Related to the main topic of this issue, special effects in print, we visited the Prime Rate printing house in Budapest, the largest digital printing house in the region. Apart from the fascinating technology, this printing house can also be proud of its revenues, which last year exceeded €36 million.
„Prime Rate was founded in 1994 but with printing business we have started in 1997. Today we have 235 employees and 2 working plants. The main plant is located in Budapest. This plant consists of a digital printing house and an administrative building with sales, marketing, finance and logistics departments. The second plant is located in Godollo, the town 25km away from Budapest. That plant was opened in 2017 and there is our offset printing house located. The third place where we operate, but we do not consider it a plant, is our logistics and storage area. We pack our products there, import them if necessary and send them on,” commented Dr. Péter Tomcsányi, owner and founder of the Prime Rate printing house.
“We can divide our production into 4 main product groups. The first are books. Second are manuals in small editions. Actually both of this categories we mainly print in series up to 2000 pieces. Of course, sometimes it can be more, but we generally produce small and medium editions. The third main group of our products are transaction accounts. The last and the main category of products is the marketing program which we produce in small, medium and large editions, with special effects.”
As for the markets in which they operate, there are 5 main markets. Primarily, it is the Hungarian market. Apart from it, Prime Rate is alslo a large exporter. They export mostly to German-speaking countries, i.e. Austria, Germany and little less in Switzerland. Beside from German-speaking countries, they also work a lot for France market. Last year their revenues exceeded € 48 million, and they are also proud of the fact that since they started their business, they have been growing in terms of revenue every year. Besides, last year, the year of the corona virus was for them the best year ever. But, they believe that a liitle bit of luck also means a lot, in the sense that it is rare to find a printing house on the market with such a large product portfolio. For example, during pandemic in the marketing program production group demand fell completely, but in the user manual production group, for TVs and similar appliances, with the corona crisis, demand for such products increased sharply.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING IN THE PRINTING HOUSE DEVELOPMENT
“In our company especially emphasizes our marketing department. It has 9 people who work on creative strategies for other brands. They work in a way that brand owners convey their difficulties and problems to them, and then they prepare several creative solutions for them, from which customers can choose the one that suits them best. If they don’t like any of the offered solutions, they can go to another company to look for another solution without any obligation to pay. With such a concept, it is positive that the client does not feel compelled to choose our solution and it is often the item that attracts clients. At the end more than 50% of clients choose our solution. In addition, most of our people working in marketing and sales speak languages of the countries in which we operate excellent, and according to our wide presence in German-speaking countries, especially German. We believe that this is something that adds value to our customers when buying and helps in their decision to do business with us. We do not work through agencies, we go directly to customers and this is our strategy that has proven to be really successful.”
FINISHING MACHINES FOR CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION
“According to my opinion, one of the best products I could point out from our “creative kitchen” is Lifebook. It is an organizer, i.e. an annual planner designed by our creative team for an international brand. We came up with the whole concept and design, and of course at the end we printed that same planner. In Hungar this project has experienced great popularity so the brand decided to take it to other countries as well. Now, traditionally, every year we create a new design for Lifebook diaries and produce them. “
Among the wide range of digital printing machines, two printers stand out, the two HP Indigo 1200s and the HP Wide Web 270 printer. Of course, the finishing machines of this printing house also make a creative contribution. The Scodix ultra printer and the Motion Cutter cutter stand out for its special effects. All machines, whether used for printing or finishing, are based on B2 format.
Using the Scodix Ultra finishig press, Prime Rate does partial varnish and foil printing. Scodix Ultra has the ability to apply over 100 different types of foils and patterns. By using varnish and foil printing the finished products are classified in a higher rank and gain in exclusivity, and the recipient of the product on which some of these elements are applied gets the emotion of a higher level of attention and value.
Special effects in this printing house are also achieved by using the Motion Cutter. This cutter allows you to quickly create small runs of applications with which their customers get the attention of their customers. Among other things, there are special creative solutions that gain children’s attention. They make creative elements for children from which children assemble animal characters or various objects. Items can go beyond the framework of classic invitations, business cards, and you can also find brochures with bottles that go beyond the format of the brochure etc.
