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Case Studies

Real world examples of how Advertisers Printing can take your print strategy to the next level.

Using Specialty Substrates to Tap into New Marketing Mediums with the RMGT 9-Series

When we announced early on that our RMGT 9-Series would open up a whole new host of options for our customers to come up with extraordinarily unique print projects, we weren’t kidding around. Our last blog showcased some of the stunning innovative finishes this press can produce so that you can create “fridge-worthy” print materials. Now we’re going to examine the specialty substrates that the RMGT is capable of printing on, plus why they allow you to spread your marketing message further and with more impact than ever before. What Are Specialty Substrates and Why Are They a Big Deal? In the world of commercial printing, the term “substrate” simply refers to the base material onto which images, words, etc. are printed. You’re likely familiar with some of the most common substrates such as paper stock, cardboard, and newsprint. But did you know that innovations in modern technology now enable printing on some “specialty” substrates that you may have written off as being too difficult to use?  Thanks to its low-heat LED curing and pneumatic (air-powered) guide that safeguards against contact scratches, our RMGT 9-Series allows you to explore specialty substrates such as: PVC vinyl  Polypropylene (synthetic paper)  Styrene Plastics   PET (polyester)  Adhesives/clings  Metallics  The RMGT’s ability to print on these distinct, often delicate substrates provides you with an opportunity to enhance your product packaging, as well as print marketing materials like wide-format signage. Let’s examine a few examples of print projects that make use of these specialty substrates.  Print Projects You Can Create With Specialty Substrates Vinyl Banners –  When it comes to out-of-home advertising, you can’t go wrong with this large, can’t-miss form of signage. Whether you’re looking to display a banner outside your store to increase foot traffic or spread brand awareness by hanging one above a busy street, you can count on vinyl banners to last through rain, snow, and sunlight while maintaining quality for years.  Boxes & Folding Cartons – The RMGT also introduces a new host of options for durable print products to use in retail display, direct mail, packaging, event marketing, and more. These dimensional print pieces come in all different shapes and sizes, plus they can be combined with innovative finishes and other substrates such as gold or silver foil to generate some really striking creations. Ready to think outside the box? Clings – These lightweight, versatile signs can be used on windows, mirrors, monitors, and most types of glass. Static clings (vs low-tack) are also reusable, which means you can easily change where they’re positioned or store them away for seasonal use. They can be used to help a business increase privacy, reduce glare/UV ray exposure, and maintain brand consistency with clings that are placed both outdoors and inside the building.  Indestructible Direct Mail – Synthetic paper and direct mail are quite the dynamic duo, as this flexible substrate looks and feels like regular paper stock while being resistant to water, heat, chemicals, and rips/tears. It can also be perforated, die-cut, scored, folded, and punched, opening up a huge range of possibilities for direct mail pieces that can stand the test of time, weather, wear, etc.  Metallic Labels – Trying to give a certain product a high-end feel? Silver or gold metallic labels and wraps a surefire way to catch the eye of consumers and let them know there’s something luxurious inside. And, because the RMGT 9-Series is capable of printing special inks like white, gold, silver, and copper, you can even layer metallic elements to create a majestic, gilded look.  Hopefully this blog gave you a deeper understanding of what specialty substrates are and why they’re so valuable to use in print marketing. There aren’t many printers in our area who can produce pieces with such distinct finishes and substrates, so if you choose to collaborate with us on original print projects, your marketing materials will be in a league of their own. Ready to get creative and bounce some ideas off of our print strategists? Let’s talk soon! 

