The latest in our ‘Spotlight on…’ features focuses on Lick N Stick Graphics.
Based in Thorpe, Surrey, and created by Paul Cobby and Richard Long on 1st April (no joke!) 2009, Lick N Stick Graphics is a large format graphics production company. The two company owners both have over 15 years experience in the large format graphics industry and using the latest digital technology, Lick N Stick provides practical graphics solutions for the event, exhibition, sport, retail, TV and films industries.
From its inception, there were four main employees. Richard Long took the role of sales director and Paul Cobby became production director. They were joined by Nathan Green as production manager and Justin Wallace as marketing manager.
According to Justin Wallace, “Starting any new business is hard enough at the best of times, yet in the middle of a recession, we have managed to create a successful digital graphics production company. We have had a very positive first couple of years in business and have expanded rapidly.”
From the outset, Lick N Stick purchased an arsenal of printers upon which it could create quality output including:
- Roland VersaCamm print and cut 720mm-wide solvent printer capable of printing and cutting to shape laminated and unlaminated vinyl stickers
- HP5500ps on which all Lick N Stick’s indoor hi-res graphics and pop-ups are printed
- Mutoh ValueJet 1604 used for high-end outdoor graphics including banner, vinyl, mesh and canvas
- Vutek 3300 super-wide format printer to produce graphics up to 3m wide on banner, mesh, jettex, woven poly and vinyl
Having had a very successful first year in business, the company decided to expand its portfolio and invested in an Acuity HD 2504 so that it could print directly onto sheet material up to 8’ by 4’ using UV inks. This saved Lick N Stick time on production and ultimately increased turnover.
The increase in production then created a bottleneck in finishing, so to combat this, Lick N Stick bought a Zund iCut which can cut any output to shape on materials upto 1750mm wide.
In January 2011, Lick N Stick also replaced its Vutek 3300 with a Vutek Press Vu400 for roll and sheet fed options upto 3m in width.
Lick N Stick has closely partnered with various companies to ensure it has a great back-up team at hand. The Roland, HP and ValueJet printers all run Colorific ink. This alternative ink brand offers massive cost savings over OEM inks and helps to keep the company profitable.
SelecTech, a specialist supplier of ink, media and accessories to the professional large format sign and display print market, supplies all the substrates and other consumables that Lick N Stick needs.
Maidenhead-based Tech 8, which offers technical support, extended warranties and spare parts for most wide format printers, has colour-profiled the Colorific ink so the prints are the best quality they can be when printing onto the SelecTech substrates. Tech 8 also supplies any engineering backup and spare parts required.
Lick N Stick’s success can be demonstrated by the fact that for the third year running it has been awarded the signage contract for Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2011. Lick N Stick has held the contract for the last two years, but this was the first year the contract had gone to tender – and the company retained the contract.
According to Justin Wallace, Marketing Manager at Lick N Stick, “For Hampton Court Flower Show, we design and create hundreds of individual graphic items in our Mac-based studio to precise brand guidelines supplied by the Royal Horticultural Society. We then produce all the signage required in-house onto the various different media using our wide- and super-wide format printers. The signage will be installed on-site by our installation team over a three-week build period at Hampton Court Palace.”
He concludes, “We are very confident taking on such ambitious projects. We are well-organised and are well supported by our suppliers. Our business continues to grow at pace and we have doubled our headcount in less than 2 years.”
