Monthly Archives: September 2010

Calculating a benefit

A blog of considerable brevity today as am currently attending Pira International’s Print Futures conference in Geneva, and everyone else is scoffing a sarnie or somesuch at the moment.

I wanted to pass on something that one of the speakers said yesterday.

Laura Hardy, VP and director at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, was talking about what she looks for in her print suppliers, and the things she finds helpful. One of the most useful services a company can have, from her point-of-view, is a cost calculator on their website. This is incredibly attractive for buyers like Laura who are constantly juggling multiple potential projects for clients who may or may not be entirely clear about what they want, and what the available budget is.

Being able to easily access ball-park pricing for different print piece options is therefore a boon. What’s more, it frees up estimating time at the printco.

Something to take note of, I thought, for anyone looking to improve/revamp their web presence. Oh, and please resist any urge to put a picture of your new press on the home page, too.

Handily enough the IoD also published some dos and don’ts for creating a website today. Worth a look.

Read more »

Formidable operator

This industry is sometimes a bit like a merry-go-round. Once people are on they either stay on the ride for life, or they get off for a bit and then get back on again. Some people get on, feel a bit sick, and then step off forever.

Read more »

Resort report

Just back from hols, and as it’s almost October, shriek, I guess lots of people will be done with holidaying for the time being, too.

The perfect time, then, for a quick straw poll. During the PrintWeek readership’s many and varied vacances, did you see many people reading ebooks or clutching iPads?

Read more »

Papal print

The Pope is coming to town this week, and it’s good to see that his Holiness is doing his bit to generate some print while he’s here.

Check out the special online store for luxe accompanying programme (£10), various t-shirts, mugs, holy cards and other paraphernalia. Even papal bunting! And the Catholic Church has also embraced personalised printing, too, with the option for church-specific mugs and t-shirts (minimum order is 10, though). Disappointingly, no tea towels. At the time of writing I’ve been unable to find out who the chosen printers are, but I’m hoping it’s not all coming from China in a container.

Read more »

Nice people to do business with?

HH Associates buys a great deal of print, and
there’s no doubt the firm is in a powerful position when it comes to
negotiating terms with some of its print suppliers. Some. Certainly not all.

Read more »

Frome very much on the map

Wow. What a coup for Butler Tanner & Dennis to win the
Ordnance Survey map printing contract.

“Who can print maps?” is a question that
pops up regularly in my Help Line. In fact, while digging through my map-related
archives I found this query from January 2003: “We have a job
1,200×1,000mm in size that needs to be folded in the same style as maps are,
with eight concertina folds on the long edge. We have large format presses and
folders, but don’t have this particular folding configuration. Could you
suggest someone who does?”

Read more »

Mists clear, but still a fog of uncertainty around De La Rue

This morning’s update from De La Rue has induced a further wave of agog and aghastness. While the security print giant has at last been able to shed some more light on the production issues at its Overton paper mill, it seems that every time De La Rue issues a statement these days it throws up as many questions as it answers.

Read more »

Books, books and more books

Whatever one’s personal opinion may be about Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister’s autobiography has certainly provided a fillip for the printed word.

This was especially welcome given the amount of negative death-of-the-book coverage generated by news that a particularly exceptional dictionary with sales in the mere hundreds would likely enough not be printed anymore.  

Read more »

Are you on the map?

When was the last time you Googled yourself? Not in the vainglorious personal sense, rather, in a business sense.

Enter pretty much any company name into the search behemoth and more often than not a ‘place page’ linking through to Google Maps will pop up among the first two or three listings. If it’s not, click on the ‘maps’ tab at the top of the page and you’ll see what I’m on about. These listings are powered by ‘Google Places’.

Read more »

Ringside seat required

Reading through the speaker line-up for Pira’s upcoming executive print retreat in Geneva, I experienced both a frisson and a flashback.

The flashback was to 2003, sitting in the audience at a Pira web offset conference and listening to IPC Media production honcho Jasper Scott deliver a not-so-thinly veiled dig at St Ives. Scott drew a somewhat unfavourable comparison between the St Ives setup involving multiple web offset plants, and continental competitors such as Maury with a superplant model.

Read more »