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Are Your Print Products Fridge-Worthy? Achieve Magnet Status with the RMGT 9-Series

Following up on our last blog about the sustainability attributes of the RMGT 9-Series, in this article we’re going to examine some of the incredible innovative finishes that this press will enable you to explore. We’re talkin’ the types of finishes that will really make your print materials stand out and help you earn a spot on the front of your customers’ refrigerator for all to see! Let’s take a look. RMGT 9-Series Innovative Finish #1: High Gloss The RMGT is capable of producing high gloss LED coatings inline using its retractable coating unit. “Inline” means that the coating is applied in the same pass as the printed sheet, yet another way that this press brings you faster delivery. LED coatings also dry quicker, are more durable, and offer a 10-15% higher gloss level compared to traditional aqueous coatings. For you, this higher gloss level means stunningly realistic imagery that jumps off the paper and grabs the attention of your customers. You know when you flip through a National Geographic and the high-quality pictures make you feel like you’re transported to the jungles of Borneo or the Swiss Alps? You can achieve a similar (or even better) effect with a high gloss coating. RMGT 9-Series Innovative Finish #2: Spot Gloss Akin to the previous finish, a spot gloss treatment is a method for coating printed materials that utilizes the RMGT’s LeoLED Modular Lamp Array to cure a varnish that is placed on select portions of a product. A spot gloss effect can be a useful tool for guiding your audience’s attention to exactly where you want them to look, which really comes in handy with a multi-page piece. Additionally, it can give your business cards, brochures, presentation folders, and book covers a high-impact, “luxury” feel that will distinguish your company from your competitors. RMGT 9-Series Innovative Finish #3: Strike-Through Strike-through is another variety of the matte varnish/gloss finish combo that results in an eye-catching finished product. Compared to spot gloss treatments, strike-through effects work best on dark, high contrast images. Some printers produce a version of a strike-through-type effect with aqueous coating, but it just isn’t the same. With LED, we cure the ink before the varnish unit, and then apply the LED gloss coating over the top. The end result is a product with sharp, exact registration that makes your images look crisp and lifelike. RMGT 9-Series Innovative Finish #4: Reticulated Varnish When a freshly waxed car gets caught in a storm, you know how the rainwater tends to bead up on the shiny vehicle? It’s mesmerizing! It happens because the surface tension of the wax and the surface tension of the rain repel each other, causing the water to group up in small droplets. Reticulating varnish works in a very similar way: we apply a flood gloss LED coating over a spot varnish in a single pass in order to produce a raised finish. Think your customers will be captivated by such a unique, 3D effect? Science says they most certainly will! RMGT 9-Series Innovative Finish #5: Metallic and Opaque Inks Another benefit of the RMGT’s LED-curing is its ability to print metallic and opaque inks such as white, gold, silver, and copper. To achieve this effect, these special inks are run in the first few units of the press and then cured afterward, allowing the wet inks to be trapped over the dry inks. This enables you to develop high-end marketing materials with just a touch of opulence that will impress your customers and make your competitors envious. The RMGT 9-Series is one of only a handful of presses capable of printing such inks, so opting for this effect will surely help you stand out from the crowd. Curious to hear which of these finishes would look the best on your next print project? Drop us a line to chat with one of our print strategists about how you can wow your customers with fridge-worthy print products!

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Sustainably Sharing the Magic of Print with the RMGT 9-Series

