Nowadays there are so many ways to market your business, but it can be difficult to get your message across amongst all the noise. Sometimes, it can be really helpful to actually get your brand into the hands of your customers, and personalised marketing materials allow you to do so with ease.
A great example of this is a recent project the AB Print team completed for the Harrogate branch of Zero Dry Time, the UK’s premier dry carpet, upholstery and hard floor cleaners. Their local specialist, Phil Harrison, was looking for the perfect corporate gift to play a part in a recent merchandise campaign and contacted us to see if we could help. Naturally, we were happy to and soon settled on a range of bespoke water bottles for a great blend of functionality and visual appeal.
The bottles are clad in an eye-catching white and green colour scheme, complete with the Zero Dry Time logo in vivid blue. The pop-up cap, secure screw lid and sturdy body make these handy bottles perfect for any situation and ensure that Phil’s clients will be able to stay hydrated with (you guessed it) zero dry time!
Phil was delighted with the end product and gave us some fantastic feedback:
“I can highly recommend Jon Handley of AB Print Group Ltd.
Jon recently organised me some Zero Dry Time water bottles for a marketing campaign I have done with Lettings Agents and to help a local football team.
Jon did everything to make the purchase hassle free. Once he had the logo and style I wanted he just simply made it happen… It was a totally hassle-free process. The product is excellent value for money and the bottles have certainly been kept on the Lettings Agents desks as I have already had calls from agents saying they use the bottles to re-hydrate after their Christmas parties!!
I would, and have recommended Jon to friends, family and associates as he is excellent at getting the job done with no hassle and the product quality is excellent too. He has saved me a lot of time and I now have a great leave behind for customers.”
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for an upcoming campaign or already have something specific in mind, AB Print are here to help. Our impressive range of litho, digital, screen and specialist printing equipment allows us to offer a wide variety of quality printing services to suit any campaign or occasion. What’s more, we do all our work under one roof, guaranteeing you a great price and a quick turnaround. To find out more, contact us today.
Appearances count for a lot where offices are concerned – a smart-looking building can be a great help in attracting new customers and creating a professional environment for staff. This is demonstrated perfectly by one of our latest projects, which saw us producing and installing a range of interior and exterior signage for First Choice Recruitment at their Silver Street office in Wakefield.
The office is located in a busy area of Wakefield, so it was important to produce signage that would catch the eye without appearing too garish. We began by measuring up for the building’s internal and external signage, before getting to work on designing and laying out the signage in accordance with the specifications given to us by the client.
Once the designs had been finalised, we produced and installed a series of exterior signs using Alupanel, a dual-sided aluminium composite panel ideal for printing and outdoor usage, and did likewise with the interior vinyl signage. As an added touch, we also produced a number of window vinyls displaying the company name and logo. Overall, the designs produced blend in very well with the building’s exterior and give the office a smart, understated look. Take a look below and see if you agree!
With offices in Wakefield, Leeds and Halifax, First Choice Recruitment are one of Yorkshire’s leading independent recruitment agencies. We’re always proud to work alongside a fellow local business and are happy that the signage we produced is a great reflection of First Choice’s commitment to high standards as well as our own.
AB Print offer a range of litho printing, digital printing, screen printing and print finishing services all from under one roof. To find out more, get in touch today.
In the run-up to Christmas, we have had a busy few months here at AB Print! As well as printing a variety of Christmas cards, calendars and event materials for businesses across Yorkshire, we also worked with Bill Plant Driving School to help them create new marketing materials and merchandise.
We have been lucky enough to work with Bill Plant Driving School for over 10 years. As a leading driving school, they provide millions of hours of driving tuition every year throughout the UK and recently won ‘National Driving School of the Year 2019’.
In our latest collaboration, we printed Bill Plant Driving School Gift Vouchers for people to purchase for their loved ones this Christmas.
We also produced new pupil handbooks, driving instructor training brochures, learn to drive leaflets and car vinyl window stickers for driving instructors to use on their vehicles. Finally, we produced and printed eco-friendly reusable Bill Plant Driving School branded travel mugs for their Driving Instructors across the UK. Alongside being a fun and unique way of their Instructors celebrating the National Driving School of the Year victory it allows the Instructors to improve their sustainability efforts on their coffee runs in between driving lessons and tests.
Alongside these, we created an exhibition stand using our large format digital printing systems for the ADINJC & Intelligent Instructor National Conference & Expo. This is a great show giving businesses a chance to showcase their products and services to educate and leave visitors feeling passionate about being a driving instructor.
Bill Plant Driving School were very pleased with the work we produced, and it was rewarding to receive such positive feedback:
“We continue to be delighted with the personal service received by AB Print. Working together with AB Print we continue to push the boundaries across our print literature and experiential marketing to delight our different customer groups.”
Chris Bishop, Consultant for Bill Plant Driving School
To find out more about working with our team to create print and promotional marketing materials, contact us today.
