You can download here or have a hard copy delivered to you by registering on our home page.

Once again in this our second edition we present some of  the varied projects we have been working on. You will also find all the latest facts on POS & innovation and generally keep you updated on what’s new in the world of Design, Print and Promotions.

We’d be delighted to hear your feedback or ideas for articles of interest. Please email sales@tpi.ie.

Happy reading!

Conor

The structure was to create a tunnel effect that would surround the consumer in store. By creating 3D layers of the Rocky Mountain vista, and using duratrans in the ceiling piece to allow the tunnel to remain lit, the consumer was brought to the Rocky Mountains.

That cases of beer are stacked literally between the mountains ties the brand imagery very closely to the product itself, leveraging it perfectly for the brand message.

One of the key requirements of the brief was that the solution be easily tailored to available space within the store. The unit has therefore been designed to be shopped from either one or two sides, and used either on its own, or built into configurations made of multiple units. There are variations for the roof piece and pillar ends to enable the unit work in whatever space is available in the store as well.

For stores where space is really at a premium, we have designed an unusual case tidy, which uses pillar ends from the units, plus a headerboard, to still allow product be stacked between the 3D mountains. It is quickly and easily constructed with a small footprint and fantastic visibility in store.

Feedback from the trade and from the client has been excellent – they have found the solution to be extremely flexible, while the visual impact truly makes the product’s presence in-store very strong. We’re looking forward to feedback about the resulting sales uplift in participating stores!

It was a landmark for TPI UK as it was the first exhibition we have attended and I only wish I’d joined the company in time to do it last year, rather than just being a visitor. Anyway, more of this later.

Before I go any further I have to do a ‘Gwyneth’ and thank everybody for their help in making this show a great success. Colin for giving me the budget in the first place, EmmaRose for coming up with a great backdrop for the stand and for putting up with my OCD and ‘Virgo’ tendencies! Aisling for pulling it all together and for her help at the show (and for getting a much bigger hotel room than me), Adrienne for sorting out the transport, the gang on the floor, my wife and family, the cat……..(forgive me if I’ve forgotten anybody).

After struggling on my own to put the stand together in heat akin to the Sahara, it looked really impressive with a great selection of POS on show.

The In-Store Show is attended by some big players in the permanent and semi-permanent POS industry, as well as other related products and services and draws some serious visitors from FMCG and other ‘blue-chip’ companies, print management companies and agencies amongst others. Although being a typical salesman I’m the eternal optimist, I have to say I was both surprised and delighted by the number and quality of potential clients who visited our stand and showed a genuine interest in our company. I’ll go so far as to say that we would never have got many of these leads had we not attended the show, hence my earlier comment about wishing we could have done this last year.

It’s early days, but I’m already well in to double figures for the number of appointments booked following the show and know there’s many more to come (we even received a couple of briefs on the second day of the exhibition). There’s every reason to believe that attending the In-Store will act as a catalyst to help drive TPI UK on to the next level in the weeks and months to come!

Steve Lewis,
UK Managing Director.

Back at the start June we said… It’s finally here… FIFA World Cup 2010! and in the blink of an eye and a toot of a vuvuzela, it’s over. Congratulations to Spain! (and apologies to our colleague Elia Fernandez who received some slagging after Spain’s first round defeat. Felicitaciones España)

At The Printed Image we started our build up to the world cup as far back as last October with our structural designers and graphic designers working on a number of World Cup 2010 campaigns for multiple retail channels. The challenges were wide and varied from supermarkets to the smaller convenience stores and beyond. The brilliantly decked out off-licences certainly convinced me to buy a few extra slabs of beer! We also had some fun with our own Staff World Cup Sweeps, which was designed in house. We sent the Staff World Cup Sweeps kit to all our clients and received some great feedback on design and the concept.

Further afield, with the World Cup having a cumulative worldwide TV audience of 1 billion (FIFA Stat) not surprisingly marketing mania took hold. Despite the many claims  that the vuvuzela made an unbearable racket, Sainsbury’s in the UK took a punt and ordered a stock 75,000. Good call…the 140 decibel horn sold out in a matter of days. Other opportunists sold Vuvuzela ear plugs outside the Stadia in South Africa. Some of the more wacky items on sale were voodoo dolls with five pins and the national emblems of all your enemy teams or toilet paper with World Cup trivia!

On a larger stage there were some epic marketing campaigns. In a move to shut out it’s main competitor Nike, Adidas paid $200 million to be named the official corporate partner for all World Cup events in South Africa.  Locked out of ads during the World Cup, Nike adopted some guerrilla marketing to get exposure taking a viral and digital route. Most impressive was Nike’s  ‘Write Your Headline.’ (as part of the Write the Future campaign) Each night fans were able to submit personal messages via Facebook or Twitter and the best 100 entries were displayed on the Johannesburg’s Life Center Tower.

It may be finally over but with FIFA’s audience statistics and the selling power of the World Cup, the marketeers are no doubt already planning the next epic campaign for Brazil 2014.

Can’t wait!

Garry.

You may not have had enough time at the start of a job and it is rushed through with corners cut in the panic to get it produced but better time management throughout the process allows the time to check and proof jobs. A simple hint when proofing is to proof read it backwards. That way it won’t allow the brain to predict what text might be next and you read through what actually isn’t there in the first place..!!

It might eliminate the chance of hearing that old saying that everyone dreads to hear.

Brian Fay.

