Offset Printing

Frankfurt Book Fair – PrintCity Alliance Offers Value Added Printing Innovation

Wednesday 30. September 2009 - PrintCity Alliance members Leonhard Kurz, M-real, manroland, Sappi, UPM and Weilburger Graphics are presenting Value Added Printing innovation under the PrintCity umbrella project PRINTplusX at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14th - 18th, 2009.

Located in the new Book Fair Wei?raum (White Space) area dedicated to book innovation, PrintCity members will be sharing with publishers the qualitative & quantitative research data and samples flowing from their unique project, PRINTplusX – The Secrets of Value Added.

Business innovation experts from these PrintCity companies will discuss with book publishers the expanding opportunities for Value Added Printing to differentiate their products, gain improved consumer recognition and hence increased sales.

All areas of book publishing can benefit from Value Added Printing techniques:

• Book covers – paperback or hardback
• Inserts and book text pages – selected for reader impact
• Point of Sale (POS) Displays – bookstore, kiosk or at book launch

Some Value Added Printing (VAP) techniques like spot varnish, soft touch materials and hot-foil stamping are already seen, but other VAP opportunities are not yet used worldwide.

VAP can differentiate and sell, create a multi-sense reader impression (visual, haptic, aroma) & improve the reading experience. Recent research suggests that:

• Value Added Printing helps consumer recognition in a highly competitive publishing market
• Quality perceived by customers at the Point of Sale (POS) is vital in impulsive/emotional buying decisions which may take fractions of a second
• Customer product loyalty (e.g. to a book publishing house) can increase if a brand can be experienced with several senses, rather than just with one