Business - Applications

Coca-Cola advertising is everywhere at Christmas.  Many of you will have been feverishly printing off Coca-Cola reds in Pantone 485, and then making sure that red is perfect. Unfortunately for you, that Pantone reference is actually wrong.  In fact, Coca-Cola red historically has no Pantone reference; it is the company's own spot colour.

According to rumour, Coca-Cola's printed packaging only ever gets printed using that exact spot colour.  The company does not want the 4-colour CMYK printing process dithering or deviating from the impact of that pure bold Coca-Cola red.  Alas, in wide format inkjet sign and display printing we don't have the luxury of special spot colours, so we'll just have to continue matching until the Coca-Cola man says 'yes'.

OK, enough about that.  The Lighter Side story this week is actually about Coca‑Cola’s iconic vision of Santa Claus as a jolly looking gentleman in a red coat with a white beard, dressed entirely in the aforementioned Coca-Cola red.

So is it true that The Coca-Cola Company invented the all-in-red Santa Claus?

Today, it's widely believed that Santa wears this red suit because that’s the colour associated with Coca‑Cola, but this isn’t the case. Before the Coca‑Cola Santa was even created, St Nick had appeared in numerous illustrations and written descriptions wearing a scarlet coat. However, it is true that Coca‑Cola advertising played a big role in shaping the jolly, rotund character we know and love today.

This is thanks to Haddon Sundblom, the Swedish-American artist who created the world-renowned image of Santa Claus we recognise today.  In 1931, Coca‑Cola commissioned Sundblom to paint Santa Claus for the company's Christmas adverts. Prior to this, Santa had been portrayed in a variety of ways throughout history: tall and gaunt; short and elfin; distinguished and intellectual; even downright frightening.

Sundblom’s paintings for Coca‑Cola established Santa as a warm, happy character with human features such as rosy cheeks, a white beard, twinkling eyes and laughter lines. This grandfather-style Coca‑Cola Santa captivated the public and, as Coca-Cola adverts spread globally, the perception of the North Pole’s most-famous resident changed forever.

Since first appearing in adverts in US titles including The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and National Geographic in 1931, and then subsequently appearing on festive billboards the world over, Sundblom’s ‘Coca‑Cola Santa’ has certainly passed the test of time, evoking memories and a holiday spirit that transcends national boundaries.

“The Santa Claus illustrated by Haddon Sundblom is remarkable for several reasons, most notably because of the way the artist captured the essence of Saint Nicholas,” said Ted Ryan, Manager of The Coca‑Cola Company Archives.  “Sundblom didn’t simply paint a costumed character; he made Santa a human being graced with the gift of immortality, and a physical manifestation of Christmas that was destined to endure.”

Sundblom’s Santa had such universal appeal that, as Coca‑Cola and its legendary holiday adverts continued to spread globally, the character born of Sundblom’s brush became an established international icon.  The one that we can all identify with today.

This will be last LFR News of 2013, but we'll be back on January 8th 2014 with a bumper round-up of all the noteworthy wide-format print news between now and then.

All that remains is for us to wish you all well for the coming Holiday period. However, because LFR is read internationally, and because we don't wish to offend anyone, we got a little stuck on how best to express these best wishes without causing anyone offence. So confused were we, that we decided the only way to proceed was with the advice of our legal representative.  Thanks to his expert advice, we present you our official best wishes for the remainder of 2013 and for the year ahead...

Holiday Greetings to You

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice, observed with due respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or ethnic/cultural traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, medically uncomplicated, psychologically stable and carbon-responsible recognition of the onset of the generally accepted 'Gregorian' calendar year 2014, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make the world a better place, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, philosophical conception or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms and conditions: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher(s) to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher(s). This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher(s). You (the wishee) are solely responsible for appropriate subsequent use/applicatoin/tranference of this greeting, and the wisher(s) shall not be liable for any damages incurred to third parties subsequent to your extension of this greeting. Your receipt/acceptance of this greeting constitutes understanding of and agreement to binding arbitration in the event of actual or perceived damages, distress or hardship stemming from receipt/acknowledgement of said greeting and/or wish.

Disclaimer: no trees were harmed in the sending of this message however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

(We can't take any credit for the above, we found it online - we can't even find the name of the original author to offer due credit to them - it seems it's now just a part of the ambient Internet data pool).

 

Liberty London and Topman Oxford Circus, in collaboration with all-over print specialists Yr Store (www.yrsto.re/), have opened pop-ups within their flagship stores offering customers the chance to create and print their own bespoke t-shirts using Epson SureColor dye-sub printers - while they wait.

Yr Store’s garment print installations feature interactive touch-pod design stations and live all-over printing. Customers can create one-off patterns in-store from an archive of designs and images which are then printed and applied to t-shirts on-site and ready-to-go within a matter of minutes.