One of the many quality services offered by AB Print, personalised stationery is a great way of providing a personal touch and making a great first impression. AB Print were recently tasked with producing a collection of bespoke stationery for Wetherby High School in West Yorkshire. This stationery will be presented to prospective students visiting the school for an open evening, or to new starters on induction evenings. Each collection features a number of useful and eye-catching items, including:
All of the stationery in this collection features a smart monochrome rendition of the Wetherby High School logo – take a look below:
This project follows the successful supply of a range of personalised Wetherby High School leavers hoodies for departing Year 11 and Sixth Form students, and so the AB Print team have now had the pleasure of supplying items for both leavers and new arrivals! We wish everyone at the school the very best and are proud to have played a small part in its continued success.
AB Print offer digital, litho and screen printing services, alongside a comprehensive range of standard and specialist finishing options – all from under one roof. Our top-range equipment and versatile, expert team allow us to cater to your exact requirements, so whether you’re preparing for a one-off event or a sustained campaign, we’re here to help. To find out more, feel free to get in touch today.
The spooky season is very nearly upon us! For businesses, Halloween brings more than just trick or treaters, it brings a great opportunity to connect with your clients with some innovative and fun print marketing solutions.
At AB Print, we offer a number of print services that are perfect for 31st October, and with our quick turnaround times, it’s not too late to do these now! Here are just a few of our spook-tacular ideas to provide you with inspiration:
Glow in the dark
Why not take a look at what we can do with our glow-in-the-dark inks – perfect for illuminating eye-catching Halloween cards or postcards. Alternatively, if you are hosting a Halloween event at a bar or nightclub, using glow-in-the-dark ink on your promotional materials or wristbands will add a special touch.
Trick Or Treat
Add a ‘Trick or Treat’ twist to standard scratch cards and offer your clients Halloween promotions, discounts and incentives.
Halloween Networking
Thought about hosting a Halloween-themed networking event? This would be a great opportunity to create an event with a twist, adding a little more fun for clients and prospects than the more traditional networking experience. For this event, you can print branded decorations, place cards and invitations with a spooky but memorable finish.
Mysterious Menus
Why not create Halloween-themed menus for your restaurant? This is a great way to attract customers and promote your restaurant by making the most of a popular day. If you’re feeling extra creative, why not use scratch-and-sniff printing to reveal some tasty scents?
Whatever your business, Halloween is a fantastic opportunity to try something different and keep your customers engaged. If you have a print idea, speak to our team today to find out more about how we can help.
There are two vital parts to any print job. You must consider the quality of the paper and the print hand in hand for the best results. You may have invested time and money into the perfect poster, brochure or business card design, but printing these on the wrong size or weight of paper can ruin their effectiveness.
At AB Print we are always on hand to advise you on the most suitable paper for your task, so we’ve put together this easy guide to paper sizes and types for those of you who want to know more!
In the past, paper sizing conventions used to vary a lot depending on which country you were in. Nowadays, the ISO 216 A and B series have become the international standard. The A series is the one most commonly used and includes A4, which is used all over the world for ‘business’ printing. The formats run in decreasing size from size A0 to A10 and the area halves with each sheet.
The weight of paper can make a huge difference to the quality. Paper is measured in grams per square metre (gsm). Generally speaking, the thicker the paper, the more durable it is as thin paper is likely to tear more easily. It’s also worth considering that printing double-sided flyers on thin paper may mean any bright and bold patterns may be seen through the other side. Flyers and leaflets tend to work best printed on paper around 130-170gsm, heavier than your traditional office paper. Covers for brochures work best at a weight of 200-250gsm, and business cards typically start at 300gsm.
Coating your paper with different finishes is a great way of making your print marketing stand out. If your design contains few words and focuses on eye-catching visuals, we recommend a glossy finish. If you have more text that needs to be easily readable we recommend a matt finish.
For more advice on the best paper for your next print assignment give us a call on 01924 473481 or contact us.
As the ‘zero waste’ movement gains popularity, it seems we are becoming more aware of the effect we are having on the world around us. Every year in the UK we use 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard. Strong ethical values surround everything that we do at AB Print, which is why we have been committed to reducing the environmental impact of printing for over a decade. We are constantly adapting and improving our procedures as we believe we have a responsibility to do all we can to protect our planet.
Here we explain some of the ways we’ve been making our printing more eco-friendly!
By installing our very own wind turbine on site, we have harnessed the power of wind to generate electricity. We’re proud to say that using this renewable energy source dramatically reduces our carbon footprint by offsetting our own energy use.
Recycling one tonne of paper saves an amazing 17 trees, 682 gallons of oil and 26,500 litres of water. Therefore we thought paper would be a good starting point. We have always used FSC Certified paper. This certification is given to paper and wood products that have been produced in an environmentally friendly way, from either well-managed wood or recycled materials. We give back by making sure that we recycle every single piece of waste paper that we can.
The use of Isopropyl alcohol used in traditional printing methods has been known to release toxic and volatile substances into the air. By investing in new technology and moving entirely to alcohol-free inks we have completely reduced our air pollution. But don’t worry, being environmentally conscious doesn’t mean we compromise on quality.
