It was a scene straight out of the television show "Cops." With his car's red and blue lights flashing, a police officer pulled over a man suspected of drunk driving. As the officer approached the distressed driver, a photographer's camera shutter snapped rapidly while a crowd of curious onlookers gathered to figure out what was "going down" on this typically quiet street in Naperville, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
Fortunately for the citizens of Naperville (and the "driver" of the car), nothing was going down--nothing worth mentioning on the police scanner or the evening news. The "mock DUI" was being photographed for the Naperville Police Department's new anti-drunk driving campaign, fostered by Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based distributorship Fineline Marketing Group.
Looking to target two segments of the community, legal-aged consumers and underage students, the Naperville Police Department approached Fineline Marketing Group last year with the goal of creating slogans that said more than "Don't Drink and Drive." In what turned out to be one of the distributorship's most exciting commercial printing jobs, the police department chose the distributorship over a slew of other companies to spearhead the campaign. Andy Kuhlmann, Fineline Marketing Group's vice president of sales, says the distributorship was able to most accurately develop the unique message the Naperville Police Department wanted.
"They were looking for a strong, in-your-face message," says Kuhlmann. He started Fineline Marketing Group in his house 10 years ago, then expanded it and moved into the company's current location in 2001. "At the same rate, they wanted to be edgy, not preachy," he says. For a distributorship that attributes 60 percent of its sales to commercial printing, Fineline Marketing Group had the skills and know-how to complete the project. But would Kuhlmann and his colleagues be able to conceptualize a message powerful and distinctive enough to capture the attention of the entire Naperville community? Fineline Marketing Group was up to the challenge.
After brainstorming sessions and photo
shoots, Fineline Marketing Group provided approximately 3,000 24 x 36-inch
posters featuring (for the 21-and-older audience) photos of police officers and
the mock DUI pullover. The posters were emblazoned with the message, "If you
choose to drink and drive...meet your new designated driver." For the underage
crowd, the distributorship positioned a picture of a brain above the words, "Not
old enough to drink...but old enough to think." The posters, which now adorn the
walls of bars, liquor stores and high schools throughout Naperville, are part of
what Kuhlmann calls an "edgy and modern" approach to commercial
printing.
Such an approach is becoming increasingly evident in today's rapidly evolving industry, especially regarding commercial printing. "In order to stay on top in this industry, you really need to be on the cutting edge for your clients," says Kuhlmann, who has realized the benefits of creative thinking, thanks to the success of his company's project with the Naperville Police Department. "This type of photo shoot was something different for us because we needed to capture a mood in an uncontrolled setting," he says. "But it really worked out in the end."
The Future is Now
There's no time like the present for distributors to begin offering commercial printing or add more edge to their companies' commercial printing repertoires. As do-not-call laws are bringing the telemarketing industry to a halt, more printing pros expect increased business with direct mail and commercial printing. More than ever, clients need exceptional, cutting-edge marketing pieces. Consider these tips from experienced distributors:
* Be cognizant of changes in technology...
"If our business didn't keep up with this technology, we'd fall behind our competitors and not be able to generate new revenue," says John Milanowski, owner of Detroit-based J & M Reproduction Corporation, which recently became the first commercial printer in Michigan to install Xerox's DocuColor iGen3 digital production press. Milanowski, like many other distributors, has taken advantage of the recent technology boom within the commercial printing industry. Want to bolster your bottom line? Follow the lead of Milanowski or David Nugent, president of Trenton Printing Company, Trenton, N.J. The company recently installed a Presstek Dimension 800, which eliminated the need for toxic processing chemicals, thereby reducing printing turnaround time and lowering production costs. "It's clean, fast, and very efficient," Nugent says.
* ...But don't forget to press beyond the presses.
So you've just installed a state-of-the-art digital production press. You'll be able to provide your customers with higher-quality products, but what can you offer in terms of marketing collateral? "In the past, we used to define ourselves by our press room," Nugent says. "It was all about how many presses, and how many cylinders we had. Now, it's about how we can take all our platforms and prepare them for web site content, email distribution and other types of marketing collateral." Nugent says he recently began describing his company as a "business communications" resource as opposed to strictly a printing distributorship. The new description occurred to Nugent after he struck a deal with a school board to design and print a 1,000-piece newsletter and provide email and web site-ready content. "In the future, we may see our cylinder counts going down because we're offering so much more than print on paper," Nugent says.
* Learn to roll with the punches.
In 2002, when Trenton Printing Company was "busy as hell," Nugent says, the firm received a command from a client that no printer ever wants to hear: "Stop the presses!" A partnership with the AFL-CIO had Trenton Printing Company producing fliers and posters endorsing former Sen. Robert Torricelli's (D-N.J.) re-election bid to the U.S. Senate. As presses churned out materials backing him, Torricelli bowed out of the campaign after being accused of taking illegal gifts and cash from a campaign contributor. "That shut me completely down," Nugent says. Trenton Printing Company then had to start producing materials from scratch when Torricelli's replacement on the ballot needed materials. Although costly in terms of time, energy and materials, Nugent took the situation in stride. "We were prepared for anything," he says. "I was running two shifts with employees scheduled around the clock. Plus, the AFL-CIO paid in full."
When faced with a similar situation, Fineline Marketing Group wasn't as fortunate. But, Kuhlmann says, he learned from the experience. When one of the distributorship's clients defaulted on a $50,000 job, Kuhlmann vowed that he would be more wary when approaching large and long-running projects without receiving in-progress payments. "Through conception and photography, I had endured a very long process with this client," he says. "And after being liquidated, they could not follow through with the payment." Now, Kuhlmann looks to form partnerships with strong, well-established clients, and is open to asking non-competitive distributors for advice.
* Educate yourself at trade shows.
Non-competitive distributors can be great sources of commercial printing advice, but traveling may be necessary to gain ideas first-hand. Consider attending GUTENBERG FESTIVAL 2004, to be held June 17-19 in Long Beach, Calif. Targeted to graphic design, digital prepress, printing, publishing, converting and digital print providers, GUTENBERG FESTIVAL allows attendees to peruse displays of nearly 200 exhibitors. For more information, visit http://gutenberg.gasc.org. DMIA's Print Solutions 2004 Conference & Expo, to be held Oct. 5-7 in Rosemont, Ill. (Chicago), offers educational sessions on commercial printing and allows attendees to meet with commercial printing manufacturers exhibiting on the show floor. For more information, visit www.DMIA.org and click on "Print Solutions Conference & Expo." GRAPH EXPO® and CONVERTING EXPO®, held annually in Chicago, is one of the largest and most comprehensive prepress, printing, converting and digital equipment trade shows and conferences nationwide. This year's show will be held Oct. 10-13. For more information, visit http://graphexpo.gasc.org.
Above all, when it comes to choosing types of commercial printing products and services to offer, don't hesitate to go for the "wow" factor. "Some commercial printing products nowadays can be so boring," Kuhlmann says. To combat this, he recommends integrating commercial printing with interactive promotional products like tubes and puzzles. "By seeking out new and innovative types of products tailored for a specific client, you can foster one-to-one personalization and growth," he says.
Finding a Happy Medium
All this talk about staying edgy in the commercial printing market making you feel a bit, well, edgy? Perhaps you pride yourself on avoiding trends, or think your company isn't cut out to be cutting-edge.
Learn from Nugent, who has found a way to sell his 75-year-old company as both enduring and modern. "Around here, we like to say that we have the right combination of cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned experience," Nugent says. He adds dryly, "The former we can live up to most of the time."
