In an environment where print is a commodity, a focus on creativity and quality can still pay. That’s the message that Michael Walker took away from an Enfield printer
Print4UK is a fast-growing print house based in north London that counts a number of blue-chip companies among its client base. With creative services in-house, the firm is able to offer complete design, print and finishing services that take full advantage of the digital print capabilities of its HP Indigo 7900 press. The latest example of this is experimentation with the HP silver ElectroInk, which managing director Chris Brady and director of corporate services John Attard and their team are adding to clear inks as well as to standard CMYK to provide a range of novel metallic effects. One example was a series of labels in which the silver was mixed with the normal process colours to produce gold, silver and bronze designs. All seven of the Indigo’s colour stations are used, with clear and ‘premium white’ occupying the other two.
Mr Brady explains that this allows more to be achieved in a single pass in the press, keeping down both costs and the carbon footprint of the process. This is part of a strong environmental ethos, which not only manifests in the company’s own choices, such as delivering business cards in boxes made of FSC-certified recycled board, or producing a Christmas 2019 promotional pack all made of recyclable materials but also in persuading clients to mail newsletters in recyclable materials rather than polywrap bags.
The combination of white, clear, metallic and process colours has allowed Print4UK to achieve a variety of creative effects that would otherwise require foiling or other post- print processes, though they can also be combined with them, as in the case of printing clear ink over a soft-touch laminate for a subtle effect that oozes quality.
Creative touches
It’s this quality feel, combined with novel ideas that got Print4UK nominated for last year’s Digital Printer Awards self-promotional print category with its Feed Your Creativity ‘pizza box’. Printed entirely on the Indigo, the box not only contained a sample booklet demonstrating the company’s capabilities on various substrates but also a mock loyalty card with a personalised QR code on it that takes the recipient to a personalised landing page. When Mr Attard states that the decision whether to delete an email is taken in in a fifth of a second, it’s not hard to see why something physical and tactile – there were even realistic looking grease spots inside the pizza box – would win considerably more attention. The boxes have so far generated a 66% ROI.
An idea currently in production that should pique recipients’ curiosity even more effectively is for a security firm. Targeted recipients will be sent a locked travel safe and invited to go online to receive a personalised code – based on their mobile phone number – that will unlock it to reveal a variety of personalised content. It’s not cheap, and only a hundred or so will be sent, but the value of a sale for the client would more than make it worthwhile.
By fusing design and marketing creativity with environmental awareness and the flexibility of digital printing, Print4UK has carved itself a space for non- commodity print that really adds value.
