30 years now, yet Frank would never forget the day his father received his U.S. citizenship. The paper represented new beginnings for a family plagued by war, but also a sad farewell to the lives left behind. His father’s tales about life in the old country among the beauty of the Alps were always bittersweet.

The tales fascinated Frank. He’d tried to fill in what family information he could from the genealogy resources at his

FEATURE

Memories Are Made on Glatfelter PaperWhether you’re celebrating the birth of your first child, savoring a new favorite book, or tracking down that elusive stamp for your collection, chances are your special moments are captured on Glatfelter paper.

Take a look and see…

DIGITAL PAPERS: Used for printing the wedding invitations for your first of six daughters.

SECURITY PAPERS: The automobile title for your 1966 blue Mustang, which earned you your first speeding ticket, is printed on a sheet of this.

CONVERTING PAPERS: You recognize her quirky, left-leaning scrawl on the envelope before ever opening the laugh-out-loud birthday card your best friend manages to send every year.

CARBONLESS PAPER: That pack of 2,000 two-ply invoices you thought you’d never use up when starting your own carpet cleaning business? You got it.

ENGINEERED PAPERS: Upon admiring the trendy grey and white chevron wallpaper in your neighbor’s bathroom, you can’t help but wish you’d have thought of it first.

local library. He’d managed to trace back nine generations. But now, today, it was becoming real.

The ticket agent handed back his passport, saying, “Enjoy your flight, Mr. Schulz.” Grasping it in hand, he turned and shuffled slowly toward the gate. He thought about landing in Vienna in a few hours and the stamp of Austria punching down on the blank blue page of his passport—and his spirit soared.

***

LettersThe shoebox sat in the back corner of the shelf. In his mother’s loose hand, “Jerome” was scrawled across the front in faded black ink. Jerome reached for the box and sank heavily onto the corner of the bed.

His sisters had already sorted through the clothes, and now the shelf was the last thing to be cleared out before the estate sale people set up shop.

Opening the lid, a faint hint of his mother’s perfume escaped as he glanced down at the stacks of letters arranged neatly in the box. Letters that started his first week of college. All he had were lined pages gently torn from his first composition notebook.

Damn, he thought, shaking his head and smiling to himself. It seemed like yesterday. She was so proud of her baby boy going away to college. On a scholarship, no less. As a single mom, she’d worked long hours to support her four kids.

Jerome promised to write her each week with details of school. And he faithfully kept his promise. She liked the wild stories from his history classes the best. She’d once told him they reminded her of a world she’d never gotten to see.

College came to an end, but the letters never stopped. By then, Jerome was in the habit of sorting through life in his weekly missive to his mother, even through the long days and late nights on his beat as a journalist at the large metropolitan daily newspaper.

Sitting on his mother’s bed, he gently unfolds the first letter, faded and stiff, and begins to read the story of a boy becoming a man.

***

To celebrate paper is to celebrate being human. It’s secure and versatile, tactile and robust. Our art, our history, our souls live on through paper.

“For years now we’ve been seeing the whole concept of ‘print is dead’ that is so far from the truth,” says Susan Gunelius, president and CEO of Florida-based KeySplash Creative, Inc.

“Yes, we’ve moved as a society to where the majority of our communication is done online and digitally. But that’s why suddenly paper becomes even more important.”

As a 20-year corporate marketing veteran and author of 10 marketing-related books, Gunelius believes paper holds a unique position in the marketing arsenal. Why? Because it can be touched and manipulated. Paper holds weight.

It goes back to our five senses and the emotion that comes through them, Gunelius says. Radio appeals to hearing and TV to hearing and sight, but very few mediums capture our love for tactile touch.

“The emotions that our tactile senses create aren’t going to go away. In fact, we probably crave them even more now because we get less of them. Why not leverage that opportunity and fill that gap?” asks Gunelius.

Consider the powerful effect paper has on creating a brand experience. There’s a reason the supermarket flier looks different than the brochure at the Cadillac dealer.

“People may not realize it, but the wrong paper can completely change the perception of a brand,” says Gunelius.

Marketers are wise to carefully select the paper that can effectively communicate the brand experience and promise. With the variety of new paper choices available today, finding the perfect paper that speaks to your audience is easier than ever.

“The more emotions you can evoke, the more powerful this is going to be. Especially those indirect, perceived messages that are just subconsciously connected with our mind,” Gunelius says.

that loving feelingPaper appeals to our five senses more than any other marketing medium. Use it to your advantage.

FEATURE

YOU’VE GOT

Did You Know...?

Eric Roush easily sees the forest for the trees. With 27 years of experience as a forester with Glatfelter, he understands the complex system of supplying wood fiber to the mills better than most.

“As foresters, we’ve always managed sustainably because our interests were in the future of the forest and making sure it was there for the next generation,” says Roush, who is now Glatfelter’s woodlands operations manager in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The future of paper, after all, is inextricably linked with the future of forests. Glatfelter mills in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, and Chillicothe continually draw from surrounding forests in the Eastern region of the United States for their wood fiber.

The vast majority of these forests are owned by small, private landowners who form the heart of a complex forest products industry, which includes foresters, forestry consultants, loggers, sawmills, and paper mills. To harvest trees, they work together using responsible forestry practices that protect the soil, water resources, and wildlife—now and into the future.

And it’s working. According to a 2013 report published by the U.S. Forest Service, Ohio’s forest cover has doubled in area since 1942.

With the growth cycle of hardwood trees ranging from 60 - 80 years and softwood trees nearing 40 years, management plans are complicated—and carefully drawn—affairs. Roush and his team work to identify differing species of trees, flora, and fauna; assess erosion, insect, and disease risks; and plan not only the cutting and harvesting of timber stands but also the planting and cultivation of new stands for future growth.

Certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) offer much needed visibility to the process. “People have something they can look at and recognize that this is being managed to a set of standards,” says Roush, referring to the organizations’ trademarks seen on packaging and paper products.

Preserving forests and the forest products industry comes down to responsibility. “We want our paper customers to understand that we do care about the environment and what’s going on. They should feel good about buying paper from Glatfelter because we are doing things right,” says Roush.

Eric Roush is a woodlands operations manager for Glatfelter. His ability to assess land potential and overall value helps him to meet customer needs by developing plans and management practices to promote long-term success. Contact Eric at 740-772-3106, or by emailing Eric.Roush@glatfelter.com.

From landowners to mill operators, best management practices safeguard the future of our woodlands.by Laurie Hileman

SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

24 | Beyond Paper

DIGITAL

CONVERTING

SECURITY

CARBONLESS

BOOK

UNCOATED

SPECIALTIES

INNOVATIONSwww.glatfelter.com

DIDYOUKNOW?

Glatfelter has oneof the most diverseproduct portfoliosin the industry.

In fact, 40% of the U.S. populationtouches a Glatfelter product every day.

®HIGHSPEED INKJET PAPERS

Run With The Best Increase productivity and profitability with Pixelle.

As the leading manufacturer of high-speed inkjet papers in North America, Glatfelter’s product portfolio delivers superior performance at an unmatched value.

Our Pixelle line — engineered to meet the demands of today’s production inkjet presses — offers untreated, treated, and coated product options, ensuring outstanding image fidelity and post-processing attributes.

Dial into the perfect balance between speed, quality, and ink consumption. Pixelle is your one-stop product line for any printing need.

8 8 8 74 4 4 2 4 6 p i xe l l e @ g l at fe l te r. co m w w w. p i xe l l e p a p e r. co m

96 South George Street, Suite 500 | York, PA 17401