Prepress
FORWARD PUBLISHING AWARDS ZEBRA FAST-TURNAROUND, COLOUR CRITICAL REPRO WORK
Monday 07. April 2008 - Award winning prepress specialist, Zebra, has been awarded an array of direct mail, point-of-sale and promotional work from Forward Publishing for its client Tesco.
London-based Zebra was selected due to its proven ability to turnaround jobs at speed, make last minute changes and expertise in delivering outstanding colour management even with the most demanding substrates.
Zebra currently provides prepress services for six Tesco Baby & Toddler Club magazines, as well as its Tesco Food Club and Healthy Living titles on behalf of Forward Publishing. However, the additional contract win from the WPP-owned contract publisher will see Zebra undertake prepress services for a range of promotional materials in support of the supermarkets baby, lifestyle and health titles including leaflets, flyers, direct mail, coupons and in-store literature.
Forward Publishing production director, Peter Davies, says: “The work is demanding as it needs high quality prepress work to be turned around very quickly. These magazines use the same photographers as other high-end glossy magazines and need the same attention to detail when it comes to retouching. The nature of working with a huge retailer means that there are always offers, promotions and last minute changes to products, which you have to react to instantly. We have also needed Zebras counsel in terms of colour management as Tesco has specified that a lot of its promotional materials be produced on recycled paper. Zebra is a real partner and is always there to provide us with expertise that adds value, rather than just simply doing the job.”
Forward Publishing uses a Zebra-hosted online archive system to store and manage the digital files that are used for the Tesco materials, allowing it to instantly retrieve images that need to be reused. In March, the publisher also launched the Tesco Pharmacy Online, as part of the Healthy Living Club Online.
Daniel Simpson, sales director at Zebra says: “To deliver high quality colour to very tight turnaround times is a challenge, which is why Zebra has a dedicated account manager to oversee things. Increasingly, large brands, such as Tesco, stipulate that jobs are produced on recycled paper, which isnt as bright as virgin stocks and presents another set of issues. It means that we have to be exacting with our colour profiles to ensure that the proofs accurately reflect how the recycled sheet will look when printed.”
Zebra has worked with Forward Publishing since 2004 and supplies prepress services for a range of its clients including B&Q, Bang & Olufsen, Barclays, Standard Life and Transport for London.