Where did the autumn go?!

Well, I suppose I'd better kick the dust off the blog. I turned around and suddenly, it was mid-December. It has been a busy autumn (no excuse) . I'll tell you what, I promise to keep up with the blog!

Here is some Acme Printing noteworthy news: We are now proofing staccato line-screen. Early this month, we finished up some system improvements that allow us to accurately proof staccato line-screen. Prior, we were able to proof Kodak Approvals at standard line (which isn't really an accurate color representation) and/or press proof (which can be very expensive - if you proof both ways, then one set of plates isn't used!). This makes the decision of whether or not to utilize staccato line a more cost-effective decision and makes the proofing process accurate to color. Not too many commercial printers right now are utilizing this!

Happy Holidays!

The Truth About Where Your Paper Comes From

Pictures! Yes, I thought to post this picture after discussing clear-cutting, the tactless logging technique used by some paper manufacturers, with a colleague (at this point, most colleagues in the print world are probably saying, "What the heck is he doing pointing this out!").

There are some benefits to properly managed and planned clear-cutting (for vegetation patches that require heavy sunlight). But here's what you should know about improper clear-cutting:
1. It's the most efficient way to produce paper, making paper prices lower.
2. It often detroys much wildlife in the process.
3. It makes the land (and mainly the soil) un-usable for a long time, because it removes the necessary decomposition cycle to grow vegetation.
4. Clear-cutting can cause intense erosion, which causes severe mudslides.
5. It's aesthetically unpleasing (but you can see that in the picture!).

HOWEVER, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) insures that logging is done selectively, so that our forests are maintained. There are many paper manufacturers that produce brands only with FSC certification, so that you can still receive the same competitive pricing as previously. As an FSC certified printer, I also recommend heavy recycled content paper.

The Printing Industry Is a Strong Bet!

Good news...most of the U.S. is panicking because of the new fed interest rate. There is concern that this will cause the U.S. to fall back into recession. Well, this isn't THE good news.

The good news is that many investment analysts are saying that the commercial printing industry is very strong. And although our parent company, Matlet Group, is a privately held company (and the largest minority owned printing company in the U.S.), it is still a great reflection on the market.

Despite the alarming rate of 1,000 printing companies closing their doors every year, Acme Printing has solidly been in business for over 70 years.

So don't panic! We're in this for the long-haul!

The Bearded Lady and The Drunk Model

Do you ever drive by a restaurant, take a brief look at it, and decide that you would never go there? You can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something about the general appearance that makes your stomach uneasy?

That’s how I feel about 70% of the catalogs I get in the mail. Though I know what makes my stomach uneasy. When I open a catalog, I first look for the infamous bearded lady. This is a picture of a woman who looks like she has a 5-o’clock shadow. This is because their printer is pulling back on the cyan, magenta, and yellow to reduce costs, and pushes black to thicken the images up.

Secondly, I compare two of the same products side by side. I am looking at two of the same product shots right now, that are about an inch apart in the catalog. One contains a white dress worn by a rosy-cheeked woman. The other contains what looks like a yellow, aged dress, and the same woman who looks like she’s had one too many cocktails.

I blame this on the CEO/president of the printing company that printed this particular piece. He/she has made it clear that their top priority is driving costs down to either 1.) Drive profits or 2.) Auction their new customers into the door.

Next time you receive a catalog, see if it makes you feel uneasy about the products.

Whichever candidate has the best pitch

I’m breaking, what I’d consider, two of the most important rules of this blog: 1.) Don’t stray from the major topics and, 2.) Don’t talk politics. But I’ve got to; politicians make me laugh.

Regardless of how much I sugar-coat and butter up my official title of Account Executive (maybe someday, I’ll throw a "Senior" in front of it), I’m still a sales person. Fortunately, I consider myself product-smart, and sales-stupid, which I have a feeling most people appreciate (I actually had a customer a couple of years ago call my manager and thank him for my pressure-free attitude…my response: "I dunno’, I wasn’t trying to be pressure-free…I wasn’t trying anything.")

But I have this feeling that most of our politicians for the 2008 election are the opposite: "product"-stupid and sales-smart. Here’s what I mean, I have this feeling that every politician is trying to appease every side of every issue, and in the end, there’s an obscure, vague message that leaves the American people saying, "Wha…what did they say?"

