Effective use of metallic inks for brochure printing

Metallics inks such as gold and silver can enhance the impact of your brochure but you must follow the tips below:

1). Always print onto coated stock. To achieve the desired iridescent effect the metallic ink must sit smoothly onto the paper surface. Uncoated papers and boards will kill the effective and the ink will look very flat.

2). Never cover the metallic inks with a Matt lamination. Printed brochures and catalogues usually have a lamination to the cover. Howver if you have metallic ink on your cover, a matt lamination will kill the iridescent effect. You will find, metallic silver will look grey, and gold will appear to be a standard brown.

3). Use Spot UV: if you do have to have a matt lamination to your brochure or catalogue and you want your metallics to stand out and not look flat then apply a spot UV to the metallic area - you will find that the metallic iridescent effect will return. Gloss lamination enhances the metallic effect so if you need to laminate and spot UV is not in your budget then go this option.

4). Increase metallic coverage area: the larger the printed metallic area, the better the metallic effect. So for example, if the inside of your product catalogue is plain then this is an opportunity to cover with a metallic.

5). There are other metallics other than gold and silver: ther are some great metallic ink colours on the market - choosing one of these can make your marketing brochure stand out out from the rest.

Effective Point Of Sale Ideas

Are you looking for an effective point of sale idea that you can accurately measure which is also both interesting and  interactive to the consumer? We recently printed this campaign together for our client which resulted in a 40% increase in wine sales.

Read on for how this point of sale idea brought such impressive results.

The object of the campaign was to increase the sales of a certain wine to consumers in pubs and wine bars. The campaign that was sold into pub chains and restaurants included bunting, printed polo shirts balloons and point of sale cards that were placed on the tables.

The campaign centerd around trying a chilled red wine in the summer as an alternative to white wine. To make the campaign interactive, customers who bought the chilled wine could hold their glass of wine against the card to :

1). Check that their wine was being served at the correct temperature
2). By placing the chilled glass against the thermally reactive area a 'Text to win' code appeared where the customer could win a holiday. This video shows the process in action.

By capturing this data the effectiveness of the campaign could be measured.

Corporate Invitation Printing Ideas & Tips - London

In a world of emails and texts, receiving a beautifully printed corporate invitation can make a huge impact and be the difference between success and failure of an event.

Here are 3 Tips and ideas worth considering when producing and designing a Corporate Invitation

Tip 1. Whatever you design or wish to have designed make sure there is an envelope to fit. There is a way round this, but if you have a tight budget use a quality standard envelope

Tip 2. If you only need a few invitations then it makes sense to print these digitally. A good digital press will bring outstanding results, but if your design requires Pantone specials or metallics then you are forced to print litho - this is more expensive and takes longer to produce.

Tip 3. Choose the correct material. If you are going to write on the inviations then coated boards can be a problem. We have produced matt laminated invitations and then used CD pens to write on them - so there is often a work round.

Quite often, less is more, I really like this one; not only is it simple but it has it's own sleeve & envelope and is more economic to produce than other designs.

High Quality Digital Printing in London and Kent

There are many companies offering digital printing but the quality variations are huge as are the prices. There are many different presses on the market and they are improving almost on a six monthly cycle.
At Avenue, we fit the press to the job, (as opposed to most printers where the job has to fit on their machinery) thereby ensuring the very best quality and value for each job.
In addition to this, there are digital manufacturers who are better priced for multipage short run  brochures than say flyers or printed stationery.
One of the other benefits to digital printing other than economic is the speed of turn round. Again we find that some of our manufacturers may take a little longer than average but produce a superior job. This is also true of finishing; I have witnessed beautiful print only to be let down down by appalling trimming and binding.
If you find the right digital printer to do your job you will get the perfect job for a lot less than you thought.

Creating Effective Direct Mail

According to a survey by Billets, between October 2009 and March 2010, 92% of direct mail was opened including 99% for personal banking and 96% from supermarkets. With email marketing reaching saturation point and becoming less effective, direct mail is having a renaissance. There are many elements to a successful direct mail campaign but the one I'm going to touch on is design.

Designing a direct mail piece that is attractive to the recipient, economic to print and then mail out can appear a daunting task. I believe creating intrigue is a key factor. Sending a letter in a bright green envelope would do the trick here - but to be more creative why not create a gift/package idea? Or something more elaborate that gives a 3D effect can be very effective and prevents the recipient from condemning the item to the bin.

There's never been a better time to use direct mail as the recipient believes that you have made a true investment in contacting them...in this economic climate that means a lot!

Catalogue printing builds customer loyalty

Catalogue printing can appear to be something of a luxury when it's so easy to pop your products up onto your website and wait for the orders to come in.

OK, you've got to make sure you can be found by the search engines or you may have emailed prospective clients a link to your website. This is standard practice but it also means that everyone else is doing the same as you and that when your prospect searches for a product you may not be in the Google top 5 and never get a look in.

A printed catalogue is an invaluable tool to send to customers and prospects. Only last week, Next reported 11.8% increase in their Directory business as opposed to 3.5% fall in profits in the rest of their business. Once someone has your catalogue they are no longer looking at the competition. This helps ensure you not only keep their bsuiness but also helps maintain your margins.

So next time you think "can I afford to produce a printed catalogue"  or invest in brochure printing , the question you maybe should be asking is, "Can I afford not to?"

Reduce your packaging costs

So you are thinking of adding a new product to your range and you want to test the market. You don't have a fancy budget or need thousands of pieces but you still need the finished packaging to look professional.

This was the task our client Buster Innovations  presented us with. In this scenario the large packaging manufacturers are not always the best option.  Hansell Design had worked closely with us with regards size, colours and finishes. By trimming a few millimeters here and there, with no effect on overall look or functionality, huge savings can be achieved. Getting your packaging to fit to a certain sheet size is the key. We then chose a board that felt substantial yet at the same time produced vibrant colours when printed. The client was keen on certain colours but when we ran through the cost implications we settled on bright colours that could be produced in 4 colour process, thus saving further money.

Once we had agreed these elements we were then able to buy all the component parts at vastly reduced costs. Although 4 different suppliers were required, the overall saving on the sample packs was 45%. Its worth noting that none of the elements or the manufacturing was done by a packaging manufacturer.