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Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Securing Valuable Advertising Space with Removable Wall Graphics

Inkjet Printed Wall Mural

The name of the game in the beverage distribution business is branding and securing as much space as possible to advertise the brands at the point of sale, whether it’s in a beverage center, a bar or any other place that sells beer.

Inkjet Printed GraphicsOne of the hurdles to overcome when it comes to plastering an establishment’s walls with branding is the potential damage adhesive-backed graphics can do to it. One solution is Photo Tex from LexJet, a repositionable and removable printable fabric.

In the case pictured here, that’s what sold the job promoting Brown’s Brewing Company and Angry Orchard. The owner of the beverage center expanded his office, creating new walls that screamed out for branding.

Seeing an opportunity, DeCrescente Distributing proposed wall graphics. The owner hesitated, concerned about the potential damage to the wall.

“We proposed using Photo Tex, and explained that it would come off the wall easily without damaging it or leaving residue behind. That’s a big selling point for us,” says James Lane, DeCrescente graphic designer. “It also applies a lot easier than a typical adhesive-backed vinyl. It’s been up for a few weeks and we expect it will be up for a long time.”

Wall Graphics for Angry OrchardAs you can see from the photos, the design the DeCrescente graphics team came up with printed flawlessly on the print shop’s Epson GS6000 low-solvent printer, and provides an almost three-dimensional illusion of walking toward an actual brewery as you saunter down the aisle.

The new wall mural also promotes the growler taps that protrude from the office wall. Lane says that was an important element the customer wanted to highlight.

“One of the reasons he extended his office was so he could have keg coolers in there with the taps coming out of the outside wall. People can come in and fill up their growlers with the beer specials of the day listed on the white board, which is what he has on tap,” adds Lane.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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When is it Time to Upgrade Your Printer? One Print Shop’s Experience

Canon iPF8400S Inkjet Printer at Bill Reed Distributing
The new Canon iPF8400S from LexJet is up and running at Bill Reed Distributing and the output on LexJet 8 Mil PolyGloss Banner looks fantastic.

 

It’s the age-old dilemma: should I repair my old printer or just buy a new one? For Michael Thornton, administrative marketing manager at Bill Reed Distributing, Abilene, Texas, this particular dilemma presented itself when his old printer went down.

“As I was getting ready for the technician I picked up the phone and called Chris Piersoll, my LexJet rep. He said to hold up on the repair and first compare the cost difference between repair and replace, and the long-term productivity benefits of a new printer. We discovered that when you factor in the amount of down time we were experiencing, and the wear and tear it was a no-brainer to upgrade and pay the few hundred dollars difference for a new machine,” says Thornton. “The thing that concerned me most about repairing the one I have is the simple fact that it has a lot of miles on it. What’s the guarantee that something’s not going to happen a month from now? You know how this goes: you’re always in the middle of a big print project when it goes down. It was a much wiser investment to purchase a new machine because it is such a vital part of what we do; we can’t function without it. Marketing and sales pieces are critically important to supplement our sales. We love the reliability of the Canon printers, and at the price point LexJet is offering, why wouldn’t we buy a new one?”

Thornton upgraded to the Canon iPF8400S, which will provide the print shop with more speed and new color management and cost-tracking features. Moreover, with Piersoll’s help, Thornton was able to exchange the old ink cartridges he had in inventory.

“Chris was able to help us out with the ink we had for our old machine. I had a backup for every color sitting there, and that’s $1,700 that potentially I’d have to add to the cost of a new printer. That was one of the determining factors, and a lot of companies won’t work with you on swapping out ink cartridges,” explains Thornton. “So again, why wouldn’t you buy a new printer and guarantee yourself that you’ll have a great product and a new warranty. And with the Canon printer, minus changing out the printheads about once a year, there’s not much to do to keep them running.”

Ultimately, says Thornton, it’s all about consistency, productivity and efficiency. Thornton ran the old printer for 1,392 days after installation, printing about 180,000 square feet and more than 30,000 linear feet.

“While the old printer allowed me to go through sub-menus and look at how much ink was used per print, it’s very easy to factor your square footage cost with your media, but ink cost is not always the same because of color and saturation. What I’m really looking forward to with the new printer is the ability to be more detailed about tracking ink usage and actual costs; that’s invaluable, especially when you’re not having to dig for the information. It’s all about making things easier and working smarter,” says Thornton. “When you’re working with a number of convenience stores, and they all want their point of sale at the same time, you need to make sure the printer is running and it’s efficient. If it’s down, you’ve got a big problem. That’s what the big factor was for me. Look at how much we’re paying to fix the three-year-old machine, versus the cost for a new one. For all of us here, from the owner to the GM, the logical thing was to replace it; it’s been a great machine and let’s move on. Productivity is key.”