Imagine, I’m a sales rep that walks into your office and I claim that Acme Printing can provide the fastest turnaround, but we’re slow because we spend time on a lot of QA and preparation…we’re the most inexpensive, but we put a lot of money into make-ready materials and the best binding…we’ve got the best customer service, but we also provide low prices because we minimize labor costs…we’ve got a lot of capacity for your project…but we’ll need files 7 weeks prior to the ship-date.

Confused yet? I got vertigo just writing it.

My question is this, who was the first presidential candidate that pitched "I can be everything for the American people"? Because that was the person that opened the floodgates. So next time you pick up the phone, and here my voice or another "sales rep", feel relieved. It could be worse; it could be a presidential candidate.

Same Press...Same Paper...Same Price???

So I’ve become a regular at a local musical instrument store, and was asking advice on a piece of equipment. After much chit-chat, his final conclusion was, “You get what you pay for”. And of course…it got me thinking. The same can be said about nearly everything; including commercial printing. Often times, commercial printers have comparable material costs, but excel by having lower overhead. For example, many long-run book printers in the United States have difficulty competing against China book printers, simply based upon the premise that China book printers have lower labor and overhead costs (and it doesn’t hurt that there are a number of low-cost Asian paper mills on that corner of the globe). BUT, for the most part, Acme Printing buys the same paper as “Commercial Printer ABC” down the road, for the same price, and from the same source. So with that being said, where does the “you get what you pay for” phrase come into play? Well first, we don’t feel comfortable putting a job on our presses without having Kodak approval proofs; which is the highest quality proofing available in commercial printing and is a true representation of the color you have in your files. Unfortunately, this proofing can be costly. BUT it’s well justified when a project exceeds your expectations. We also refuse to reproduce industry “corner-cutting” standards like pushing black ink on press to thicken a (printer-made) weak 4-color image; this is a trick used to save on cyan, magenta, and yellow ink costs. Or substituting quoted paper stock with an obsolete inventory stock. We take the road less traveled by employing higher-than-standard QA policies. In fact, we estimate typically a higher make-ready when ordering materials to insure that the press-sheets we keep are acceptable (and of course, the press-sheets that don’t meet our color standards are recycled). Just some food for thought for the next time you are reviewing the menu at a fine cuisine restaurant, go car-shopping, are choosing a college education for your children, or something a bit smaller in the scope of things…like choosing where to house a commercial print project. Ask yourself, "can our commercial print be better?"

My e-mail signature...the scroll

Okay, okay, I finally trimmed my e-mail signature down a bit. I had a notoriously long e-mail signature that listed everything but my social security number. I like being up to date on everything that's going on, so naturally, I want everyone to know how to get in touch with me.

Shortening my signature feels like one of those "Home Invasion" remodeling shows, that comes in and throws away all of the home owner's bobbling-head-doll collection. It was sad to see most of it go, but I'm grasping on to what remains: my cell number, Acme's website and address, the "FSC..certification", and of course, this blog's URL.

I can't believe I just dedicated two paragraphs to this topic. :-)


FYI - I'm sending out a very valuable piece of information on the next e-mail newsletter about "green" coated paper. I'm giving out THE list of all lists. Send me an e-mail if you want to get in on the fun.

Nobody told me this was a race!

I had the opportunity to ponder during a quiet car ride this weekend, so I pondered about the past, present, and future of the printing industry. Although I wasn’t around the commercial printing industry during the 20th century, I’ve heard enough stories to gain an appreciation for history. Nowadays, (unfortunately) commercial printing is considered a commodity product. Somewhere between the past and the present, the art and craft of FINE commercial printing became obsolete.

It seems that my generation, a generation dependent upon "all-in-one-mobile-devices" and "drive-thrus", has prioritized the needs of a purchase as: 1. Price, 2. Speed, 3. And that other stuff (e.g. quality, a trusting relationship, reputation, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, on any given day I can be seen pulling up to my local Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru, but where do we draw the line? Is"speed dentistry" a possibility? How about "Get your own new home built for three easy intsallments of $19,999!"? The thought makes me cringe.

My father is a sales rep for highly reputable design and construction firm. He and his company bring the elements of a quality and trustworthy reputation to new clients. But often their "no corner cutting" and "no surprise costs" attitude equates to a higher price than their competitors. Most of the time, price is the reason that they lose a project.

