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The many images that spring to mind when the words Student Union are mentioned may not necessarily include a dynamic and prosperous business with a turnover of £5m. However the University of Warwick’s Student Union is one of the largest in Europe, containing a number of food and drink outlets, 200 societies, 75 sports clubs, hosts the largest students Arts Festival in the UK and boasts a three year strategy! Oh yes, and they sell over 2000 pints a day... Among the 200 staff someone has to be responsible for promoting this vast range of products and services to the unions’ members, which is where we introduce the Marketing Department; more specifically John Abell, Senior Marketing Executive and Dan Connolly, who runs the Design and Web services – both were pivotal in bringing large format digital printing in-house and opening up many print and imaging opportunities not just for the department for revenue, but the students as well. |
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Giving the student union bars a run for their money in terms of beer and baguette sales figures, the Marketing department brings revenue into the Union by selling around £150,000 worth of advertising in various Union publications and corporate sponsorship, in addition to the design and print of them and other publicity materials. After running all the costs and calculations the department chose to bring the larger format printing in-house. John Abell explains, “It was clear that the demand for larger format printing, sizing of A3 upwards was increasing and as a result so was the cost of outsourcing. It was at this stage that we approached our current print supplier, leading graphic dealer John E Wright & Co Ltd in Coventry to ask advice about purchasing their own large format printers. It was at this point we were introduced to large format guru, Martyn Collard from their Nottingham Head Office.” |
Warwick ’s Student Unions’ Marketing team didn’t beat about the bush and laid their cards on the table when it came to describing their large format requirements and what budget they had. On Martyn’s valuable advice, derived from very many years in the industry, they took delivery of a Canon iPF8000 and an iPF5000 last September and haven’t looked back – more to the point they’re way ahead of themselves in terms of resource technology than many comparable organisations. They knew from the figures they were onto a winner but maybe didn’t realize just how much this change would increase their revenue. Dan Connolly says, “It was a smooth transition due to the efficient installation and training supplied, we were up and running in next to no time. Before we had the printers we used to print around 130 A0s a year and they were costing us £20 each, with the iPF8000 our prints work out at less than £5 a print so that’s a straight up saving of £2000.” The convenience of the printer has meant they now print more; so far this academic year they have printed 200 A0s yet has cost less than half what they would usually spend across an entire year - the value speaks for itself. It has also allowed the department to be more dynamic as lead-times have been dramatically reduced on banners and photo quality large format prints. |
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Dan continues, “On the smaller printer (iPF5000) we’re also making savings, the cost reduction is about 50/60% on what we used to pay, so far this year we’ve saved about £1000, and again the convenience factor can’t be understated, not only for basic poster production but also for producing our own photo quality prints to be displayed in our restaurants.” The issues investigated prior to deciding on the Canon IPF printers were cost of consumables, print speed without compromising the quality of output and reliability. Size was also a factor; there was only a certain amount of space physically to house the printers. After seeing an extensive demonstration by Martyn on-site at John E Wright’s Nottingham it was agreed that the Canon iPF series ticked all the right boxes. Both the iPF5000 and iPF8000 printers use the 12-colour LUCIA pigment inks that deliver a dynamic colour gamut and uses the grey for smoother graduations, have an automatic colour calibration tool and value added software such as PhotoShop Plug in and PosterArtist. The 44” wide iPF8000 has twin heads that produce a high 2400x1200 dpi resolution and can print at speeds up to 35m2/hour. The iPF5000 is 17” wide and has a three-way media feeding system that allows total flexibility from canvases to glossy stock of varying thickness’. |
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Their large format print production today currently includes banners, signage, posters and illuminated poster boards, however John Abell aims to start using more specialised media such as photographic and Canvas and push more innovative use of these medias to widen up the opportunities for the student members. “With the huge number of Societies we have not only can we produce their promotional printing, but for the Photographic Society for example, we may be able to enhance their experiences within their own interest.” John continues, “We’re also hoping to open it out for use to the students themselves as more of a print bureau service which we were unable to do so before. It will revolutionise the way we interact with the student and surrounding business communities in sales terms, not only that, it has also increased our revenue by saving us money.” To find out more about John E Wright & Co Ltd, who are part of the GDL-Colourlink Group, please visit
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