Raising our team’s awareness has been key in our efforts to reduce waste. We encourage our staff to implement innovative and practical energy-saving ideas and we also ensure that we work with suppliers with the same strong ethics as our own.
If you would like to learn more about our environmental efforts, you’d like to talk to us about our products or you have suggestions on how we can go more green, please feel free to email us at enquiries@abprintgroup.com and we will be happy to help. Alternatively, you can call us on 01924 473481.
In addition to the traditional methods of printing used to produce products such as brochures, magazines, leaflets and flyers, there are a variety of other specialist print services available to businesses, which our team are particularly known for.
One that we are going to cover in this piece is Heat Sensitive Printing, and some of the options you have when it comes to using it.
Heat sensitive printed materials are developed using thermochromic inks that at high opacity, can hide whatever is printed on the layer below. When a warm temperature is applied to the dye, it becomes translucent therefore revealing whatever is hidden underneath.
Options available when it comes to using heat sensitive printing can include:
An advantage of using thermochromic inks in print is that it can be repeatedly applied to a huge load. This means that versions of the same product can all have heat sensitive properties applied. Introducing it as a method of finding the winner to a competition you are running is an innovative way of using thermosensitive print.
Applying thermal properties to flyers and posters is a creative way of making your company or services stand out. Especially if used in an imaginative way that ties in with your service. For example, a travel agent may use it on a series of postcards where when heat is applied, the hottest three locations this summer are revealed!
Often at networking events, business cards are handed out left right and centre but many of them are no different to the next. At your next event, why not think outside the box and introduce a specialist print method such as thermosensitive printing to help increase the saliency of your business.
Here is an example of where AB Print has used cold and reveal inks for a client in the past:
Here’s a short clip of some cold and reveal inks we recently made for a client!
Visit our website to learn more about our specialist print services:https://t.co/k6TWS0FrNz pic.twitter.com/CLcNnGZihS
— AB Print Group Ltd (@ABPrintGroup) March 11, 2019
If you would like to learn more about this service or any other of our specialist print services, send your enquiries over to enquiries@abprintgroup.com and we will be happy to help. Alternatively, you can call us on 01924 473481.
Branded stationery can come in the form of more than just pencils and pens.
From quirky paperweights to professional business cards, they have their uses inside and outside of the office. Through our decades of providing lithographic, digital and screen-printing services for clients throughout Wakefield and West Yorkshire, AB Print have provided some handy uses of branded stationery for businesses.
Got an important exhibition, conference or event coming up? Branded stationery are great freebies to hand to your prospective clients and visitors who may be passing your stalls. Opportunities to use specialist print materials such as glow in the dark business cards or scratch and sniff flyers could also help you stand out amongst other exhibitors.
Working together with other local businesses in Yorkshire provides an invaluable opportunity to publicise your partnership through commercial materials such as a leaflet holder or desk tidy. Merchandise such as mouse mats and mugs are great for placing your company name alongside a sister company, charity, or subsidiary. Again, these can be handed out at exhibitions or maybe you could just save them for your favourite clients.
Offices are usually littered with stationery and random merchandise. Business card holders, biscuit tins, laptop bags and more. Commercial printing offers so many options that can bring personality and vibrancy to these products.
Perhaps you are a start-up business and want an embossed logo on your leather laptop cases to add professionalism. Or you are well established and want to bring organisation to your notepads through company branding.
Whether promoting an event, spreading a public partnership, or giving your workplace a voice, branded stationery can be a subtle way of achieving this.
As mentioned, AB provides various types of printing to clients throughout Yorkshire. To stay up to date with us, you can follow us on Twitter. Alternatively, for any enquiries, make sure you get them in soon before the Christmas and New Year rush. Call 01924 473481 or drop us an email at: enquiries@abprintgroup.com.
It’s always an honour to be given the chance to work with some of Wakefield and West Yorkshire’s major amenities, helping them gain exposure through print.
On October 17th, one of Wakefield’s most iconic landmarks celebrated 35 years of trade; in 1983 the Ridings Centre officially opened. To help celebrate this historic achievement, AB Print were called upon to help design some print materials to showcase in their interactive exhibition.
Titled, “The Ridings at 35: Past, Present & Future”, the display featured the original miniature model of the Ridings Centre.
We helped produce the material for the printed displays included in the exhibition, which featured some significant and nostalgic moments of the Ridings Centre’s history. It can be found on the upper floor of the shopping centre and will still be available until the 27th of October, so make sure to head down as soon as possible before it ends.
As previously mentioned, we took great joy in working with Wakefield’s Ridings Centre towards its 35th anniversary. It also gave us the chance to demonstrate our expertise when it comes to designing exhibitions for local clients in Wakefield.
Our services aren’t limited to events and exhibitions, however, as our highly experienced team can complete print projects for a variety of purposes and products.
If you would like to get in contact with AB Print, contact the team today.
To find out more, please call, email or send our enquiry form. We look forward to speaking with you.
