Visual Marketing in retail with modern printing technology

Interview with Michael Krieger, Chief Executive Officer of PPS Imaging, Hamburg

PPS Imaging produces and installs trade show -, museum- and exhibit graphics onto a large variety of materials and with its six locations nationwide by now is one of the biggest imaging service providers in Germany. In shop fitting, large-sized images inside and outside are more and more important. PPS CEO Michael Krieger emphasizes how important a coherent Corporate Design is to image communication. He expects the increasingly green conscience in retail to also have an impact on print jobs.

What was your largest sized print job thus far?

A mesh-banner production as well as the structural analysis including assembly, sized 25 x 10.5 meters at Tropical Islands.

Do you see a color trend in retail in your jobs?
Particularly during this colder season, cooler tones and color combinations are now a trend. Overall though, the coloring is seasonal. In autumn/winter the cooler color combinations are preferred and in the summer the warmer colors have priority.

Large scale photos appear to be “in“ right now on storefronts and in shop fitting. How have printing costs developed?

On the whole, this industry sector moves very fast. Each year new printing machines enter the market, with the pressure to invest being overall very high, which has resulted in a strong consolidation in this industry sector. But we also noticed that the customer wants more and more service and project management. The printed image is always the basis for this. These days, service all about the image is gaining more and more importance.

Which motifs are currently in demand?

At the moment motifs closely related to nature are featured. But on the whole you cannot over-simplify this, since of course it depends very strongly on the customer’s industry.

What does a coherent image concept in the store look like?

There is no one-fits-all concept for this; this mostly depends on the customer product and the conditions of the store environment. Overall a good image communication needs to be adapted to the CI as well as the CD of the customer. Image communication needs to genuinely fit the brand and the customer.

What do local politicians and consumers think about the fact that company logos in ever larger-sized formats can be put on the face of buildings?

There are several regimentations, like for instance in Berlin. Other towns on the other hand have a more down-to-earth approach on the subject. However, we expect more stringent regimentations in the future.

Floor stickers can show the way and attract interest.
Which sizes are possible?

Basically, there are also no limits here. The floors in both of our conference rooms in our Berlin office are actually completely covered with stickers and this keeps being very well received with our customers. Naturally, this graphics area is not a permanent alternative to a solid floor cover. If you choose to laminate something though, a sensible floor cover is a prerequisite.

Cloth, aluminum areas, and foils – almost anything today can be imprinted. Yet colors already appear very different on different papers. How is the Corporate Design best protected?

The question about a consistent CD is not a question of different base materials. Here it is also important to initially have a clean CD strategy and to then adjust it to the appropriate impressions that come about due to the different base materials. To ensure color precision on the selected production machine, certain color profiles need to be pre-installed at the print service provider of course. Generally, a good print service provider always finds a way to adjust the image to the CD.

“Green“ is becoming more and more important for retail. Do you also see this development in print jobs? Is there a “green“ printing technology and what does the disposal look like?

At PPS we are currently in the process of setting up our entire company to be CO₂-neutral. This starts by using green electricity all the way to implementing Latex technologies with eco-friendly and certified ink and base materials. In the future, this area will become more and more important for the printing industry. Here we expect an increase in rethinking in customers toward environmental print products.

What new product will you present to visitors of the EuroShop trade fair?
At the Euroshop 2011, we will show eco-friendly and odorless latex products for one, but also innovations like the acoustic image, which significantly absorbs ambient noises.

Interview: René Schellbach, EuroShop.de