B&B Press was in a relatively good place when the lockdown hit last year. There were existing orders to fulfil and work in progress to complete. Like every other printer there were hurried meetings to try to understand what was going on, how to keep staff safe and whether government financial assistance would be of assistance. But there was never any question of closing down for the period. Nor any real question about postponing or changing the direction of an investment programme that was in progress.
That led to installation of two new sheetfed presses at the height of the pandemic. Both are four-colour B2 machines, one equipped with LED UV drying and replace three Sakurai presses, including the first LED machines in the UK.
LED UV has a strong environmental story attached to it as well as advantages in fast turnaround and quality, especially on uncoated materials. That is important for the Rotherham business. Last spring it became one of the too few carbon balanced printers in the UK. The further development of its web to print platform and expansion into stock management for customers adds up to a busy year for the business in what has been one of the most challenging years the industry has known.
It was challenging too for the company’s customers, something that sales and marketing director Dave Stones recognised early on in the first lockdown. Over the previous few years he had developed the Be Brilliant Club as a networking day for its marketing clients, bringing them together to listen to a couple of inspirational speakers and share knowledge. The biggest repetition of this had been planned for September last year. “We were preparing for 100 to attend,” says Stones. “It was to have been the largest to date.”
Circumstances kicked this into touch, but Stones did not want to let the networking idea fade away and he had seen the impact that Joe Wicks had had on those imprisoned in their homes. A series of online sessions under the Be Brilliant Club banner was born. “We wanted to have a programme that would last a couple of months combining motivational and educational content.”
At the outset there were two sessions a week, one with an emphasis on wellbeing for those forced to work from home and without the stimulus of an office environment, the second with an educational slant, trying to offer a glimpse of ideas about new skills. Video was a popular theme, says Stones.
It was intended as a short term fix, but its popularity and the length of the lockdown meant an extension before the easing of restrictions and a return to work proper led to it fading out. “People became zoomed out,” he adds.
They became saturated with email too, leading to what had been a key sales channel becoming less effective, and for a combination of channels, print included, becoming more powerful. “We wanted the sessions to make clear that print has to be part of a sales strategy, it cannot be email only, but must also include social media across Twitter, LinkedIn. There was always something that people could take away,” he says.
The experience has changed the way that B&B operates. If the annual event was something that was important in the build up and the follow up around the day itself, the Be Brilliant Club has become a deeper part of the company culture. Says Stones: “It’s something that sets us apart from other printing companies and has become an integral part of our DNA.
“It’s something that drives our recruitment and how we work. We could not be declaring the ethos of the Be Brilliant Club on the website and not adopt the principles ourselves. So when we are looking for new people it’s about their energy, attitude and dynamic approach and is a massive part of taking on sales and marketing people.”
Environmental awareness is part of this package. The company was quick to catch on to ISO 14001, has supported a charity supplying energy efficient stoves to Uganda, and has taken this to the logical next stage. It has become a carbon balanced printer, calculating not only the carbon impact of the papers used, but of all its processes and then offsetting these impacts through the World Land Trust.
It had gained the status in April, but decided to roll out the news in August, waiting until the announcement might have a greater impact with the country feeling a little more confident.
“At the time, in August and September,” says Stones, “people were starting to talk about the environment again. There had been some programmes on the television, David Attenborough had joined Instagram and there was a lot of discussion about the need to reduce carbon.”
B&B has started to market its carbon balanced status, making all jobs fully carbon balanced whether or not customers are willing to pay the small additional premium. “Existing customer have taken to it and see the importance of an ‘on sell’ as they don’t yet formally have sustainability on their agenda. It’s a bit like FSC in terms of how it’s perceived, For some customers carbon balanced print already fits their corporate agenda and we want to educate others. It is the right thing for us to be doing.
“There is research that says that 55% of a young person’s purchasing decision is based on the sustainability of the brand it is purchasing from.” More recently it has revived the online seminars with a Be Green event, attracting more than 50 designers and brands.
There is a general expectation that sustainability will climb the corporate agenda as companies need to be seen to be doing their bit to reduce carbon generated by their business activities, even without legislation to go beyond encouragement. The pandemic has pushed sustainability to one side, but the subject is ready to reappear. B&B Press aims to be ready.
“As a printing company we need to get the message out there so that our customers can say that they are doing their bit. We genuinely care about sustainability, so do what we can and we’re really proud to be able to do that. It may not be for everybody, but for us it’s the right thing to do, and we have to be passionate about that because people will quickly see through this,” Stones explains.
The new press investments fit the sustainability bill reducing the power requirements.“We had been the first UK company with LED UV in 2014 and had built a strong message around LED. It would not have worked for us to contemplate a move away from LED,” says Stones.
The choice of the machine was down to managing director Barry Liversidge and production director Nigel Tolley. “The Sakurais had served us well and print quality was still excellent,” says Stones. “However, there is something about Heidelberg, its speed and connectivity via Prinect that gives us the opportunity of full connectivity to our Tharstern MIS.
“We used it to run the numbers of everything that we do, the types of work, substrates, run lengths to reach the decision that we would get more productivity from two presses instead of three.”
Absolute speed is not critical for the type of work that B&B produces (“We do not deal with print management companies,” he says), though faster makeready is. One is a standard press, an SX74 2/2 perfector, the other fitted with LED UV, a CX75 to maintain the story of higher quality on difficult substrates and a reduced carbon footprint.
If the full carbon balanced approach is not needed for every customer, nor is an online ordering service. It is something that B&B offers to help make life easier for appropriate customers, not to replace a personal approach Stones stresses. “We use it for a select group of customers where it fits with how they operate. And we have added more customers to this in the last 12-18 months,” he says. The company has replaced a RedTie system, one of the first in the field, with one from VPress.
And along with the ease of ordering, B&B has added a pick and pack material, using bar codes to keep track of collateral that is held in store and enabling the printer to act as a third party logistics provider and to be in position to be a cradle to grave provider.
“We have started now to handle the returns from jobs that are mailed out, helping customers identify addresses that are no longer valid or customers that have gone away.
“We want to be involved from the concept stage, from the outset of a campaign to achieve the ROI that a client needs. Customers want us to hold their hands and guide them because many marketing people do not understand print, or even care how their work is printed. We need to help them through the process.
“In short we want to improve the effectiveness of a print company. We used to be a print company and print is still very much at the heart of what we do.”
And the past year has left its mark, strengthening the relationships that B&B Press has with its customers.
“It has been a big move from where we were. It’s easy to see this as a negative experience because of the jobs that have been lost, but we have always been optimistic and has driven us to ask ‘How can we make communications more effective?’ It has made us a better supplier, changing the way that people see us.”
