Eye-Catching Fan Creates Waves Among Ballet Fans

Pride In Print media release (April 2009)

Eye-Catching Fan Creates Waves Among Ballet Fans

An eye-catching invite to the ballet Don Quixote, has been produced as a functional fan by the innovative use of digital printing and print finishing technology.

The fan, made almost entirely out of paper, formed part of an extensive marketing campaign for the Meridian-sponsored ballet, which was held at five venues around the country. Its clever design has seen it entered in the prestigious New Zealand Pride In Print Awards, being presented next Friday at the Wellington Convention Centre.

Meridian sponsorship manager Melanie Seyfort says the fan and enclosing box had to be crafted to an exacting standard.

“As it's such a special event for Meridian, we wanted to send an invitation that provokes curiosity and is beautiful -- something our guests would take notice of and hopefully keep!,” says Ms Seyfort.

“We were particularly pleased with the invitations for Don Quixote as they were like nothing we had ever seen before and we have had a lot of feedback from our guests about how beautiful they were.”

Format account director Peter Hartley says the job brought together several elements of print design and production.

“Our Format HP Indigo 5000 Press proved the ideal choice to print the sheets, which were then die-cut and each piece carefully hand-assembled by Wellington Print Finishers,” he says.

“Paper engineer Phillip Fickling produced an all-paper, die-cut design using two different weights of paper -- a lighter stock for the fan's accordion and heavier stock for the fan's end panels and mailer. The only off-the-shelf component was the brass grommet.”

A regular entrant to the Pride In Print Awards since inception, Format has to date collected 36 Gold Medals.

“Employees and suppliers work closely together on all projects to produce high quality work consistently so that they are all potential Gold Medal winners,” adds Mr Hartley.

ends

© Scoop Media