Though Bill Reed Distributing uses a wide variety of materials, from vinyl and Photo Tex to banner materials, Thornton adds that their standard print material is LexJet 8 Mil PolyGloss Banner. “The Canon prints such a beautiful graphic and when you put it on the glossy media it gives it a very classy look,” says Thornton.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Print-N-Stick for Point of Sale

LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric at the Point of SaleLexJet’s new Print-N-Stick Fabric™ is making its mark at the point of sale.

In fact, it’s making all kinds of marks without leaving a mark behind.

That’s the whole point of the adhesive-backed repositionable inkjet-printable fabric: apply, re-position, remove and re-use without leaving any residue behind.

Add that to a brilliant white point that provides photographic image quality and watch it sell brands at the point of sale.

At least that’s been the experience of Canyon Distributing in Yuma, Ariz., which has been branding practically everywhere and everything with the inkjet fabric.

Point of Sale Promotional Graphics
The “painted” Blue Moon bottle has been a popular point-of-sale piece at Canyon Distributing. Here’s a print before it’s contour-cut and applied to any variety of flat surfaces. John Fritz of Canyon Distributing says the images really pop and look quite realistic when printed on LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric.

“Our account reps have been asking for the material a lot lately. Everyone likes it for the point of sale application ideas they’ve come up with, in addition to the application ideas I already had. It’s quite versatile,” says John Fritz, production manager for Canyon Distributing.

Fritz says Print-N-Stick has been stuck onto chalkboard menus at restaurants, windows, coolers, doors, and bar tops and sides, among other applications. One of those applications, pictured here, is the application of Blue Moon bottle caps to floors.

“We laminated the floor stickers so they could be cleaned and are more durable. Then, they can be easily removed and placed somewhere else,” says Fritz.

Fritz adds that the bottle cap prints and “painted” Blue Moon bottles are the most popular images among Canyon Distributing’s account reps, which are usually applied as cut-outs. “The painted bottles look relatively realistic when they’re applied,” adds Fritz.

Point of Sale Graphics and Promotions“I really like the image quality we’re getting from the Print-N-Stick Fabric; it actually prints better than most of the adhesive-backed materials we use, including vinyl,” says Fritz. “It’s also amazing how forgiving the material is when you apply it; minor bends and whatnot that would ruin other media during application are easily fixed with this material. This makes it ideal for passing out to sales representatives who lack experience with media application, eliminating the need to do it myself at our accounts.”

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Setting the Scene with Special Event Point of Sale Signage

Point of Sale Inkjet Printed Display for Corona

The Nackard Companies and its P.O.P. sign crew are well known for creating enticing displays for all kinds of special events, whether it’s the astronomical anomaly called a blue moon (tied into Blue Moon beer, of course), the annual Dew Downtown in Flagstaff, Ariz., or anything in between.

The Nackard Companies team always seems to come up with something different to help drive beer sales around these events. The most recent example was a collaborative project between shop manager Steve Lalio and account representative Anthony Copetillo for Cinco de Mayo.

The pair came up with a basic concept that would be translated for various Mexican beer brands and placed in a number of different locations. The two projects pictured here were created for Corona and Dos Equis.

Inkjet Printed Point of Sale Display for Dos EquisEach display included a number of elements, highlighted by a faux water tower and an airplane toting a banner with buckets of beer.

Copetillo built the water tower structure with a combination of plywood circles for the top and bottom, held in place with plywood slats, Coroplast and furring strips. The “roof” of the water tower was cut-out cardboard painted black and brown. Copetillo created a palm tree using cut-out and painted cardboard as well.

Lalio printed a banner on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene that was about 42 inches tall by 115 inches long, which Copetillo wrapped around the structure. For the Corona display, Lalio designed the piece with a wood-grain background and added the Corona logo. It looks strikingly real, which is a testament to what great design and printing can do for a display.

The airplane, which is about six feet long and has a 38-inch wingspan, was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, applied to Coroplast and cut out in the airplane shape. The banner the plane flies behind it, as well as the other hanging banners, were printed on LexJet 8 Mil PolyGloss Banner and laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Gloss UV Premium Low Melt. Lalio laminated these banners because the customer wanted to re-use them.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Wall Wraps Before and After at the Boom Boom Room

Wall Graphics and Murals
The Boom Boom Room received a makeover courtesy of Heineken and DeCrescente Distributing with wall, elevator and door graphics printed on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl.

