Looking Back at Sappi's Successful Marketing Programs

By Daniel Dejan, Sappi's Print and Creative Specialist

I really like the marketing stake in the ground that drives the Sappi brand. We've positioned our paper mills in North America not only as leaders in paper manufacturing but as a company that provides essential resources—education, training and consulting—about paper, printing and graphic communication. Our marketing materials always have a double stance—we like to advise and motivate.

Recently a colleague asked me about my favorite marketing promotion—which one do I go back to and think about over, and over, again. It’s a really hard call for me. I like aspects of many of our promotions, particularly The Standard series which many of you have collected for some time. The Standard series grew out of a promotional tool called The Warren Standard (and for some of you this is new information) back before Potlatch and the S.D.Warren Company were integrated into Sappi Fine Paper North America.

I thought carefully about which promotion stood out in my mind. And then, I realized that one of my very favorites celebrated that multi-company integration while launching the newly combined mills’ line-up of products. Called, Choices, this marketing promotion reviewed all the detailed and nuanced choices that designers and print production folks make which ultimately determine the end quality and success of what they create.

Here’s why I like it so much: this piece doesn't just tell you what to consider it shows you how those choices might play out—photography or illustration, square or publication size, Garamond or Helvetica—well, you get the drift. It’s such a terrific visual reminder that each choice you make, including the paper, must support the image that you are projecting for your client to their audience.

From a technical standpoint, there was one spread in Choices that I found especially useful and inspiring. Pages 16-17, with a special four-page short-folded guide bound in, features a photograph divided into a four-by-six square grid—twenty-four squares total. Each grid square features a different portion of the image in a unique Quadtone or image made up of four-color process in differing values. The images achieve a subtle photographic visual effect by combining the four process ink colors and reversing dominant colors while adjusting ink ratios. The net effect is that the tone and mood of a photo and its color values can be altered dramatically by shifting the ink colors—and here Sappi provided a map to help you make your own choices. This a very beautiful design option which give photos a very different effect within a four-color printed piece. It’s a reminder that there are choices for photos as well and that all photos do not have to be printed in either black and white or full color.

The promotion is no longer available in print, unfortunately, but we've added some of our best print promotions to the Sappi etc library in PDF and “reader” formats so you can reference them as needed. An online archive of smart and useful design knowledge? That really is educational, informational AND inspirational!

For more information on Sappi, check out the Sappi website here: http://www.na.sappi.com/home