Bespoke Business Cards

Here at Giraffe Head Quarters we are always looking for new products/ideas.

Our newest product is our clear business cards.
These are printed on a clear polyester 0.8mm media. It is PVC free and fully recyclable, printed with UV inks, making this product a truly environmentally friendly product.

All of these cards can also be backed with a variety of colours, and UV spot Varnished, if required. Printed using a Roland VersaUV LEC540

Here are some examples of ours.

For further information please feel free to contact the Giraffe and he will be happy to help.


Kind Regards
Jason Giraffe

Tel: 07850 757605
email: jason@giraffepress.co.uk
www.giraffebanners.co.uk

Signage

Signage from Giraffe.

At GiraffePress we can produce signage for a range of applications. Sizes are up to a maximum width of 1000mm.

DIBOND;
DiBond comprises of a UV resistant polyethylene core with two premium aluminum alloy surface layers. This combination of aluminium and plastic provides an outstanding, lightweight alternative to solid aluminium sheet, offering significant advantages in all kinds of applications. The surfaces of DiBond are stove enameled using coil coating process which is compliant with ECCA standards and are available in various colours. External 1-3 years.

FOREX;
Forex Classic is a lightweight rigid foam plastic sheet with a particularly fine and homogenous cell structure and high quality silky matt surfaces.

• High stability despite minimal weight
• Fire rated to DIN 4102 class B1, BS 476,/Part 7 Class1 (3-19mm)
• Suitable for internal and external applications, Forex is widely used in signage, exhibitions, POS/POP advertising and displays.

COREX;
Corex signs are inexpensive short term outdoor signs. They are light weight, water resistant and offer six months durability. Corex signs are ideal for temporary outdoor signage such as property signs, real estate development signs, political campaign signs, special events signs, sales promotion and construction sites.

MAGNETIC;
Magnetic signage is great for vehicles. We use a vehicle grade magnetic media, which .8mm thick.
At Giiraffe, we print your graphic, laminate it, then mount to the aforementioned magnetic media. This means you can advertise on your vehicle as and when it suits you. Also being that it is magnetic, you will not be advertising at all times, making it less risky to vehicle break-ins.

For all signage please call or email with your specifications for a quote.

Have a great day
Giraffe

Stickers/Self Adhesive Labels

GiraffePress can produce YOUR stickers at a very reasonable cost.

Unlike a litho printer, we at Giraffe do not need to produce a cutter to enable us to kiss-cut YOUR stickers to any shape you require, or produce a set of plates to print in 4 colour process.

Size can be up to 1 meter wide, and potentially a length of 4 meters +.

How do we do it you may ask? good question.

We use a Roland Versacamm VS-420, we print in 4 colour process, and kiss-cut on the same machine. Stickers are printed first, then the sheet is fed back and cutting starts. If of course you wanted your stickers laminated also, not a problem, a similar process is used. In this instance, we would print first, with some special registration marks created by our Roland RIP, cut the sheet off, laminate it, then put the printed sheet back into the machine for kiss-cutting.

We trim the large sheets down to a manageable size, ie; A3, A4, A5 or a size specified by you, you can of course have your stickers on a meter or more if you would prefer, you can sometimes get more stickers for your money doing like this :-D.

Stock media' are:- Gloss, Matt and clear, in both permanent or removable. Our white gloss and matt are what we call 'block-out', this means that the glue is grey in appearance, preventing any show through from what you are sticking them to.

Our clear vinyls can be printed with white behind the image, lettering etc to stop any show-through from dark recipients, there by keeping the same bright colours of your lettering and or images.

The cost to produce clear vinyl stickers with white behind is slightly more, as the white ink costs us a little more. We also stock a wide range of coloured vinyls which can also be printed (and kiss-cut) on with our Versacamm VS-420.

If you would like more information, or a FREE sample sheet of stickers, why not email or call the Giraffe? jason@giraffepress.co.uk Tel: 07850 757605.

Or better still, feel free to visit GirafficPark and see the for yourself how it's done.

Giraffe

New Premium Banner

Today I have just tested our new premium banner - and have to say, it looks great.

The size of our new Premium Banner is 850mm x 2000mm (Visible Graphic), and comes with a lovely carry case too.

With this new premium banner, graphic changes are easy, even the end user could potentially change the graphic, which would save you even more money, as your hardware would not have to be sent back to the Giraffe.

