Hi, I’m Pat McGrew and welcome to another episode of Print Sample TV. Today’s short snippet has to with paper. I want to thank the folks at Sappi for providing their True or False guide. It’s very hard when you’re a paper provider because you’re relying on print devises to showcase your paper in the best way. Nice thing about Sappi is that they have a really great range of papers that talk to the needs of offset printers and digital printers alike, and within digital, ink jet and toner based.

But what I like about this campaign, their True or False campaign, is that they’ve built a whole piece of collateral that walks through a lot of the common myths about the things that you might think are true about your paper selection that may turn out to be false. One of my favorite ones is actually right in the middle here, that coated paper is better for the budget then uncoated. I don’t know what your opinion is on that, but the friendly folks at Sappi tell us that, in fact, your dollar will stretch much further using coated paper. Again, a really great use of not only their paper to tell a story, but a great use of design to tell a story. I think that anybody who gets this particular piece of collateral from them, I think once you read through it once there are certain things that will stick with you that you will never make mistakes again.

The other thing that they did, which I thought was really very insightful, they took the time to, and this is really an expensive piece to produce, they took the time to actually show differences in different effects. If you’re a print provider who’s trying to explain to your clients what the power of different kinds of paper might be, the different effects might be, coating versus not coating, varnishing, the special spot effects. A piece like this can be the difference between being able to sell, upsell, that client, and having them choose things that might not tell their story as well.

Your challenge, as a print provider, for those of you who are print providers, is to start to think about how you should be showcasing the kinds of print you can produce and how, perhaps, partnering with your paper provider might give you access to some really cool design collateral. If you can see on this one, it actually shows spot varnish, so the glass actually stands out as glass. We’ve got great texture on the trees. The car really stands out. There’s just some really amazing kinds of paper effects in here that really change the game.

So, when you’re thinking about your print samples, spend a lot of time thinking about the paper that you choose. Have a long chat with the different people who provide paper to you, and, in the end, you can probably come up with a piece of collateral that will help you sell and upsell to your clients, and for vendors, never skimp on paper on the print samples that you show.

I’m Pat McGrew, this is Print Sample TV, we hope you’ll come back for another episode.