Case Studies

Customer Business Segment: The Arts
Product (s): Performing Arts Magazine
Application: Theater Promotion
Vertical Market: Entertainment

Account Background

CENTERSTAGE has been an important client of Art Litho Printing Solutions for over four years. Art Litho prints the programs for CENTERSTAGE as well as additional pieces throughout the year. The subscription piece is a focal point for their promotion efforts and reaches key donors and membership. As a non-profit, CENTERSTAGE is tasked with finding ways to reduce and contain costs. Art Litho was able to use InSite™, to save CENTERSTAGE both time and money.

Solution

Because of Art Litho’s recent installation of InSite™ , we were able to streamline the process of job submission, job-status tracking, collaboration, and remote proofing, and approval. InSite™ is a simple interface that’s easy to use and provided CENTERSTAGE with immediate benefits. InSite™ took the PDF proofing process a step ahead by allowing our customer to gain direct internet access into prepress

Customer Benefits

CENTERSTAGE saved over $700.00 in AA’s (Author Alterations) on their June Subscription publications. Anticipated annual savings for all key applications: $4,000 - $5,000.
Made changes to the art work that they could have let slide due to tight production schedule or lack of additional dollars to put towards AA’s.
Communication with Art Litho was simplified.
Reduced errors and shortens lead time on proofs.
Collaborated with entire team at CENTERSTAGE.

Results

The client saw that it pays to work with a printer that invests in technology and looks for ways to streamline processes and reduce costs for their organization.

CENTERSTAGE'S Art Director said, “ I am so happy I can count on the staff at Art Litho to introduce us to new technology. Not only are we saving on Author Alterations, we are also making changes and edits that we might have let slide due to time constraints or costs. The tool is easy to use and everyone that needs to review can do so in the required time frame. It was a big step forward the first time out!”

CENTERSTAGE is an artistically driven institution, producing and developing an eclectic repertory in collaboration with leading theater artists for a diverse audience, interested in challenging, bold, thought-provoking work

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Customer: Design Works
Customer Business Segment: Advertising
Product (s): Retail Collateral
Application: Savings and reliability
Vertical Market: Retail

Account Background

Design Works specializes in lawn & garden center advertising. They have been Art Litho’s customer for seven years, and depend on our expertise to stretch budgets without sacrificing the look of a piece. Since many projects ship across the country for insertion in newspapers and circulars, on-time delivery is critical.

Solution

The specifications were as follows:

Quantity: 380,875 consisting of three lots
17 X 11 folding to 8 ½ X 11, Bleeds
Printed 4-color process two sides
Paper: 45 lb. web gloss text
Press: 6 unit Zirkon 6611 Web Press. Fold in-line, and trim face and foot
Bindery: None

This budget-friendly, product-of-the-press looks great and serves the purpose. By eliminating folding in the bindery, Art Litho eliminated a machine set-up and its accompanying waste, and that creates a greener end product.

Michele Bacon, The Design Works, Inc said, “Design Works continues to value our partnership with Art Litho. You consistently deliver a quality product. Since we are a seasonal company it’s imperative that you can meet our tight deadlines and varied unique delivery requirements. Schedule its extremely important to us! We value the high level of customer service we receive from everyone we work with at Art Litho!”

Customer Benefits and Results

Design Works gets a product that fits their budget.
Producing the entire piece on the press shortens the production cycle.
Eliminating folding as a separate operation reduces waste.
The customer knows they can rely on Art Litho to meet their schedule every time.

Now that’s working together!

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Customer: Duron Paints, a Division of Sherwin Williams
Customer Business Segment: Business-to-Business Marketing Loyalty Program
Product (s): Marketing Resource Center and Supporting Marketing Collateral,
Application: Web-based tool encompassing online ordering, inventory management, and coordination of multiple vendors, along with print of branded collateral materials
Vertical Market: Home Improvement

Account Background

Sherwin-Williams is the largest producer of paints and related products in the United States and among the largest in the world. This 8 billion dollar behemoth has customers in the retail, commercial, industrial, and government sectors. Sherwin-Williams has a very successful track record of increasing revenue and pleasing shareholders.

So what’s the problem?
Residential repaint contractors are a key segment for Sherwin-Williams. Currently Sherwin-Williams has a 75% market share within this group when averaged nationwide. Expansion of such a large market share is a difficult and slow process.

Business Challenge:
Enhance the buying power and success of Sherwin William’s existing customers in order to increase sales without a need to expand market share.

Art Litho’s Role:
Art Litho was chosen for its project management, fulfillment, and e-commerce experience. Working closely with Sherwin-Williams, Art Litho’s team created and managed a comprehensive solution to this challenge.

Solution: The Painters Advantage Program

The Painters Advantage Program incorporated the following items:
* A website offering contractors professional marketing advice, materials, and services
* Marketing materials personalized to each contractor’s individual business
* Business-building tools and training webinars
* Ability to take advantage of all services either online or through the Painter’s Advantage call center
* Comprehensive reporting and tracking to measure activity, inventory, and ROI.
* PCI compliance and adherence to all SW corporate rules and regulations

The Goal: Help contractor’s make their business more profitable.
Benefit for contractors: Utilizing the expertise and buying power of Sherwin-Williams makes their businesses more successful
Benefit for Sherwin-Williams: More profitable contractors will allow them to expand and buy more SW paint and products. Contractors will become more loyal to SW and it will be harder for competitors to lure them away.
Timeline: Begin Development October 2007. Launch program live January 2008.

