Hot Market printing

[ebscreen]

Anyone with experience in hot market printing for sporting events please PM me or respond
here.

I have a few questions regarding a few things and whatnot and I'd prefer to ask an experienced printer
rather than look like an absolute new guy to my contact.

Thanks!

[Frog]

Tony and a few others  will probably help with real experience from the business end, but I have done it just as a grunt in the trenches printing for  for Front Page at Andy's.
Be prepared to let the company coming in completely take over your shop, and run at least two maybe three shifts.

[ebscreen]

Tried to call ya this mornin' Andy. I wondered if you had witnessed the horror....

[Prosperi-Tees]

Gotta ask, what is hot market printing?

[Frog]

Gotta ask, what is hot market printing?

The sudden, intense, here today, gone tomorrow printing of a current sports trend like the playoffs the World Series, or Super Bowl.
The licensed companies come to the cities involved and contract with local shops, and as I told eb, virtually take over for a few days or a week or so.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Thanks, that sounds scary but profitable.

[Nick Bane]

did some chicago bulls NBA championship stuff in the early-mid 90's at University Sportswear and some world series baseball stuff at Creative in the mid 90s.  The Bulls stuff we did was mostly belt prints, and as far as i know we were only running Bulls stuff, nothing for the other teams.  the world series prints were for the winning team whichever it was.  in that case we had both teams print ready beforehand and we would set up one team on 3 or so presses and the other team the same.  then we would sit in the shop with a tv watching the game waiting for the winner, as soon as the game was won, the presses started cranking allready stacked w shirts, and the losing teams print came down and the winner went up on those presses then as well and printing went on until it was done.  probably not gonna help much as i was just a printer/sampler then.  but thats how we did it.  but there wasnt really any takeover or anything as they were really just another job for us.

[tonypep]

Hot Market Printing can be as profitable as it can be a pain in the butt.
 First you are usually required to fill out a survey. How many machines, heads, flashes, etc. Ink systems. Number of employees. Loading dock requirements. Insurance info. And you will need to sign it. Next a contract is generated and it is binding. Files are sent electronically and you will need to generate screens to accomodate all machines. Often sampling is required. Also keep in mind a holographic sticker is often required so extra help is necessary at the backof the dryer.
Usually the game is on the weekend so I would set up the autos at the end of Friday. (Talk about the importance of staging! Have the goods ready to go by the autos and have plenty of ink ready.)

I would strongly advise a sign up sheet for employees as you typically print all night through the morning. Often they get all jazzed up about bragging rights then start drinking throught the game and don't show or show up drunk. Explain what they are committing to in no uncertain terms! Smart companies throw a "Super Bowl Party" at the factory with pizza etc. If there is beer at least it is in a controlled enironment.
Usually a representitive from the company will be sent in to monitor all this. And remember, if your team loses everyone goes home and you generally don't get compensated for all this. Typical piece rate is .90 and don't expect to charge for film, screen, setup etc.
It's risky but sometimes worth it. I always advise people that if they get a contract to contact local print and television media for excellent free publicity.
Then theres those bragging rights!

[Sbrem]

We do kids size shirts for Reebok's children's division. Being in Mass, we've had a good turn the last 10 years, Red Sox had 2, Bruins 1, Celtics 1, Pats 3 out of 5... I prefer football, because it's on the weekend. Basketball and Hockey are in the heat of the regular t-shirt season, usually in the middle of the week. The money is OK to good... what do you want to know?

Steve

[ebscreen]

4-8-8-4 packing with set quantities due at certain hours seems rough  on the pre-staging part.

IE you can't blast through a size at a time like we typically do.


Tony nailed just about everything else as usual.


Actually hoping our team loses just one.

[tonypep]

BTW If you're printing all through Sunday night into Monday morning you can pretty much write off getting anything done Monday. Need to figure that into profitability.

[ebscreen]

BTW If you're printing all through Sunday night into Monday morning you can pretty much write off getting anything done Monday. Need to figure that into profitability.

BINGO!

The crew and I need a day off anywho, but yeah...

And several other large orders (that had been quoted and kicking around for months) confirmed today.

Luckily we just got a coffeemaker.

[Sbrem]

4-8-8-4 packing with set quantities due at certain hours seems rough  on the pre-staging part.

IE you can't blast through a size at a time like we typically do.


Tony nailed just about everything else as usual.


Actually hoping our team loses just one.

We'll print a couple of gross per size, folding into 4's. Then, a picker grabs 1 pile of small, 2 medium, 2 large, 1 XL, drop them in the box and seal, attache the labels, voila. Customer picking up gets "X" amount of boxes. After the Bruins win last year, the earliest pickup was around 1:30, for the gift shop at the airport.

Steve