In this month’s installment of the MarketOpportunity series, we’ll be taking a closer look at atype of printing most of us have seen andexperienced — festivals and outdoor events. Greatsignage can help make a good event even better,and bad signage and printing can drag a goodevent down.

The rst thing to keep in mind with creatingmaterials for these events is that the turn-aroundtime can be incredibly short. “Sponsorshipsgenerally come in late, and because of that there isa tight window to get everything done,” noted Douglas Cole, president and owner of the SpeedproImaging in Rochester, NY, “The Imaging Capital of the World,” he pointed out. “A lot of times, I don’t getthe nal imagery until two days before the event, so we’ve got to be prepared and there is not a lot ofwiggle room.”

The reason for the tight deadlines is that most events continue to sell sponsorships right up until a fewdays prior to the event starting. And every one of those sponsors needs to have their logo on all theprominently signage and printed materials. Shops that go into this type of work expecting to adhere totheir usual timelines will nd they lose the business fast.

Even larger events with a wider variety of signage needs that don’t require logos can have much tighterdeadlines than many other projects. SpeedPro Chicago Loop had the opportunity to create the signagefor the inaugural Chi-Town Rising event, the largest New Year’s Eve celebration in the city. And theyfound deadlines were just as much of a challenge.

“Another challenging factor to this project was the short time frame we had to work with and largevolume (over 7,000 sq ft),” said the Manager of Client Accounts and Marketing for the shop, GraceMusante, “After we received the project, we had 6 weeks to pull everything together. When we were

One of the unique signage types SpeedPro Rochester created for the Corn Hill Arts Festival this year was thee Mat, which invited attendees to stand on it and take pictures of themselves to upload to social media. The

mat had a hashtag they could use, and according to president and owner Doug Cole, it was very well-received.

SpeedPro Imaging Chicago Loop produced more than 7,000 sqft of materials for the Chi-Town Rising New Year’sEve event, including grand format banners and signage. More than 90,000 people attended the event, withanother 1.7 million watching live on television.

SpeedPro Imaging Chicago Loop produced more than 7,000 sqft of materials for the Chi-Town Rising New Year’sEve event, including grand format banners and signage. More than 90,000 people attended the event, withanother 1.7 million watching live on television.

Market Opportunities: Playing the Game

SpeedPro Imaging Chicago Loop produced more than 7,000 sqft of materials for the Chi-Town Rising New Year’sEve event, including grand format banners and signage. More than 90,000 people attended the event, withanother 1.7 million watching live on television.

rst given the project we had a long list of signs that needed to be created. Throughout the followingweeks however, pieces were continuously added and edits to previously submitted signs were beingrequested, including some edits that really came down to the wire.”

Winning the Work

Another factor that sets festival and event work apart is in how it’s won. Unlike traditional print sales,most of these jobs don’t go to the print salesperson who does the best job selling. Both Musante andCole noted that they won the work through networking and relationships.

“Eric [Lazar, President and Owner, SpeedProChicago Loop] started selling with SpeedPro inAugust and was open to working with anyindustry that had large format print needs,”Musante said. “He met the founder of Chi-TownRising, John Murray, at a Marine’s for Life eventwhere the two got the chance to discuss theirrespective businesses. As Marine veterans, bothJohn and Eric are actively working with thisorganization. At the time, John was planning theinaugural Chi-Town Rising event. This was anextremely attractive project for us becauseChicago had never had an outdoor New Year’sEve event that was similar to NYC’s NYE in Time

Square event. Working on this event o ered SpeedPro Chicago Loop a lot of publicity. After their initialmeeting, Eric and John met up again in mid-November to discuss their print needs for the event. Afterit was established that we had the capabilities to complete the project which entailed many moremeetings and conversations, we were o ered the job.”

For Cole, the relationship happened much slower, building over time. “This client needed a bunch ofstu donated, so we did that a couple times for them. And then, the last couple of years we graduatedto doing everything for the event: directional signs, backdrops, ag displays, pavement/ oor graphics,general banners, and informational signs. This business is all based on reputation and buildingalliances. This client contracts print work through an ad agency who I had done enough work for onother projects. So there was already a comfort level that I could do the entire project.”

In both cases, the owners themselves were out talking to the organizers and the agencies handling thespeci cs of the event, making sure they built a good rapport, and even being willing to donate sometime and materials as a way to get a foot in the door. They took the time to create connections andbuild relationships, rather than just making sales calls.

Reaping the Bene ts

So why would a shop want to go after clients that take more time and work to build relationships, toproduce projects with tight deadlines and multiple rounds of changes? Exposure.

“Working on a large, high-pro le event like Chi-Town Rising is great opportunity because it not onlygives us a well-known large scale event to add to our portfolio, but it also lends to our studio’scredibility,” Musante said. “When we took on this project our studio space was still under constructionand we did not have any in-house printing capabilities. We had to partner with other SpeedPro studiosand project manage to get everything done on time. Because of our involvement with this project weare in a good position to work on other similar events down the line.”

“We get a lot of exposure,” agreed Cole. “They letme put a lot of my banners up throughout thefestival, and I got a lot of exposure that way as well.But I’m not only getting exposure to thousands ofpeople, I’m also meeting a lot of the clients who arealso part of the event. That’s a great bene t — they

all need something.”

Cole went on to point out that as the print vendor,he is often talking not just to the event organizersand the agency, but also to every company that isinvolved with sponsorships and providing graphics.It is a chance to show o what the shop is capableof, so when the time comes for them to do their own print work, he already has an established, provenrelationship. It is a strategy that has paid o in spades. “I’ve been doing this for a long time — I don’tknow how many years now — and I get to work with a lot of interesting people through this event. I getto meet the big sponsors, and build my client base — I get to meet all the important characters in thearea.”

Festival work might not be the easiest, or have the best margins in and of itself. But the chance to meetthe movers and shakers of the area, to show o what your shop is capable of producing, and buildrelationships that can turn into highly lucrative jobs down the line all make this vertical a worthwhileuse of time and energy. And it’s a vertical that almost any shop in any city can take advantage of —there are always craft fairs, church festivals and a wide range of outdoor events that can be tappedinto. Get out there and start building those relationships today.