On the radio, I heard a story about Power Fasteners Inc., the company whose sub-par epoxy caused the fatal July 2006 Boston, MA accident. Now I know I’m stretching a bit here, but really, where do we draw the line?

Well, my point is that great commercial printing is a craft; a craft that we still take very seriously. It’s sad to see so many companies and commercial printers treat it as a commodity business. But on the other side, it’s optimistic to still meet so many clients that still have as strong of a passion for commercial printing as we do.

As always, I welcome plant tours to see fine commercial printing come to life. Please let me know if you’d be interested, and I’d be happy to give you the nickel tour.

Offline Co-Mail Service...An Opportunity For An Entrepreneur?

Many long hours…that’s the amount of time invested in researching mail-prep service providers that offer co-mailing and/or co-palletizing services. The results to my research were worse than disparaging.

I recently read an article that contained interviews from a number of small publishers that was heart-breaking, to say the least. One publisher explained that they were "closing their doors" due to the recent postage increases AND new postal regulations that charge full postage for non-registered addresses (regardless of the pre-sort discount that the piece originally had).

Currently, there are only a few major international printers that offer these services. And in addition to the limited options, scheduling a publication or catalog for co-mailing is extremely difficult. First, the catalog or publication must fit well with the predominant catalog/pub’s mailing list (e.g. they must have a combined minimum quantity for each mail-drop). Second, they must share the same ink-jet location. And third, they must share the same binding and trim size.

Here’s my thought: Is there anybody out there that wants to take a risk with some capital investments in PPE and labor to be the first to penetrate the market as an offline co-mail partner? Sure, there’s risk attached to it, but you may have your first customer right here.

Life On the Other Side

I am a subscriber to a number of printing and marketing news sources and one of my favorite sources to keep up with, is Margie Dana’s “Boston Print Buyers” (shhh, I even borrow some of her ideas). She frequently gives us printers an idea of what it’s like to be a print buyer; which, being on the other side, is much appreciated (…information I never had at high school dances). But it got me thinking that not many people know what it’s like to be a print rep. So, without further ado, I bring to you…

Well other than the Aussie Crocodile Hunter, overall, it’s the coolest job in the world (but slightly less dangerous). What other job can you work with somebody’s creative ideas, and custom build a product, to make their vision come to life? And I am fortunate to represent a company like Acme: Not too big, not too small; that “family-run feel” atmosphere; and an unprecedented reputation for quality, Acme’s outstanding client list, and a genuine, 100% concern for the customer’s well-being makes it easier on a print rep.

Though, there are plenty of bumps along the way. For the most part, I’m probably one of the youngest reps I’ve met in the commercial printing industry (by far). And in such a specialized industry, it’s often very difficult to convince companies that I visit, that I am a resident expert (even with 3+ years of printing experience). No, I am not an RIT graduate, nor was I raised in a “printing family”, but instead I learned the hard way: asking what seems like millions of questions along the way.

But like any printing rep, there is always a lot more to learn (fortunately, at heart, I’ve always been a student). As a printing rep, we must be the local expert on printing, paper, binding, finishing, die-cutting, postal affairs, marketing (thank God for the marketing background), and industry news (e.g. eco-friendly printing, etc.). Though, part of what makes this job so challenging AND so enjoyable, is getting to know my clients’ business and having a positive affect on their operational performance.

It’s been fun thus far and hopefully for much longer. And sometimes, I get carried away talking shop to friends and family (talk about “deer in headlights”). Which by the way, regardless of how often I explain my profession to my family, I am, in their eyes: an advertising sales rep, a paper sales rep, and a magazine subscription sales rep. I get this gut feeling that they think that somehow, printed product just sort of “magically appears”.

"An Ode to Digital Printing," By: an offset printing rep

For anyone who has any general concern in the printing industry, the latest craze has been digital color. I won’t deny digital color has made long strides to reach near-offset quality. And certainly I won’t deny that 1 to 1 personalization has proven incredible responses on direct marketing campaigns.

But, it has its faults (e.g. small sheet sizes, no true color matching, no metallic inks, varnishes, and coatings, etc.), but frankly, I’ll be the bigger man and admit it…variable color is still pretty neat.