Heineken wanted to make a big splash at a popular four-story tavern while making it easy to clean up all the splash-back from spilled drinks and such in the Boom Boom Room, a DJ-powered disco located on the fourth floor of the tavern.

Local beverage distributor DeCrescente Distributing, Mechanicville, N.Y., and its crack graphics design and installation staff took on the project, which required wraps on doors, elevators and walls of the Boom Boom Room.

Bar Makeover with Wall MuralsGraphic designer James Lane chose LexJet Simple WallCal (6 Mil) for most of the project, printing an entire roll to fill the space required, and scrim banner applied with LexJet Heavy Duty Banner Tape on one brick wall area. “That’s the other reason we went with those materials, because they spill drinks and throw stuff on the wall, so we wanted something that would take the abuse,” explains Lane.

“Heineken wanted that floor since they’re promoting their music series and did this as part of the sponsorship. The City Tavern wasn’t too keen on it at first since it had always been Budweiser, but when I was installing the project they changed their minds because they thought it looked great,” says Lane. “It took about 11 hours to apply it. This is not something you rush through; you have to take your time to get it right.”

Elevator GraphicsLane has been designing and installing graphics for years and has the process down to a science (his graphics department comrade Monty Pyle says Lane’s been doing this for “a reeeaaally long time”). While experience helps a lot, Lane says: “We all take pride in our work. We want to do a good job and we don’t stop until it’s done right. It’s better to take your time. I look at the room and get ideas so I know what I’m doing before I leave that room. It’s a matter of pre-planning the project ahead of time and taking exact measurements.”

The project was printed on DeCrescente’s Epson GS6000 low-solvent printer, and Lane says it took a couple of days to print and cut the graphics into the various panel sizes.

“Before I printed everything out I printed a section on the HP to see what the background would look like. It looked good on-screen, but when I printed it out it didn’t look so good, so I had to redo the background as far as tracing the lines and getting the colors right. We always make sure our images aren’t pixilated and are razor sharp before we go into production,” adds Lane.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Point of Sale Print Horsepower at Standard Distributing

Window Graphics on Simple Perforated Window Vinyl by Standard Distributing

The top beverage distributor in Delaware requires a top-notch print shop to win space at the point of sale and build the brands they sell. Standard Distributing Co., New Castle, Del., has the advantage of quality and quantity at the point of sale through the work of its print shop, led by sign industry veteran Matt Glick.

Standard Distributing recently added the Epson SureColor S30670 low-solvent printers to its printer lineup.
Standard Distributing recently added the Epson SureColor S30670 low-solvent printer to its printer lineup.

Before joining the Standard Distributing team nine years ago, Glick had worked with grand format solvent VUTEk printers. Glick already knew the ins and outs of these 10-foot-wide industrial machines and has translated that experience into an efficient and productive print shop.

Glick recently brought in Epson’s new SureColor S30670 low-solvent printer that he got from LexJet to add to a printer arsenal that also includes an Epson GS6000 low-solvent and HP Designjet Z6100 aqueous printer.

LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl SUV“We had another solvent printer for about eight years and it wasn’t producing the quality and speed we needed, so we got the Epson SureColor from LexJet. The clarity and visibility of the colors is much better; the colors just look richer. Everything I print on the Epson is clear and the resolution is better, and there’s no smell, and the speed is fantastic,” explains Glick. “One prints scrim banners and window perf, the other prints adhesive-backed vinyl, and the Z6100 prints paper posters, banners and temporary stuff. It speeds up production when I don’t have to worry about changing materials every time there’s a different job; we can nest them together on the same printer.”

Window Sign by Standard DistributingIn addition to the print production horsepower provided by those printers, there’s also a Seal 410 laminator for mounting and laminating, a rotary cutter and a 72″ large-format cutter for finishing.

Glick estimates that about 60 percent of the 400-600 designs created in the shop each month are prints applied to Coroplast, 30 percent banners and 10 percent specialty graphics, like perforated window film, floor graphics and counter-top graphics.

For banners, Glick’s material of choice is LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene; for adhesive-backed applications on Coroplast and aluminum it’s LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl SUV; and for window graphics it’s LexJet Simple Perforated Window Vinyl (60/40). Glick adds that perforated window vinyl graphics are an effective way to get tap handles into an account

“My biggest challenge is over-marketing our accounts. We want to be as visible as possible without being so busy that we lose the message in the process,” explains Glick. “Simple is always better and consistency is another important ingredient. From a production standpoint it’s been helpful to work with a vendor like LexJet. My rep, Kyle Stephens, has been very helpful with my questions, he’s accessible, and he always seems to have the shipping down so we get the products we need when we need them; the customer service has been outstanding.”