April 12, 2021

Cut-and-applied vinyl graphics don’t come much bigger than this…

The passage of work through a company, or through its processes, generally falls under the very broad heading ‘workflow’ these days.

‘Workflows,’ come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to suit the needs of the companies that operate them, and they support the service those companies extend to their customers. Citiprint is based in Tilbury, London, and its service levels to the markets it addresses and the customers it supports required bespoke workflows and customised systems to administer them. No wonder. Citiprint’s service levels hack through traditional red-tape and other impediments to progress and quoting “X-working days” for a job is just not in the company’s vocabulary.

The company casts itself in the role of a signmaker and print specialist. In terms of its deeper specialisation, it operates 24/7, and offers same day turnaround of the jobs it processes in London, and very rapid delivery beyond. The 24/7 nature of the business hints at volume. Printing enough material to cover a football pitch - every hour, confirms it.

Time isn't on the side of a lot of Citiprint’s clientele and when the heat is on in terms of the job being needed quickly they just hit the speed dial button and the job is as good as done. Lots of clients have got used to those levels of service and come to depend on them. Among them Octopus Energy.

Octopus Energy is a frequent returning customer to Citiprint and rocks up with some very interesting jobs. Lots of print serving the promotion of the company passes through Citiprint and they’ve even produced some mock car charging points recently. With Boris Johnson visiting the HQ something special had to be organised but nothing in the run of recent experience could have prepared Citiprint for what Octopus Energy wanted next…

Octopus Energy, it turns out, had purchased itself a couple of wind turbines. Most of us never get close enough to these devices to appreciate the scale of them. ‘Big’ doesn’t begin to do the idea justice. The spinner section where the blades of the turbine gather could be the size of detached house and it’ll be a very long way from ground level.

Octopus Energy wanted one of its turbines branding. That’s to say some three metre scale print just above the tower entrance close to ground, and text, over twenty metres long, proclaiming ‘Octopus Energy’ up at the top of the mast, a long way from Earth.

OK.

Like most of the work that shows up at Citiprint’s door, the huge turbine branding statement was needed in a hurry and the team had less than a weekend to get the job designed - and installed. No problem. 24/7, remember?

Installing graphics at height is one thing. Putting them up at the top of a standing turbine is quite another. This was one very rare occasion on which Citiprint didn’t want to deliver using entirely its own resources as the team didn’t have roping experience. They called in the troops from specialists Media Abseiling.

Metamark M7 was selected for the job. Overnight production proceeded and the required elements and some contingency spares were bundled up ready for delivery to site. Metamark M7 has kept some very unusual appointments in its long career as a staple, premium quality cut and applied signmaking material. This particular venture earns it an entry in the top five though. The product is supplied with Metamark Apex Adhesive. This builds to a very reliable ultimate bond while offering manageable initial adhesion.

Come the day, and it was chilly. ‘Colder still up here’ was the report from those at the sharp end aloft. The Octopus Energy branding was assembled at height as it was applied. Some removal and repositioning was required during the application process but the skilled hands and compliant Metamark material got through the job. Nearer to ground, graphics above the tower door represented less of a challenge and set the whole exercise off brilliantly.

The client is absolutely delighted with the results that Citiprint delivered. Branding statements at landmark scale and which demand achieve absolute ‘share of the air’ are not exactly commonplace and so are very distinctive. It would be difficult to calculate the value of the impressions which accrue to the brand, so we’ll content ourselves with saying, ‘they're inestimable.’

Even Citiprint would agree that this Octopus Energy job wasn't quite the usual day at the office. Things might get more exciting yet. There is talk around of the next turbine branding job being offshore somewhere, and even bigger in terms of its scale.