At Advertisers Printing, we constantly seek ways to reduce our environmental impact and increase our social responsibility. Our journey to become one of the most sustainable printers in the United States began in 2002 when we earned our Sustainable Green Printing Partnership certification (we are one of less than 60 SGP-certified offset/digital printers in the world). Since then, we’ve proactively implemented policies, procedures, and equipment that keep us in the top 1% of sustainable printers, and our recent acquisition of the RMGT 9-Series is no exception. Let’s take a look at some of our environmental initiatives and how the RMGT will help elevate our company and clients to the pinnacle of sustainable printing in 2021 and beyond. Why Is the RMGT 9-Series an Achievement in Sustainable Printing? In addition to enhancing our print quality and speed to market, our new RMGT enables us to print products with the lowest carbon footprint in an incredibly efficient way. Some of its most notable green features include: Reduced energy consumption – Besides being a time-saver, the RMGT’s one-pass perfecting saves time and energy by eliminating the need for a second pass. At 25 x 37 inches, it also uses 70-80% less energy than a conventional UV-IR 28 x 40 inch full size press while still delivering a standard size 16-page format. Low material waste – The RMGT’s “compact” size compared to other presses in its class means that consumable use (plates, blankets, and ink) is cut by 1/3, and make-ready (setup) paper spoilage is lowered by up to 80% on every job. Advanced UV/LED curing – Not only does the RMGT’s GEW LeoLED MLA (Modular Lamp Array) curing technology provide major speed and quality benefits, it also enables greener printing in the following ways: Reduced ink waste = no need for daily ink wash ups (saving over 1,000 lbs of wasted ink annually) Zero ozone emissions = no exhaust ventilation necessary, healthier for our staff Low heat generation, = less HVAC energy used for climate control in our facilities Light-emitting diodes = LED uses just 10% of the energy compared to a conventional arc lamp UV system (90% energy savings) Long life span = last about 15,000 hours versus 1,000-3,000 hours for conventional arc lamps Instant on/off power = eliminates the need for a large amount of standby power when the press is off So, why are we telling you all of these details about our new RMGT 9-Series? Because in our core values, we have a responsibility to communicate our ongoing commitment to sustainability to our employees, clients, vendors, contractors, and visitors – an SGP requirement. That means every time we enhance our operations to become even more eco-friendly, we want to let you know so you can feel good about choosing us as your trusted printing partner! The Advertisers Printing family believes that it’s absolutely essential to work safely, protect our community’s health and welfare, and preserve the environment all while delivering the highest quality products and superior service to our clients. In What Other Ways Is Advertisers Printing a Sustainable Company? Plenty of companies say that they are environmentally conscious, but how many have tangible evidence to back up their claims? We live in the “Show-Me state,” after all! Our team not only talks the talk, but we walk the walk – every single day. Our sustainable initiatives include: Sustainability presentations – We’ve given environmental talks at WashU, Georgia Tech, St Louis University, Canon Corp, Missouri Botanical Garden, SGP, and AIGA, among others. We are available and ready to present to your organization, too. 12-prong recycling program – We employ a comprehensive system for recycling ink, paper, metal plates, and other operational materials. Energy efficient facilities – The roof of our facility is blanketed by 25kW solar panels (offsetting energy expenditure by 20%), all of our interior lighting is LED, and our service fleet includes an EV Chevy Bolt and four Prius hybrid vehicles used for sales and deliveries. Clean inks – We only use inks that contain very low or zero volatile organic compounds, and the LED/UV process eliminates the need for aqueous coatings (a consumable). Weekly waste pickups – Our company has made such drastic solid waste reductions that we require pickup only once a week. School share paper donations – Another way we help paper goods avoid landfills is by repurposing paper at schools across the St. Louis region. ‘Know before you throw’ program ­– To assist our clients in becoming more sustainable, we provide them with scheduled recyclable material pick-ups and waste reduction consultations. As a result of the above efforts, our team has been recognized as some of the world’s foremost experts in sustainable printing. We work with prestigious, forward-thinking cultural organizations such as the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Art Museum, and St. Louis Symphony, as well as large corporate clients including Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Bayer, and Ameren, all of whom are attracted to our reputation for sustainability. And, in addition to our Sustainability Green Partner affiliation, Advertisers Printing is certified by the Rainforest Alliance and the Forest Stewardship Council. We take environmental behavior very seriously: our Sustainability Director holds a Masters in Sustainability from St. Louis University and sits on the Board of SGP. Interested in using the RMGT 9-Series to create a stunning and eco-friendly print project? Or want to talk about how we can help your organization become more sustainable in 2021? Contact us today to speak with one of our print strategists – we can’t wait to hear from you!

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Why The RMGT 9-Series Is the Best Printing Press For Your Next Job