But just like anything in the printing industry, it has its place. For example, the maximum run volume is typically 5,000 impressions before the cost of offset becomes more viable. This is because the main costs associated to digital printing are variable, and correlated to the volume of a job. Typical costs of digital printing are: 1. Pre-press (which are normally fairly fixed as most digital print jobs don’t incur that much pre-press), 2. A flat set-up cost (fixed), 3. A per-click-charge or per-page-charge (which is variable to the job’s volume and can range between 7 to 12 cents), 4. Paper (variable), 5. And any additional finishing charges (which contain both fixed and variable costs).

The biggest costs here are the per-click-charge and the paper charges. Remember when deciding upon a job that requires variable color (or changing copy/graphics), to see if it can be gang-ran with on an offset press. At Acme we DON’T run digital presses, but we DO run significantly larger sheet-fed offset presses in which we produce semi-variable pieces.

For example, you’re a retailer printing a 10,000 piece direct-mailer in which there are 4 lots with different retail location maps on them. This may be a better fit for a gang-run on an offset press. It never hurts to test the waters both ways.

And that's my two cents...

What do you mean "you already have a print vendor"?

I heard a great comment the other day from a non-Massachusetts-based customer. "There are so many print reps in Massachusetts. In fact, I have three reps from the same company calling on me, and they have no idea."

It’s true; there are a lot of us. In fact printing makes up a whopping 18% of the Massachusetts state economy.

In such an ultra-competitive industry, it is amazing that I still here horror stories like (laughable, but true!):
-"The printer stitched the pockets collated in the wrong order" (somebody would have to TRY to make this mistake).
-"The owner of the printing company gave us a tour of the plant with his button-up shirt, unbuttoned. He was bare-chested and sweating profusely" (so much for business-etiquette).
-"Every issue of [the publication], they print the run twice. The first run always contains quality issues" (what if every time you went grocery shopping, you're food was bad? There are a lot of supermarkets in town, right?).
-Not to mention the QA issues that I see that the customer misses like: pockets that are so misaligned that the pages can't be opened (the pocket hasn't been trimmed on one side) or color issues on two-page spreads.

Marketing Headlines That Piqued My Curiosity

Some Recent Happenings In The Marketing World

The Boston Red Sox was the 3rd highest brand in produce placement for Q1 with 376 mentions. This was only beaten by Coca-Cola and a popular night club chain.
My Comment: Do they need the placement with all of the wins this year? I’ll bet management has problem selling tickets to home games.

The average Phoenix, Arizona resident will crank out 26.3 ounces of sweat per hour this summer, making it the sweatiest city in the U.S.
My Comment: Not only is this pertinent to the health products industry, but doesn’t this relate to the beauty products, HVAC, real-estate, food and drink, and a handful of other industries? Hey Gatorade, did you hear me?

Six Parks, the park operator, has acquired 40% of Dick Clark Productions, which is a co-producer of Fox hit "So You Think You Can Dance" and several prominent awards shows. The goal is to use TV brands and characters to boost park attendance.
My Comment: This came a few days before a recent Six Parks accident in Kentucky severely disabled a young girl.

In letters to five of Kellogg's chief competitors, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., demanded that they implement limits on advertising to children similar to those announced by the cereal maker last week.
My Comment: I’ve seen the Honeycomb commercials and they even make a grown man like myself crave the sugary cereal. But as far as the children, who really makes the decisions? Shouldn’t we market daily nutrition and better health programs to adults, in order to combat this?

Also, I just wanted to mention that if you'd like to be on the free Acme Printing monthly newsletter, regarding printing industry news, please send me an e-mail to let me know!

Does the basketball your selling look like a giant lemon?

So I had a great conversation the other day about color management in commercial printing. It's so frequent that I've found that many retailers and catalogers haven't truly grasped the appreciation for color matching! Whereas, in reality color can make or break a potential sale. For example, if "John Doe" sees a pair of pants in a catalog that he would buy, but not in the printed color, when in reality, the printed color doesn't represent the true product color, then the cataloger has inadvertently lost a sale!

My advice, ask for samples of your printer's work prior to the job. If the crossovers/spreads don't match colors, or the page has a tint of C, M, Y, or K, or the fleshtones represent the color of a Gremlin's face, then there may be an issue! Additionally, go on press-checks. This will insure that you are in charge of how your project turns out.

Make sure that color MAKES the sale!

What the heck is stochastic printing other than a pretty picture?!