My first 2 college years have passed quicker than I could have possibly anticipated, but it has been the most interesting, fun, challenging, intense yet rewarding time of my life. I was only really getting comfortable in DCU when it was time to move on!

I used to think my Monday morning classes were such a waste of time, but now that I am working in the big bad world, I have discovered that the skills and knowledge I gained over my 2 years in DCU are beginning to show and are being put to good use!

I hadn’t a clue how a full time placement was going to suit me, and I am surprising myself by saying that I am loving every minute of it! The early starts, (!) the responsibilities, the rushing around, the stress; these are all outweighed by knowing that what I am doing is of huge benefit to our clients. It’s only a small thing but being able to complete a service from first point of contact right through to delivery, to the client’s satisfaction, is such a great feeling!

Rachel Condon

Unfortunately for this world cup we are only spectators. But even as mere spectators with a natural passion for sport, we will pick a side to ally ourselves to and root for them all the way. More so if they have some players in their team that we admire or on the flip side, if they have some we dislike…… Drogba, Messi, Torres and Rooney are the big names that spring to mind, you can work out who you like and dislike for yourself!!!

Overheard recently was a debate that seemed to have started over a quiet beer between 2 old men whereby an interesting question was being asked…if England and France progress they will eventually meet and given the heartbreak inflicted upon us by France and our age old rivalry with England, who would you support?
This lead to one old man saying, “sure why would you even support an English club team, why not support Celtic?…after all they have true Irish connection”, whereupon the other man said, “sure aren’t they playing soccer…the English national sport”. The two men continued this debate and as it sprinted from the central “brilliance and betrayal of Roy Keane”, down to the byline and crossed to “Cascarino was never Irish”, headed on to  “Niall Quinn, was he a good striker?”, overhead kicked to “ Robbie Keane,… if he didn’t take all the penalties…”, this one hit the bar and rebounded only to be cleared by ”Packie Bonner was every bit as good as Shay Given is now”. What started with 2 men, soon became 4 men, then 8 men, and it was not long before a chorus of  “ Ole Ole Ole ” was being sang…and we are mere spectators!!!

It’s fabulous to see the buzz generated by an occasion like this and no matter what your opinion or age is, we can all get very wrapped up in the whole event and it’s with great interest we will read the newspaper reports, will watch all the games (or most of them), fill in the wall charts, get updates online and will no doubt have a variety of flutters on who will come 3rd, 2nd and 1st.

We decided here at The Printed Image have our own wall chart printed, “Staff world cup sweeps”  and it’s aimed at getting all the staff involved and enjoying the tournament with a bit of interaction and fun. Simply pick a name from the box, record it on the chart and see how your team progresses throughout the tournament. We have posted this great piece to our clients and there has been a big demand for more. Feel free to get in touch and request some, we think you’ll also  find it a great communication piece and you never know, maybe you can use this as a springboard to offer your clients something similar with their branding on it.

Brendan.

The guys in IIP, the guys in Diageo and the guys in ADM deserve great credit for pushing the boundary of what is possible in store. We are happy to work with anyone who wants to see clever customer communication. We think the APMC Gold Star was well deserved and on behalf of TPI well done to all involved.

Colin Culliton

Why is this?
The majority of factories in China will only quote and sell in Dollars. The reason? Because it eliminates any foreign exchange risk for the factory.
To keep their economy expanding by up to 7% per annum the Chinese Government pegs its currency the Yuan with the Dollar. It keeps it currency at a really low rate against the dollar. This means its biggest market, the American consumers, get really good value when importing Chinese goods. This huge demand means that the Chinese factories are kept really busy and the Chinese citizens in jobs. The Chinese Government are the worlds biggest buyers of the dollar in order to keep it strong against the Yuan. If the Dollar got weak it would mean that Americans may not buy as many imports from China and the Chinese economy could falter.

What does this mean for promotional purchases? And what solutions are there?
Re-orders will be more expensive. If in October 2009 you purchased 20,000 bags at €1.50, and if you were to re-order now they would cost you €1.95 each.
To keep clients up to date given the current volatility, ongoing project quotes are updated weekly based on currency market rates.
When you order with TPI Premiums by hedging and using your deposit to pay the factory a deposit we can guarantee the price of your order throughout the process. This means that if you order on January the first at €1.50 and the goods are delivered in the standard 12 to 16 week leadtime and even if the Euro has weakened there will be no extra cost to the client.

When you place your order with TPI Premiums you can have complete peace of mind that your budget is safe!!

Conor Callinan

In our design studio, some of our most creative thinking has to be completed pre-season and a few months ahead of any in-store activation. Throughout the year we supply some of the leading FMCG brands with in-store solutions, from full kits of point of sale distributed nationwide or exported to small quantity full size digital sample kits for the numerous sales and marketing conferences held by our clients.

Thinking ahead to the next big thing is not the only challenge for our designers, they also have to consider different retail channels and the objective of the retailer. For example, our structural designers worked on a number of World Cup 2010 campaigns in recent months where each retail channel required a different solution. From large in-store theatre for large supermarkets to smaller but equally outstanding pieces for the smaller convenience channel.

Innovation in-store is key to any successful campaign but so too is planning ahead. Because our graphic and structural designers work together with a holistic approach we can offer our clients better solutions in design, visualisation, refinement and production at any time of year making that planning process a little less daunting.

Remember only 222 shopping days to Christmas!

Garry