The cost, although slightly more than our previous Premium banner, is £119 (excl delivery & VAT), offers great value, knowing that if at anytime in the future you wanted to change the graphic, you could. Simply send us your new design, we'll print it, package it, and deliver the normal way (next day courier).

Replacement graphics are £50 (excl delivery & VAT), so potentially a massive saving - time and time again.

Please feel free to call the Giraffe, or visit our website GiraffeBanners - then call the Giraffe

Have a wonderful weekend

Kind Regards
Jason Giraffe :-D

New Banner Range

We at GiraffeBanners have recently expanded our range of banners, and reduced the price of some of our other banners. Our Classic Roll-Up Banner is now available at a width of 850mm for £75 (excl delivery & VAT), our 800mm wide banner stays the same great price at £65 (excl delivery & VAT)

Also, our Premium Roll-Up banner has been upgraded to a 'footless' type banner, is 850mm wide (visible graphic) and is now priced at £119 (excl delivery & VAT)

The new range of banners is now more exciting and cosmetically beautiful to look at, thereby increasing your visibility at shows and events. Some of the new range can also be customised further (hardware) to give your business more PUNCH.

Prices for our new range start at £129 (excl delivery & VAT) including extra customising if you so wish.

Attached to this blog is a video showing the versatility of the new range.

I hope you like the range of banners Giraffe has taken on and look forward to hearing from you.

A Family Business

Is being part of a family business the right move?

In my opinion it can be good, but also it can be extremely difficult. I was part of a family business for many years, since leaving school in actual fact.
I done my apprenticeship in Graphic Reproduction London College of Printing, Back Hill (Farringdon). The first year was an integrated course combining all the departments within the industry and my own specialised subject.
After this I went onto LCP at the Elephant Castle to complete my City & Guilds in Graphic Repro'.

I did however leave my employment several times to do various other jobs, ran my own car mechanical business, was a mini-cab driver for about 2 years, done some lorry driving for a big Builders Merchant, and various other things. But, in the end always went back to print.

Things were never easy in the business, especially when we were all living in the same house as well, we would go to the office/factory together, work all day together, and then travel back home together.

Previous to the last 2 years Pre 2008, were perhaps the most stressful. Everything seemed to be on my head, I was continually 'put upon' to do more and more, even to the point I was being put on to drive sales. In my mind I had more than enough to contend with, I was doing all our IT, taking orders and talking to clients on the phone, printing, finishing, ordering supplies, organising work-flow, the lot. But I thought, ok, I'll go get some new clients also.

So, the mission started. I set out to find at least 1 high profile/celebrity client. Months I was trying for, until, one-day, I heard a certain, supposedly, celebrity speaking on LBC Radio 97. FM They claimed to reply to all emails personally. Hmm, I thought, heard that one before, but nothing to lose, so I emailed them, and yes, I got a response that very same day.

This was fab', through shear determination I had succeeded on the first part of my quest.
Eventually, we met in the City for lunch. I had kept it all quiet from everyone until the arrangements had been made to meet. Of course, all of a sudden everyone wanted to know me, but, Father & Brother thought, "well why shouldn't they want to meet me, it's nothing that great", ahem, so why didn't you do it??

Things went from strength to strength, meetings became more regular, invites to events became more, and yes, the orders started coming in. But this was still not enough as far as the other family members were concerned, what else could I do. Offers to re-brand the business were made, free marketing was also offered, but NO, they, didn't want to know, but still pressured ME to move the company forward, a very difficult thing to do when all offers and ideas are rejected. But the most annoying thing was, no one else came up with anything!!

I even built a website for the business, ok, nothing amazing, but still a website. I would stay late at night to research things, SEO etc etc, just to make it work, but even that was wrong, I was continually moaned at for staying late, but my thoughts were, out of hours, learn how to do it, and get it done, something is better than nothing in my eyes, we had nothing to lose by me spending those hours laboriously searching for info on the net, but everything to gain. And anyway, if 'they weren't happy with the website, then 'you' get on and sort it!!

So I decided, along with my new friend, to start another business, run it quietly, and feed the family business with lots of work. This was, in a way to prove that with some good branding, and a little marketing the business can move on.

Anyway, things didn't quite work out as planned. My eldest daughter collapsed, and was rushed into hospital, running a heart beat in excess of 290 bpm, yikes, serious. Then a few days later one of our Mac's went down. I got the blame, a row ensued and I was told to go, so I did, hence GiraffePress is born.