The t-shirt designs are printed using Epson’s 44-inch SureColor SC-F6000 roll-fed dye-sublimation printers. Supplied to Yr Store by specialist Epson re-seller RA Smart (www.rasmart.co.uk), these printers produce high-quality, vibrant images on all leading transfer papers. With output speeds from 16 to 57m2/hr, depending upon application, the SC-F6000 is the ideal 'on-demand' print solution for the retail environment. The SureColor printers are easy to use and operate by just one person.

The SureColor SC-F printers use Epson UltraChrome DS ink, a specially-developed aqueous ink which produces outstanding images with vibrant colours, intense blacks, sharp contours and smooth gradations. Its excellent light- and wash-fastness, as well as resistance to abrasion and perspiration, makes it the ideal choice for t-shirt applications.

“Yr believes the future of fashion is in carefully curated live garment creation,” says Yr Store’s Tim Williams. “Working with Epson technology means we can provide the highest quality product in super-fast time, offering customers a great retail experience and their own unique garment.”

The Liberty concession is open till the end of December. Topman is a permanent installation and will be rolled out to other Top Shop stores throughout the country in 2014, with further printable garments being introduced such as sweatshirts, scarves and leggings.

Martin Johns, ProGraphics, Epson UK, says: “Not only does the SureColor SC-F6000 deliver on performance, cost, reliability and flexibility, it also opens up new revenue streams for customers. Yr Store’s live garment print installations in Liberty and Topman are a perfect example of how Epson technology is assisting users to develop their creative ideas to expand their businesses further.”

This Christmas, Pixartprinting is putting 'express creativity' under the tree.  It has created a 'Christmas area' online featuring a broad range of Christmas-themed products.  Exclusive images allow the personalisation of products, including stickers and labels, to be transformed into colourful gift tags and stickers; cards and postcards are adorned with season’s greetings; and cardboard boxes become imaginative gift boxes.

Once you have chosen your product in the online shop, the different Christmas theme options will appear, including season’s wishes, Father Christmas replicas, cute reindeers and colourful baubles. You can choose one or several graphic options, specifying how many times you want it to be reproduced in each order.  All of this is available with 48 delivery and the printing quality and service for which Pixartprinting is known.

“According to a saying, people are nicer at Christmas. We want to be more creative,” comments Andrea Pizzola, Sales & Marketing Director at Pixartprinting.  “We have tapped into Pixartprinting’s artistic flair to come up with creative and fun themes that our customers can use to personalise their wares. The Christmas campaign bears witness once again to our mission: we encourage innovation in all its facets and invest in R&D to encourage both new ideas and technology, with plenty of room for creativity.”

Cardiff-based Genesis Marketing delivered full event branding for this month’s Wales Rally GB Championships - the British leg of the World Rally Championships - using a range of ImagePerfect media from Spandex.

The Wales Rally GB project was delivered on behalf of client International Motor Sports, who were pointed towards Genesis by the Welsh government, an event sponsor and regular client of the company. The client’s mission was to extend the event beyond the rally element, incorporating entertainment, catering, display cars and so on, making it a memorable event for the 100,000 spectators and delivering maximum brand impact for sponsors.

The Wales Rally GB brief involved the complete branding of three RallyFest visitor experience areas - at Chirk Castle near Wrexham, Kinmel Park on the North Welsh coast, and Sweet Lamb near Aberystwyth - as well as spectator areas along 200 miles of rally track.

The project included angled concord barrier panels for crowd control, feather flags, decorated panelling for the start and finish car podiums, branding on timing gantries, pull-up banners, and directional and venue signage, as well as five kilometres of scrim and a further five kilometres of branded fabric bunting. Spandex ImagePerfect media used included IP2511 white gloss vinyl with a grey adhesive system for increased opacity, IP 2514 a cost effective clear gloss vinyl, and IP 2122 a 100% blockout banner with double sided printability.

The Toyota building at Deeside, North Wales, was also transformed into the Wales Rally GB Championship headquarters and media centre, while an open area adjacent to the building became the service park for all the participating vehicles. “Naturally, the temporary event branding of the Toyota premises had to be handled with sensitivity to the building’s usual occupants”, explains Owen, “We needed to be 100% certain that the materials and installation methods we were using would not leave any traces. Spandex suggested using IP Fabric Light, a self-adhesive textile for wall decoration with a removable adhesive – effectively like a giant sticky note –meaning wall graphics could be installed and removed without leaving any residue. More importantly, the visual impact of the graphics was amazing, and could be achieved without any of the aesthetic compromises you have to accept when you mount giant PVC graphics using frames and eyelets.”

“For a project like this, the ‘wow factor’ is what it’s all about”, says Genesis managing director Andrew Owen. “You need to look at all aspects of the event from the perspective of the participants, sponsors, spectators and media, and think about how to brand the event so that it packs a visual punch that does the event full justice. If we get it right, we’ll also ensure that the brand is everywhere when images of the event are pushed out via the media and over social networks.”

Virtually all elements were produced by Genesis in-house on the company’s Roland VersaCAMM VS540i print and cut machine, installed by Spandex earlier this year, together with a Polarsign laminator. Only the scrim printing was handled elsewhere, due to the exceptional volume.