Better, Faster, Stronger, Sharper Printing As you may have heard, we recently unlocked a new level of superior printing for ourselves and our customers by acquiring the 10-color RMGT 9-Series perfecting press. We’ve talked a bit about some of the biggest benefits that come along with using this printing press, and over the course of the next few blogs we’re going to dive deeper into the specifics of these features and what they mean for you! First up, we’re taking a look at the speed and quality attributes of the RMGT press. RMGT 9-Series Speed & Quality Factor #1: One-Pass Full-Color Perfecting How It Works: More than 90% of full-color offset printing is produced two-sided. On most presses, the operators have to print one side of a smaller sheet in one pass, then flip it over and print the other side of the sheet with another pass. With the RMGT-9 series we can print up to five colors on both sides of a larger sheet in just one pass, while including more products on the sheet than we could have before. Why It’s Awesome (in Plain English): It’s no secret that the modern business world demands accuracy, efficiency and “do it now” delivery. We already have a reputation for executing time-sensitive projects right on schedule and helping our clients breathe easy when they’re in a rush. One-pass perfecting allows us to do our job even more efficiently, which means greater scheduling flexibility for you, and yet another reason to trust that you’ll get exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. RMGT 9-Series Speed & Quality Factor #2: LED-Curing How It Works: Our RMGT 9-Series features the latest GEW LeoLED MLA (Modular Lamp Array) curing technology, which means our customers can now enjoy top-tier curing capabilities, flexibility, and gloss levels. Not only does LED-curing dry ink in an instant so that sheets are immediately ready to finish, it enables a process called “dry-trapping” wherein high gloss products see a 10-15% higher gloss level compared to projects that use the traditional “wet-trap” process. Why It’s Awesome (in Plain English): In addition to one-pass perfecting, the RMGT’s insta-dry curing contributes significantly to the acceleration of the delivery process, allowing you to receive your products faster than ever before. LED-curing also unlocks a whole new world of extraordinary possibilities for your products: think three-dimensional textures, captivating coatings, and special synthetic materials (like plastic) that will have your customers saying, “How did they do this?!” and awarding your piece a coveted spot on the front of their refrigerator. In other words, LED-curing means a huge selection of outstanding, attention-grabbing options to pick from when choosing your inks, varnishes/coatings, and substrates. RMGT 9-Series Speed & Quality Factor #3: Process Automation How It Works: The RMGT continues our practice of using automation to make our clients’ lives easier. Automated program inking supplies just the right amount of ink as soon as printing starts, and ink is automatically adjusted to match the approved proof throughout the run. Additionally, the PCS-G printing control system uses pre-press data to automatically supply the right amount of ink for each color, allowing us to achieve “okay” color in as little as 30 sheets. Why It’s Awesome (in Plain English): By automating processes that would be done manually on another machine, we’re able to increase overall efficiency and expedite the quality control process. These automated features essentially serve as a “first line of defense” against potential defects, and reduce the margin of error during every run. By promoting consistent printing quality, the RMGT’s automated features result in pieces with perfect colors from first sheet to last … everything you’ve come to expect from Advertisers Printing. RMGT 9-Series Speed & Quality Factor #4: High-Performance Separator + Vacuum Feeder How It Works: From ultra-thin sheets to thick cardstock, the RMGT’s advanced air management technology ensures that every product is fed with extreme precision, even during ultra high-speed press runs. In addition, the vacuum feeder provides smooth, stable sheet feed into the press, and an integrated brush/runner wheel shortens the time required to change sheet sizes. Why It’s Awesome (in Plain English): Combined, these features ensure that the RMGT is more than a match for even the most difficult stocks and substrates. It has all of the horsepower required to handle heavy materials such as plastic or cardstock, plus precision feeding that can deal with thin, onion-skin substrates like metallic films or transparent plastics without bending or wrinkling. By facilitating these tricky aspects of the quality control process, the RMGT allows us to offer you a wider range of print products (such as banners, display boxes, retail shelf tags, and large window decals) with extreme accuracy. By now, you’ve probably noticed that we know this printing press and its functionality inside and out, and we love talking about it. In fact, when you run into one of us, we probably won’t be able to stop ourselves from sharing more. We are genuinely excited to work with you to dream up some truly unique, never-before-seen print products that set your print marketing game a league above your competitors. Our print experts have spent quite a bit of time studying how this press can help you achieve your communication goals. Now we’re eager to share our knowledge with you as we work together to blaze a trail across the future of print communications! Ready to dream up your next print project? Let’s talk! Contact us today to speak with one of our print strategists about the new heights your company will be able to reach with the RMGT 9-Series.

