PRODUCTION LIMITATIONS
It is important to inform companies that our unique service is provided with huge technical challenges.
To print individualised magazines are an enormous task.
A magazine`s pages are individually designed and then positioned in software to ensure that the pages will print and bind in the correct sequence.
Graphic designers do the artwork for each page. A magazine of 120 pages may have 2 graphic designers working on it. (Each designer might for example be responsible for 60 pages)
At the end of the process, the artwork of 120 pages are positioned into the software and 30 000 plus copies are printed of the original 120 designed pages.
The CSE project is unique. We design one page to be printed once! A client receives one magazine. We therefore have to design 4 individual pages to be printed on the cover of one magazine for one special client.
If CSE print 20 000 magazines, we have to design 80 000 individual pages. We developed specialized software to make such features possible. It will be possible to print 60 000 magazines with the software available, in other words 240 000 individual designs
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Motor client’s magazines
It is worth explaining some of the technical challenges regarding the designs. The software is designed to support motor sales executives (as this brings in funding to maintain the infrastructure needed to support fundraising).
There are numerous focus points on the four individual pages per magazine. (Cover page, inside front page, inside back page and the back cover page)
We don’t want to involve you with all the technical detail, but if we give you an overall view, you will have a better understanding why services can’t be offered to unlimited companies.
For example, there are literally hundreds of vehicle models. The content (press release detail) of the vehicles will be valid for short periods, because of new models introduced regularly. We have to include pictures (that the manufacturer supplies) with the editorial detail about the vehicle. We also have to print a write-up about the Sales Executive based on four personality types. (All on one page)
The write-up about the sales executive also needs to be updated on a monthly basis. For example, if we write about the sales executive’s little daughter Amy, who is 9 months old, we need to update it in the following month’s magazine that Amy is 10 months old!
We are gearing up to support +1 400 motor sales executives nationally selling all the major vehicle brands. We therefore need to manage 5 600 editorials about the Sales Executives. Those editorials must be linked to hundreds of vehicle models that are available.
Magazines distributed into companies surrounding the fuel station
To implement such a support plan for the fuel stations is also a complicated task. We needed to upgrade the software so that we can help fuel station partners increase sales. We explain the upgrade per page:
Cover page
The software was originally developed to support individualized photos with content pertaining to the industry. At a later stage, we developed a function where we can print a corporate picture of a motor vehicle if the client wasn’t photographed.
The latest upgrade is to use the original magazine lay-out (exactly the one that is distributed by the magazine companies into outlets nationally) and to add a heading printed on the cover where we inform the readers that the company they are visiting supports bedridden patients.
Example: DNL Charted Accountants supports bedridden patients.
Inside left page
The software was designed so companies can print personalized letters to their clients, thanking them for their business.
We initially tried to print all the content about the partnership with the fuel station on the inside back page. The problem is that there is too much information that we need to convey to the readers. We cannot do that in a professional manner if all the content is on one page.
We needed to change the Inside left page of the software to spread the message into two pages printed in the personalized magazines.
The front page section needs to support an “editorial” page where we talk to the reader on behalf of the Homecare Foundation.
The editorial has a number of challenges we needed to address. The following explains:
We need to inform the reader that the personnel working at the company are involved to help bedridden patients. Remember, we need to sell the people/individuals as human beings with a kind heart.
In this example, we designed an editorial for a magazine to be delivered to DNL Charted Accountants.
The editorial starts with “The Home Care Foundation is proud to be affiliated with DNL Charted Accountants. It is people like Bernard Smith, George Gavender and Samantha Strauss that make the Foundation’s task so much easier to fulfil.”
The editorial also explains the services of the Homecare Foundation and we mention the partnership with the fuel station in the company’s area.
We also needed to develop the software in such a manner that the business that receives the magazine will have options to choose graphic lay-outs on which the editorials can be printed.
There will be numerous lay-outs and the business owners can choose a lay-out they prefer for a specific month.
This makes the changes into the front-page section really complicated. We need to print one magazine for the specific business, and we also need to be able to print all the business owner’s names in the editorial.
You will note that we do our planning into the finest detail. The fundraisers need to be able to negotiate monthly donations from the companies they visit. They will ask for example DNL Charted Accountants to become part of the project. They will ask for a monthly donation of at least R250.
We will list DNL Charted Accountants on our business directory. DNL Charted Accountants may use the Homecare logos on their Facebook pages to inform their clients that they are proud sponsors of the Foundation. We will print one magazine for their reception and we mention the owners by name in the editorial. The objective is to make it personal. A client that has a meeting with for example Samantha Strauss will be able to read the editorial before their meeting.
The business owners of companies will also compete in competitions to win holidays. For every R10 they donate, they receive an entry. We want the fundraisers to be able to negotiate that each partner at the company donates. The minimum donation we ask for is R250. Larger accounting firms may donate up to R1 000 per month.
The software changes were challenging. We might list thousands of individuals on the database to print the editorials per company. We believe it could be possible to supply up to 15 000 companies nationally with personalized magazines. It could be detail of 45 000 individuals that needs to be printed correctly.
Inside back page
Our initial software only catered for a static advertisement of the company who ordered magazines for their clients.
This part of the software later received upgrades to print editorials about the vehicles purchased, and include an editorial about the sales executive. This was a huge upgrade. There are hundreds of different vehicle models and the editorials about the sales staff on its own is challenging to manage.
We talk about a sales executive’s children and how old they are. We mention their children by name and if little Samantha is for example 7 months old, we need to change her age until she is 2 years old on a monthly basis.
