Jack Deere, owner of Three Oaks Photography in Wake Forest, N.C., is always on the lookout for new and unique products for his photography studio. One source of inspiration is the LexJet Blog, where others share their experiences and ideas.
“In addition to the great service I’m getting from LexJet, I appreciate the other things LexJet does with tools like the blog. It helps a lot, because I get great ideas from it, like the growth chart printed on Photo Tex,” says Deere. “In fact, we’re testing Photo Tex for different things, like appliqués on windows, wall murals and anything else we can find to do with it; it’s a great material to work with.”
Deere says the studio has been printing its own work for years, and one of the keys to doing it successfully is the confidence he has that he’ll not only get the support he needs, but more importantly that he’ll consistently get the products he needs on time and just in time.
“As a small business, cash flow is king. When an ink cartridge costs more than $100 a pop, even for the small ones, I don’t have to buy one until I absolutely need it. LexJet products get here within one day. I just had an order that arrived from two different distribution points, but they got here at the same time this morning at 10 a.m.,” explains Deere. “LexJet has never missed that deadline so I can order with one day’s notice, and we get quick shipping for that flat rate of $9.99. That’s what I really appreciate – the depth and breadth of how LexJet’s distribution is set up. Sometimes I’ve ordered at 3 in the afternoon and it’s here at 10 the next morning. Hello? That’s why I’m a customer for life; LexJet has saved my bacon every time. And, when I call the 800 number, the phone system is routed so I get my personal rep. I call and I don’t get a voice system, I get, ‘Hey Jack, what’s up?'”
Deere adds that product suggestions from his customer specialist, Michael Clementi, are another plus. One of those suggestions helped lead to a successful product launch that local high schools have embraced called Trading Card Sports Posters.
Deere prints the posters on LexJet TOUGHcoat AquaVinyl PSA (the product Clementi suggested) and applies them to Coroplast. The posters are durable enough to withstand inclement (pun intended) weather when they’re hung up around outdoor venues, like the high school football stadium.
“We only photograph seniors for the posters. We shoot an action shot of them, which I turn into a charcoal pencil drawing in the background, and then add a head shot and a photo of them with the seniors on the team,” explains Deere. “They’re typically used for senior nights at the sports banquets and it’s a gift to the senior from the booster club. Once schools see the posters I get calls from the booster clubs, so I’m in about seven high schools now. We also frame some of them, and when we do that we use LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene.”
The sign shop’s owner, Steve Holden, says the project called for everything from locker wraps, graphics inside each locker, locker name tags, perforated window graphics, wall wraps and action photo reproductions writ super-large. The “crown jewel,” as Holden calls it, is the 10′ x 10′ logo that sits on the carpet in the middle of the locker room.