Measurement of Success: Short term measurements include tracking new members, sales, and web activity. Long term measurements compare purchases made in SW stores by these contractors before the program, and purchases made after becoming a member and utilizing the site. Art Litho Printing Solutions handled all backend programming using their proprietary SmARTsync™ tool. Using this as the backbone of the website they built the framework that allowed contractors to order customized marketing materials, connect to multiple vendors, and ensure all security issues were met.
Art Litho also managed creation of the website design and call center integration, wrote all call center scripts and administered the training program. Art Litho utilized its printing expertise to achieve economies of scale where appropriate in choosing between inventoried shells and print-on-demand for all the personalized products.
Art Litho manages and adds new vendors to the system as necessary for new product offerings. Sherwin-Williams is able to enjoy a single point of contact for program administration.

Results: As of May 2008

1. Membership and sales continues to improve from month-to-month.
2. Call center is receiving positive feedback about the program.

The Painter’s Advantage program is very complex and was launched in an exceedingly short timeline. Results so far have been very positive. Long term measurements will begin to show in 2009. Sherwin-Williams is very pleased with the launch of the site
“We interviewed ten providers and Art Litho Printing Solutions stood out for their creative approach and sound implementation plan. We are delighted we chose Art Litho to launch this important loyalty program for our residential repaint contractors.”
Nichole Kelly –Sherwin-Williams, Marketing Manager

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Customer: A Major University
Customer Business Segment: Alumni Programs
Product (s): Alumni Magazine
Application: Mail List Analysis and Data Cleansing
Vertical Market: Higher Education

Account Background

A major university formerly used two vendors, a printer and a mailer, to produce and distribute their alumni magazine. Art Litho Printing Solutions was awarded the contract for both. Tasked with handling the entire project, we used our mailing expertise to save the client money on both print costs and postage.

Solution

The magazine’s specifications were as follows:

Quantity: 97,050
68 pages plus cover + one-color remittance envelope. Page size 8 ½ X 11, Bleeds
Prints as follows: Cover: 4-color process + flood gloss aqueous coating 2 sides, Insides: 4-color process throughout
Paper: Cover prints on 65 lb. Utopia 2 Gloss Cover, Insides print on 70 lb. Utopia 2 Dull Text.
Offered FSC Paper, Soya Ink, and Wind Power at no additional cost.
Press: Cover prints on 6-unit Komori sheetfed press, Insides print on 6-color Zirkon half- web press.
Bindery: Fold and stitch with envelop in the center spread.
Mailing: List supplied. Art Litho handled data cleaning and mailing.

Because of Art Litho’s expertise in mailing, we asked for the mailing list prior to planning the print run. We ran the list through NCOA verification and CASS sorted it. We corrected problem data and eliminated undeliverable addresses. Then we looked at the print order quantity and realized it could be reduced by two percent saving the University approximately $1,300.00 in production costs.

After cleaning up the list, our expertise in postal regulations allowed us to take advantage of deeper discounts. We shipped magazines to regional distribution centers, and created postal savings of $1,375.00.

Customer Benefits

* The university saved money two ways by reducing the run quantity and by taking advantage of postal discounts.
*By having mail and print under one roof the university eliminated freight costs to previous mail house and also saved a few days in transit.
* Art Litho’s analysis of the mail list kept unneeded magazines out of landfills.
*Changed the workflow to ensure list first, followed by production of magazine which allowed for better accuracy.
*Cleaning the lists helped them with their undeliverable issues, which they previously did not know how to fix.

Results

The client saw that it pays to work with a printer who is also a mailing expert.

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Customer: Duron Paints, a Division of Sherwin Williams
Customer Business Segment: Business-to-Business Marketing Loyalty Program
Product (s): Marketing Collateral and Direct Mail
Application: Helped customer launch new marketing initiative with quick collateral production
Vertical Market: Retail/Manufacturing

Account Background

Business Challenge:
In order to support a recently launched loyalty program, Sherwin-Williams needed to quickly create and distribute a program catalog to their stores and customers.

Art Litho’s Role:
Sherwin-Williams turned to Art Litho to print the program catalog that was the focal point of their promotion efforts, and distribute it to over 1000 stores, 2 distribution centers, and 40,000 customers. Meeting the mail date deadline and coordinating shipments was critical! Files came in on January 18th and on January 25th the job was completed and in the mail.

Specifications:

Quantity: 100,000 – 3 part combo
24 pages self-cover, size 5 ½ X 8 3/8, Bleeds
Printed 4-color process two sides with three version changes
Paper: 80lb Orion gloss textPress: 6 unit Zirkon 6611 Web Press
Bindery: Fold on press. Stitch
Mailing: Mailed & Kitting. Distribution to the 1000 stores and customer supplied list. Kit Distribution had other inserts included.

It was a tight deadline, but Art Litho rose to the occasion completed the project on-time as promised. Our client Nichole Kelly, Sherwin-Williams was pleased with the result and said: “ I am so happy I can count on my staff at Art Litho to meet my tough schedule. Not only was it a large print job but it had tight mailing and fulfillment requirements. The piece looks great!”

Customer Benefits and Results

Speed-to-market means dollars spent on marketing initiatives quickly work to return the investment. In this case, contractors were made aware of the program and began using it to build their businesses.