It is important to inform the vehicle buyers about the family of the sales executive. It makes it much easier to convince them to recommend the sales executive if the buyer reads about his family.
The software also needed to print full page editorials about estate agents. This was also an additional upgrade to help them with “word of mouth” marketing.
Latest change:
We needed to find a way to advertise the fuel station in it’s local area, and also to create media exposure for the Accommodation companies that we negotiate holiday prizes with.
We decided to use individualized print to advertise the accommodation companies as well. We might for example offer 8 holiday destinations per competition. The software then needs to give all 8 accommodation companies media exposure. The software will spread the coverage across the country. It actually means that the specific lodge will be available (if we print 15 000 magazines) in 1 875 businesses across the country.
The software also needs to print an advertisement of a fuel station only in magazines of companies surrounding the fuel station. It doesn’t really help to advertise the fuel station’s services to people that are 20km away from them.
The fuel station owners need the ability to offer special deals etc. to draw more clients. We use Google map technology to calculate which business is the closest to which fuel station.
The initial software structure only printed “Full page” ads/letters. We were suddenly forced to support half page structures so that we can provide marketing exposure to the accommodation companies and to the partner stations. This was a really tricky part to develop in our structure. It took up lots of our development time to change the software for this important print.
The software needed to print the inside back page is now extremely complex.
Back cover page
The original code only supported a static advertisement of the company that ordered the magazine.
We changed the software to print an advertisement on behalf of the Homecare Foundation. It would have been a small change if we only printed a static ad for all the magazines nationally.
The Homecare Foundation offers marketing support to estate agents who also work in smaller areas. The partnership with estate agents is beneficial to the Foundation and towards the fuel station owners. (These people spend large amounts on fuel for their work)
Our task is to help estate agents to secure “sole mandates”. This helps them to dominate the market and beat their opposition.
The back-page software must be able to print sole mandate pictures of properties in the area and we also need to print photos of the estate agent who markets the property. This is also a complex task but we can help our estate agent partners to become market leaders in their areas.
Challenges of printing the back cover page ad: The Homecare Foundation will receive perhaps 15 sole mandate properties to advertise for one property branch. The branch may have 30 companies that receive personalized magazines in its marketing area. The companies could order 65 magazines in total, and the 65 magazines is a combination made up of 22 different magazine titles.
The 15 sole mandate properties are marketed between 7 estate agents. If you open the back-page ad you will view a picture of one property, with relevant detail such as price, area etc. You will also see that an agent (with his photo) needs to be contacted to arrange viewing.
The CSE software will have to plan that the 15 sole mandate properties are advertised into all the partnering companies’ magazines, and that it is spread amongst all the magazine titles.
To print 4 individualised pages into one magazine and ensure everything is related is a HUGE HUGE challenge….
Production challenges
CSE Services prepare to print up to 20 000 individualised magazines within a 5 day window period! We can go up to 50 000 magazines, depending on the support structure we have.
It is one thing to prepare the artwork for the covers; it is another to actually print the cover page and to put it onto a magazine!
It is laboured intense. Software makes most of the work possible. You must understand that each magazine we produce also need hand labour.
To print a normal magazine, the printers include in their setup planning what they refer to as waste. They will for example print 1000 copies more than ordered. The printers need to get the colour balancing of their printing machines in order, before they start to print the content on paper on a large scale. They must also align the binding machines so that the covers line up perfectly with the content pages inside the magazines. Now they can start with the binding process.
Strategic business partners
CSE use two strategic partners for the project
C2 Digital Printers
CSE supply C2 Digital Printers with all the artwork of the individualized magazines. C2 Digital Printers print one cover that must be glued and bounded onto one magazine. The magazine thereafter needs to be trimmed.
It is specialized labour intense work and one binding machine with an operator is only able to produce + 350 magazines per day.
C2 Digital Printers use different binding companies in the Western Cape for the project. It will be pushing all the companies to their production limits when we need to print and bind 50 000 individualized magazines in one week.
Bernard Hendricks and his team at C2 Digital Printers are truly special people with a passion to help the patients. They are tasked with the most challenging part of the project.
C2 Digital Printers also offers 2.5% on quotations that they receive via the Homecare infrastructure to the Homecare Foundation. Management of CSE has been working with the printing industry (other projects) since 2006. Although most of the printing companies offer excellent services, it is not often that you meet a team as dedicated as the people working at C2 Digital printers.
We can without any doubt recommend the company. We will also appreciate it if companies might need business cards, flyers or any other print related work, to ask for none obligated quotation. Please send a mail to C2 Digital via the link. C2 Digital Printers will deliver nationally.
The Homecare Foundation will appreciate the additional income. Remember, that every little amount we can raise will help us in future. We work hard to earn as little as R10 per action.
The motor industry and the property industry’s magazines will in future be produced on a daily basis, except during one week’s printing schedules that are earmarked to support the fuel station partners. The magazines to be delivered to businesses surrounding the fuel stations needs to be completed within a week, to ensure that Courier IT deliver the magazines to the companies on the same day the magazines become available in outlets for the public to purchase.
The production process will reach its critical mass during 2016. The motor and property companies’ magazines will be put on hold during the week that we produce magazines for fuel station partners.
Courier IT
There is also a huge infrastructure needed to ensure that the individualized magazines reach their destinations. (One magazine to one client) Our service will not be possible if we can’t rely on Courier IT to deliver the magazines at their destinations.
We would like to use this opportunity to thank Giovanni Contaldi and the team at Courier IT for their support. Without their help the entire project would have been impossible to do.
Conclusion
CSE developed the software to make the impossible possible, but even with the software we will have to plan very well to be able to support a limited number of companies to increase business.