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Level Up Your Print Projects with the RMGT 9-Series

At Advertisers Printing, we pride ourselves on staying at the forefront of what modern printing can do. We have a history of investing in cutting-edge technology throughout the decades, from acquiring our first multi-color offset press in the 1960s to instituting a digital-based file prep system in the early 1990s. Now we are very excited to usher in a new era of printing excellence with our recent acquisition of the 10-color RMGT 9-Series perfecting press. Hailing all the way from Fukuyama, Japan, this state-of-the-art printing press will allow us to give you a higher quality product, faster, and in a more environmentally sustainable way than ever before. Read on to learn more about why the RMGT 9-Series is a total game-changer, for us and for you. Why Did We Buy the RMGT 9-Series? Let’s address the elephant in the room: investing in this high-tech printing press at this particular point in time probably seems like a peculiar business decision to some. During a year when many companies are cutting costs and pulling back, why did we decide to put our foot on the gas? Commitment to Our Customers – First and foremost, we purchased this press because we are extremely passionate about going above and beyond to provide our customers with superior quality printing solutions. When we find out that there’s a new way to strengthen our capabilities and produce a better quality product, we devise a plan to make it happen. Continuing Our Legacy – Another reason is that we believe investment in this press is what’s best for the longevity of our company, which benefits everyone whose lives we touch – employees, clients, suppliers, shareholders, and our local community. Dedication to Sustainability – The many eco-friendly features of this press continue our long-standing tradition of protecting the environment through sustainable operations. We strive to conduct business and deliver quality work in the most environmentally responsible way we can, each and every day. Why Should Our Customers Be as Excited as We Are? We’re obviously ecstatic over the RMGT 9-Series, but why should you care? It may seem like it will be business as usual for you and your organization … on the contrary! Speed and Quality – The fact that this press is capable of quickly producing a higher quality product means that you will be able to enhance your future print marketing projects during a time when mediocre marketing can be a death sentence. You’ll work hand in hand with our print experts to find the best way for your company to up your print game and stand out from the crowd. And by combining single-pass printing with LED instant-curing technology, this press will expedite the entire printing process so you can go from ideation to execution even faster. Innovative Finishes and Specialty Substrates – The RMGT 9-Series also opens up a whole new host of options for creating extraordinarily unique print projects. We’ll dive deeper into the details of this in a forthcoming blog, but imagine books with incredibly lifelike imagery and dimensional mailers that provide a sensory experience (feel the scales of a lizard!). You’ll also have even more choices for print mediums, such as static window clings, vinyl banners, and other synthetic materials. Green Printing – By choosing Advertisers Printing to print your projects with the RMGT 9-Series, you will be part of our effort to share the magic of print with people in an environmentally conscious way. This press allows us to lower paper spoilage by up to 80% and reduce consumables by a third, plus the LED curing uses only 10% of the energy footprint of a conventional arc lamp UV system. Stay tuned for more details on the green features of this press, and how it’s able to use less energy and produce less waste than the vast majority of printing machines in its class. Best of Both Worlds – Because we remain fully dedicated to offering a hybrid mix of offset and digital print production, it’s important to note that the RMGT doesn’t replace many of our other powerful presses … it complements them! That means you’ll be able to work with us to come up with projects that utilize the best aspects of multiple machines. For a variable data run, we could produce full-color sheets with the RMGT and then run them through our HP 100000 to print the data, making the process much more effective than relying on one press alone. Is your head starting to swirl with ideas and questions about what you’ll be able to do with the RMGT 9-Series? Let’s chat! Contact us today to speak with one of our print marketing experts about what kind of projects we can bring to life to help you win more business and make your competitors jealous.

