Page 26 - PWM2025_NOVEMBER EBOOK

BETTER BUSINESS

Showing off:

Open days

Open days in the print sector are on the rise with
more firms holding them – and with greater fre-
quency too, by Adam Bernstein

B longer being limited to just direct

It’s this versatility, along with no
ut given that holding
such days can be costly
mail and commercial print, that is
– both in terms of man-
helping Eight Group diversify into
agement and staff time
as well as expense, why new markets, which Hill says “is
are events run? What is really exciting”.
it that print businesses seek to get As to what he wanted to achieve
out of them? from the event –more business or
Adam Bernstein spoke to some greater awareness of the firm’s
organisations in the sector to find broader capabilities – Hill said it
out. was all about profiling Eight Group’s
“growing portfolio of products and
Eight Group services”.
Managing director Lance Hill He says: “Not only does the new
begins the conversation with a refer- press enable us to diversify, but with
ence to Eight Group’s first event, the new mezzanine we have also
which was held in June. The firm, an extended our workspace by 300sqm,
independent printer and marketing which has expanded our capacity in
services company, hosted the event terms of hand fulfilment and print- selves,” he says. “We can talk about what we do until we are blue in the
to showcase its recent acquisition, a on-demand work.” face, but seeing is believing, so having prospects and customers on site
Konica Minolta KM-1e press that he That said, Hill points out an obvi- makes a really big difference.”
described as “the only one of its kind ous reality: as he put it, “it’s easy to As to numbers and attendance, Eight Group split the day into two ses-
in the UK, and the largest invest- become pigeon-holed”. sions, with around 10 guests at each – “both from new prospects and
ment in the company’s history”. He acknowledges that the firm’s existing customers who have either not been before, or not for some
But for Hill, the event was not so primary market remains direct and time”.
much about the press itself as about critical mail, as well as short-run Ultimately, for Hill, the open day was about “showcasing our invest-
its capabilities and “the art of the commercial print-on-demand, but ment and what it can do. It was also a good opportunity for clients to net-
possible for existing and new cus- he wants to publicise that “we can work, share knowledge, challenges and learnings from their own market
tomers”. He explains: “We had offer so much more to our existing sectors.”
never done anything like this before client base”. He was also aware that Reflecting on the practicalities of organising the event, Hill says
and, with the investment, it seemed “many new prospects may know of Konica Minolta brought valuable expertise via a dedicated team that sup-
like a good time to do something.” us but might never have considered ports events such as Eight Group’s. “That was a big help as we had not
While Hill doesn’t want to bang us for anything other than the done anything like this before,” he says. His main advice for others plan-
on about the press, he does say that above”. ning similar events is to think carefully about numbers and space, which
it “is quite unique in its ability to be In terms of measuring success also tie in with health and safety considerations. “Organising events is
able to print on so many substrates and outcomes – whether instant quite a skill and not something you can just put on without some careful
and with true offset quality. It really business or a slower-burn promo- planning,” he advises.
is a Swiss Army knife in that we can tional effect – Hill says the event
print on anything between 60gm up delivered a mixture of both. “We Route 1 Print
to 600-micron board, and every- have a strong pipeline of new pros- Macauley Hardeman, head of marketing at trade printer Route 1 Print,
thing in-between, but not only on pects we’re talking to who might use says his company is not new to open days as the first one it held was in
paper, it will print on plastics, poly- this sort of event to ‘kick the tyres’ 2020 – “just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit”.
propylene, canvas and much more”. and come and see us for them- He comments that “at the time, we were proud to be the first company

24 PrintWeek MENA November 2025 www.printweekmena.com