Ever heard the expression “once you have the ink in your blood there is no getting rid of it” Well that seems to be the trend for most in the print industry. And brings us to the next discussion of print and inks…

So how do I explain how one sheet of paper can magically transform someone’s emotions by sparking a tearful aaaaaw from a bride to be, ooooh from a consumer looking at a printed poster of that delish ice-cream or doughnut, or a blissful smile on receiving your “Happy Birthday” card… or the “oh shoot” when getting that flapping little fine, on your car when you “just to pop in” to drop off the dry-cleaning” All different emotions but so familiar to all of us.

Ever imagined a day without the magic of print on paper, imagine walking down a grocery store isle and seeing nothing but white packaging… imagine walking into a library and seeing a sea of white on the shelves? Imagine all cars being white, all clothes being in a lighter shade of white… Imagine a day without colour? NEVER, horrible experience!

Being in Marketing we get to have extensive exposure to inks and what it can do and the finishing side of it. So, every so often… more often than my production guys would like we get to play with colour inks.   Be it fluorescent ink – that pops with excitement as you hold it under a blue light, oh there goes the mind again to the best years of my life the 80’s “lumo” orange, pink, yellow and green. But have you thought about what part that could play in security printing as we know it?   Access control, to events, fun with packaging and kids branding, need I say more.

My absolute favourite yet was the reveal inks, a nightmare of note again for the machine operators. Imagine consuming your favourite drink and a message is revealed as you finish the drink, or as you reach the end of your spread or mayo it reveals a “reminder” stock me up I’m done.

Adding to this the UV inks was also one we toyed with, you pack a green yoghurt for your child and when it is exposed to the sun at break time it turns to purple/yellow or orange!! FAB and totally radical not so. If I was a brand owner this would be the thing I would explore and develop more of.

But then again, we are the printer, exposed to all these wonderful technologies and have to get the Brand as excited as we are about these and other applications. So why has this proven to be such a hard sell, why do printers and the creators of magic seem to be the only ones getting super excited about these applications.

So, inks are awesome and make magic happen… isn’t it time you take the bull by the horns and insist on being part of these and other remarkable applications, stocks and inks.

Give us a call or better yet get your agency to ask us about all the WOW factors we can add to your brand.

UV Ink