I built my first website, GiraffePress and it's still up and running, then some months ago, a very good friend of mine built GiraffeBanners, we will be re-building GiraffePress soon, so please do watch and keep a look out for the new site when it goes live.

My new friend & business partner, was a 50% partner/director in the business, and promised loads, loads of everything, marketing, promotion, clients, contacts, the lot.
It took nearly 6 months for them to brand Giraffe. Things didn't seem to be what they made them out to be, many failed promises.

Our partnership eventually fell part earlier this year, but since then, things have improved dramatically, orders are starting to flow in, my contacts are growing everyday, and am now looking to lease/buy some bigger kit to further enhance Giraffe.

So, although I suffered at the hands of my ex-partner, I have now restored the business over the last 8 months or so, and looking forward to taking it to greater heights.

And one last thing, thanks very much to all those fab people I have met on my journey, I will one day, pay you all back in anyway I can.

Kindest Regards

Mr Giraffe

My Week

As much as the week just gone has been a struggle, due to the weather conditions, it was fantastic.
Monday was a day of preparing for the Business Start Up Show at Earls Court, and orders coming in. One such order was for one of my best Clients, Pants to Poverty. They ordered 7 A1 posters, for delivery on Wednesday, no problem, or so I thought. But then the snow came down on Tuesday, whilst myself and my smashing daughter were exhibiting at the show.

But as always, GiraffePress/Banners, still honored our promises. Both my daughter and I went for the after-show drinks, with Miss Fit Uk and her wonderful partner, Simon. And just to say, what a fabulous talk she, Miss Fit, gave on the Tuesday.

My daughter then left Earls Court and made her way home to Croydon, a long trek it was to0, as there were NO buses running, trains were extremely minimal, but, she made it.

The next day, my fabulous daughter trimmed the posters, and made her way back to Earls Court, to drop off some fresh clothes for me, as we thought it would be better for me to stay up at Earls Court, so that I could be there on the Wednesday to 'man' our stand. She then went off to Whitechapel to deliver the posters, then back to Crystal Palace, and then, yes, back to Earls Court. What great determination from a young girl, 16yrs old.

Both days at the show were fab', but Wednesday was a lot better, more enquiries and interest, and pretty much confirmed orders. Of course though, the problem now came of getting all of our equipment home.

Luckily Paul from All About Croydon turned up, and helped us back to Croydon, even offered to store our kit until the roads were clear enough for me to drive and collect our show kit.

Thursday and Friday was a seminar/course run by Paul Green Publicity Heaven. A fab' 2 days of PR and marketing advice, invaluable. I learn't masses, and combined with previous knowledge I have attained over the last 2yrs or so, well, put the 2 together and I can really see Giraffe setting new success targets.

Also met some great people on the course, all willing to help each other to further improve our business's.

Now the weekend is here, it's time to get that information into my excel spreadsheet, and of course start the follow-up emails and phone calls.

Hope you all enjoy your weekends, and look forward to speaking to you all soon.

Mr Giraffe

Changing Graphics

Giraffepress/Banners will soon be implementing a system in our Roll-Up Banners, that allows YOU the user to change YOUR graphic easily.

For an additional £10.00 you will be able to change your graphic very simply, time & time again.
Although you will pay the additional charge, it will, in the long run be far cheaper for you.

As I am sure you are aware, previously you would have had to have taken your Roll-Up Banner back to where you purchased it, or posted it back to your supplier, then have waited until it was ready, for either collection or to be posted back to you, costing time and money, or even just thrown it away and ordered a complete new Roll-Up Banner.

I am sure will agree this is a far cheaper and convenient way of changing your graphic.

Banners +

At GiraffeBanners we produce an array of Banners, in size and style.

Roll-Up/Tension Banners are a great way to advertise your business, it's products, or, special offers and promotions that you maybe offering to your clients. Whether it be through exhibitions & events, or on the counter of your retail shop/outlet.

For the retail counter or home visiting business we have the perfect banner, the desktop banner. It comes in 2 sizes, A4 & A3, and comes in a box for convenient storage.
We will be adding to the range of desktop banners shortly, with our mini 'X'-Banner (A4). We anticipate that it will retail for around £10 + P&P.

Tension Banners are probably the most cost effective banner available, being easy to transport, easy to erect, just minutes in fact, and your graphic can easily be changed by you, so there is no need to re-order a whole new system.

So why not visit GiraffeBanners now, or alternatively ring Jason on 07850 757605.

We look forward to being of service to you.