The notorious Welsh weather also gave the Genesis team some challenges. Freak hurricane winds the night before the event start brought down bunting, feather flags and crowd barriers, but the team were able to rescue and reinstate everything except for one flag. “It proved the value of selecting higher quality materials for the job. Our work took quite a hammering from the elements that night, but we were able to get it all looking ship-shape again the following day.”

The Genesis team’s experience of event branding for all weathers means that they routinely specify more durable, weather-resistant materials, such as ImagePerfect Double-Sided PVC Banner. Genesis can prove the cost-efficiency of doing so compared with cheaper media, which will need to be replaced, incurring repeat production and installation charges for the client.

Detailed planning for the Wales Rally GB started at Genesis six months before the event, including extensive media sampling with Spandex’s support. “We’re constantly looking at new materials to make the best choices for the client, and Spandex are always at the end of a phone to give us advice for a challenging application”, says Owen.

Production kicked off three months ahead of the start date, with all branding elements then installed over the space of three days from Saturday to Monday before the event start. A Genesis team of 16 worked shifts 24/7 to handle the complex installation logistics, racking up driving distances of 1500 miles between the multiple sites. After the event, all sites had to be cleared within two days.

“Smooth and well co-ordinated installation and de-rig is critical for event clients”, emphasises Owen. “They need a partner that can plan carefully and then handle the practicalities with the minimum of fuss, and with full consideration of health and safety. This aspect of our service has definitely been critical to the reputation we’ve gained in this field, and it contributed to our immediate reappointment by International Motor Sports for the 2014 event.”

Genesis Marketing was established in 2005, and has earned a reputation for event branding and city dressing for public and private sector clients across Wales, and for a growing portfolio of clients in the UK sporting and leisure events industry.

The Lighter Side... this week we take a look at wide format advertising with an added dimension. Billboards with added creativity to grab the attention and stand out from the crowd.

And standing out from the crowd is something we all need to be thinking more about. According to numbers published in the New York Times, we are all now subjected to an average of 3000 marketing messages daily.  Online, offline, everywhere you go and everywhere you turn, someone is trying to grab your attention and get their message noticed. Now our brains can’t truly process that many messages.  We can’t notice, absorb, or even judge the personal merit of 3000 visual attacks a day.  The only way to get your message past all that noise is to be creative - be quirky, and do something different.

I'd venture that the problem is worse here in good old Britain.  Let's face it, we're a bit dull, a bit conservative, we like the status quo, rocking the boat is bad, and we certainly can't even consider doing anything that might shock.  Yes, here in the UK, crying out for attention is frankly something to be frowned at. Well it's time to break that particular mould and get noticed, because here and now, unusual trumps normal.  Quirky wins.  In order for your clients' Ad campaign to get the attention it craves, or maybe even go viral, you might need some fresh thinking.

 

See if some of these classic campaigns from the past can spark your imagination...

Part of a series of 'Posters with Straws' billboards from Coca-Cola, it might not be the most visually striking, but you can guarantee if you spotted it, you'd be nudging the person next to you to have a look.

 

Nationwide insurance turned a fictional paint company’s billboard into a colourful, messy disaster in this unique ad, spilling a massive puddle of paint down the side of a building and into a parking lot, even covering several vehicles.

 

Disposable razor Ads, how tough a gig is that? I mean how many times can you create a billboard with a tanned hunky man (who doesn't actually appeal to most of the target audience anyway), and push the ever-increasing number of blades we supposedly now need to ensure an acceptable shave - what is there left to say? Bic said nothing, they just hired a billboard in a field and had their giant razor give the grass a nice close shave.

 

This startling advert, over the entrance to a tunnel, is trying to entice Austrian motorists to stop off at Oldtimer, a chain of motorway rest-stops.

 

Whilst visiting McDonalds six times in a day might not be high on my list of priorities, the simplicity of this Sundial billboard is brilliant. It's always McDonalds time - well right up until you get so fat that you can't fit through the door any more.

 

I mentioned the 3000 marketing messages you are subjected to daily... it seems there really is no escape, anywhere - as Nike has even taken to the sea with this particular campaign.

 

Clothing was placed at bus shelters in conjunction with posters to promote the TV series 'The Power Of One', in which renowned hypnotist Peter Powers got people to carry out outrageous tasks under hypnosis. An innovative form of typography was also used in the poster to create an optical illusion that makes the type appear to move. To my mind this is just starting to get a little bit too clever for it's own good, but if the agenda was to get coverage, and create a talking point, well it worked perfectly on that score.

 

So there you have it. Some clever concepts that will have created a stir and captured the imagination - and it's worth remembering that some of the billboards above were first created over 5 years ago, yet they've been getting shared and repeated on the Internet ever since, and have thus gained from thousands upon thousands of additional pages of coverage for the brand. In a world of same old same old, different gets talked about, and shared.