Whew...nothing like getting nitty-and-gritty on a Friday evening. I had someone mention stochastic and staccato printing today. So I thought I'd share the story.

The Definition
There are two primary rules to stochastic printing:
1.) The pattern of dots is randomized, and
2.) The dot is significantly smaller than the standard line-printed dot. Density is determined by a frequency of dots in stochastic printing.

Basically in regular (or AM) line screen printing, the size of the dot shrinks or grows to basically portray a change in percentage or lightness/darkness of an image. In stochastic (or FM) line screen, the size of the dot doesn’t change, but rather the frequency changes.

If you’ve heard the term staccato thrown around, this is basically an upgraded version of stochastic. The primary difference is that the size of the dot in the mid-tone range (40 – 60%) increases ever so slightly (FM 25 as opposed to FM 20…the 20 and 25 being a micron measurement). After much testing, it was discovered that the smaller dot made the image a little grainier than the rest of the tone percentages. This was a simple change that seemed to smooth the entire image out.

The Benefits
AM screening, or stochastic/staccato printing, is a great way to re-produce high-end, detailed photography. Additionally, it is a great way to give high-end jewelry (especially glass and clear gems) more life and curvature. Stochastic/staccato is also seen in: nature and human photography (staccato especially performs well with flesh tones), and detailed still life photography.

The Negatives
Many printers establish an upfront service fee for stochastic/staccato printing. On the other hand, many estimators estimate the increase of make ready time/material it will take after each plate change. Regardless however, there is some cost to this service. So as I recommend to all my customers, stochastic/staccato printing should be something that is planned appropriately prior to go to press.

That's it! Okay...more fun stuff after this post...I promise

Eco-printing checklist

Well, my allergies are going hog-wild today, so everything that I’ve mentioned about saving the environment, I’d like to take back. Just kidding!

Here are a few ways that materials on a print job can be environmentally friendly.
Paper – 1. FSC and/or SFI certified? 2. Contains recycled Post-Consumer Waste (PCW)? 3. Process or Elemental Chlorine free? 4. Is it manufactured with "Green Power"?
Ink – 1. Soy based inks? 2. Does it contain aqueous coating versus UV varnishes? 3. Does it contain metallic or fluorescent inks, foil-stamping, or non-water based glues, as there are more eco-friendly alternatives?

Ultimately, there are other ways of improving your production as well (e.g.: using cleaner mailing lists…which saves postage costs too), but these are a good start. And all of these changes have minimal to no cost increases to a commercial print job.

Corporate responsibility turns a higher profit

So I've been thinking, what if all this "Forest Stewardship Council and eco-friendly printing" is actually good for business.

Here's what I mean: I recently had a conversation with a founder and CEO of a socially responsible corporation. We discussed the two competitive advantages of any company, price or differentiation, and he explained that by instilling value in his products (one of which was acting as a socially responsible corporation) he was able to differentiate his product offering, and in turn, capture a significantly larger profit margin than his competition. Surprisingly, there aren't many companies out there that choose this same path.

Margaret Hodge MP, United Kingdom's Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry had this to say in a recent seminar:
"CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] and making money are linked and complementary...A company’s success and its responsibility are two sides of the same coin. Commitment to sustainability can help promote a brand image and market position – it will become an intrinsic part of business purpose and our shared endeavor to conserve the planet."

So I suppose the simple equation is: position your product/service as having value and differentiation (whether it may be environmentalism, community responsibility, or whatever) and you can sell your product at a premium. More importantly, it helps you sleep easier at night.

A Generation X-er Finally Blogs. Hello!

Hello and welcome to my blog,

And yes, I'm a bit late to be catching on to "blogging", especially coming from a generation that has been lucky enough to experience the web boom and bust of the new millennium and "iPods", "Blackberries" and the "Bluetooth" (all three of which I have yet to own). But regardless, here we are.

I'll be maintaining this blog to rant and rave about the new era of commercial printing and all the fun things that go along with it (well...fun for me), graphic design, and any cool happenings in the marketing world. And perhaps, a few odd things that I catch on to and decide to discuss...like hippies unknowingly hanging "Bright-Lite" games around Boston and causing city-wide bomb scares (after all, it was a marketing strategy for a TV show).

If you've got an opinion, a question, or some interesting news, please let me know - ATrull@acmeprinting.com.

All the Best,
Adam