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Print Quality Control: Our Obsession Is Your Advantage

Advertisers Printing has been a family owned and operated business for 4 generations now, and we have achieved our reputation of excellence through a deliberate blend of tradition and innovation. As those who work with us know, one of our most long-standing and sacred traditions is our unwavering commitment to print quality control. Ever since our company was founded nearly 100 years ago, we have upheld a standard of superior quality across every function of our business. There are a wide range of systems and methods that we use to maintain this standard, including a number of documented Quality Control (QC) processes. Read on to learn how our dedication to Quality Control helps guarantee accuracy and consistency at every phase of print production. Print Quality Control Factor #1: Print Planning Our QC procedures are built on a rock-solid foundation of expertise, as our staff have accrued years of training and hands-on experience working with complex printing projects. Our print planning process starts with a good plan.  Some of our team members have decades of experience in this industry! To ensure our clients get the best possible results and are 100% satisfied, we work closely with them throughout the entire process, from design to done. For most print runs, the first documented step in the QC process is to confirm the technical details of the project and check that the client’s artwork is correctly prepared for printing. Print Quality Control Factor #2: Print Preflight Pre-production planning, print preflight, color correcting, and flagging possible manufacturing issues are all crucial elements of the prepress process that lay the groundwork for a finished product that looks exactly as it should. On the client’s end, passing the preflight checks to verify file compatibility, resolution, and readability can seem complicated, especially for those who aren’t familiar with design terminology. That’s why we created a set of straightforward guidelines that walk you through the necessary file prep components, including font usage, color consistency, and file compression. Once those steps have been completed, clients send us the files using our File Bridge upload solution, which combines standard file transfer with built-in automation to move the job through production as quickly as possible. We firmly believe that time is everyone’s most precious commodity, and one of the best ways we can serve our clients is to respect their time. Print Quality Control Factor #3: Color Consistency Even today, many companies struggle with color consistency and matching the correct tones between the proof that has been OK’d by the client and the actual press sheet. So how do you make sure your printed pieces look as stunning hot off the press as they do on your computer? By working with a highly experienced and reliable printing partner such as Advertisers Printing! Not only were we one of the first printing companies in the world to embrace color management, but we were actually a beta testing site for the G7 process and have a certified G7 professional on staff. We’re also experts when it comes creating color curves specifically for the press and paper your job requires. Because we take our craft seriously and “sweat the small stuff,” our color matching and color consistency are second to none. Print Quality Control Factor #4: Print Proofing The next step of our QC process is to create a proof that gives our clients a precise idea of what the finished product will look like. First, a digital proof is generated in order to verify that the layout, text, and alignment are all correct. Then an Epson proof (hardcopy proof) is printed using a color curve that has been created to match the press that the job will be printed on. For very intricate jobs, we will also print a short run “press” proof using all of the materials that will be involved in the finished product.   Clients use Proof Connect, our online proofing system, to review, annotate, and approve projects whenever and wherever is most convenient for them. Users in different locations can even login simultaneously to view and critique their proofs. In addition to drastically reducing the time between initial print proofing and final approval, Proof Connect provides a digital paper trail that ultimately saves energy, materials, and cost. That digital trail also helps keep everyone on our team accountable for their unique role in the printing process. Print Quality Control Factor #5: Printing As a final precaution just before starting the run, the client can come in for a “press check” in which they confirm that the colors being printed are as close as possible to the latest color proof they examined. While this is far past the proofreading stage, it also gives the client a final chance to catch an error they may have previously missed. Once the press operator has prepared the machinery and has been given the green light by their supervisor, the run begins. Prints are regularly monitored throughout the run, and we remove any that do not meet the expected quality and fix any discrepancies that may appear. Because relying on visual evaluation of color isn’t enough, we use a tool called a scanning spectrophotometer to measure the “DNA” of color with extreme precision. The spectrophotometer reads the color patches on the color bar (typically printed in the trim area of a press sheet) and uses that as a reference to identify color drift issues long before the human eye can. Because even the most gorgeous print products can be ruined by poor finishing, we also conduct a post-press check to ensure that any finishing (trimming, embossing, foiling, die-cutting, folding, bindery, etc.) is of the highest quality. Print Quality Control Factor #6: Record Keeping We maintain a backup file room with records of every job we run, dating seven years back. These contain notes that the press operator made during a run, such as ink level adjustments and color matching comments, as well as useful samples from past jobs. Record keeping is yet another

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