Big Picture - September 2015 - (Page 32)

The Writing's on the Wall ...and HOW BY JOE HOLT What a difference a few years can make. As early as 2012, the growth potential of the print industry beyond the depths of the Great Recession was still in question. Clients large and small were closing their doors for good, already reduced marketing budgets were strained to their limit, and a demand for more economical yet greener printing began to take hold. In the Phoenix market, hard choices were being made - adapt by generating shorter runs, using newer materials, venturing out into new sectors, and engaging new clients, or slowly but surely run out of steam, and ink. "The game has changed," says Robert Anderson, CEO and founder of Prisma (prismagraphic.com), a 35-year-old Phoenix-based commercial printer specializing in online marketing supply chains. And he should know. In 2013, after 18 months of planning and strategizing, Anderson and his executive team rebranded the company, absorbing a smaller, local digital printer as well as a marketing and strategy firm, all in an effort to transform the business from a local boutique printing resource, to a nationwide full-service marketing BIG PICTURE September 2015 HOME 32 Efficient post-print processes free valuable staff time and resources to devote to widening your client base for projects such as home décor. provider. And the venture paid off. In 2015, Prisma is experiencing exponential growth, somewhere between $34-35 million in sales, which Anderson directly attributes to his firm's evolution, incorporating moves that went beyond the economic downturn of 2008 and subsequent years. For Anderson and his team, the writing was on the wall: Stay exclusively local and watch the business shrink yearover-year, or open up and expand into a variety of markets. Through research and exploration, Anderson's team settled on the field of chain businesses: hotels, restaurants, educational, retail, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and the financial sector, including banks and credit unions. The company purchased new printing and production equipment and began experimenting on a variety of substrates, including aluminum and wood for grand-format prints, as well as digital mediums that could print on metallic or clear acetates. They also made the move to UV and latex inks, like many others in the industry. Logistics became the company's watchword, "Because whether it's 150 stores or 1500, you need logistics. If we're printing a quarterly campaign or producing new store openings, signage, barcodes, bins, and boxes are required to keep it all in check. Right now, we have 700 pallet racks of grand-format prints, promo items, and in-store signage, all ready to ship," Anderson says. He estimates Prisma is shipping 9000 to 10,000 items a month that are digitally printed, then kitted, and finally shipped to locations worldwide. And that doesn't include around the same amount in digital downloads, which Anderson sees as a burgeoning revenue opportunity. With nearly 300,000 orders processed to date and 200 popular brands, including IHOP, Applebee's, PetSmart, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, utilizing Prisma's proprietary online ordering platform, dokshop, the company is able to offer its 40,000 dokshop users protected and secure access to more than 13,000 documents stored online. For Prisma, a G7-certified printer, color accuracy is also extremely important to their reputation and their clients' brands, as precise color matching must be maintained across the country and all over the world. Additionally, the company is finding great success in on-demand, in-house direct mailing for the healthcare industry. Distributing more than two million pieces per month, Prisma must maintain strict HIPAA and PCI compliance at their locked-down facility, including granting access to secure FTPs and online data while conducting mailing on behalf of their healthcare clients. And Prisma isn't the only Arizona-based business finding new success in nationwide fulfillment and online strategies these days. http://www.prismagraphic.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - September 2015

Big Picture - September 2015
Contents
Insight
Wide Angle
Upfront
Business + Management
Brands to Believe in
Repackaging RIPs
The Writing’s on the Wall...and Paper ...and Acrylic.
R+D
Explorer

Big Picture - September 2015