Recently I had the opportunity to develop and oversee a custom tailored program that included selective binding for an 8-page insert that was bound into 6 different magazines. The client’s goal was to reach new customers. The following report documents the process of planning and executing this program. In addition, it highlights the challenges and reviews the outcome.

Once the client’s needs were understood, we reviewed their customer demographic profile and a selection of names from the Hearst database were targeted. A count of the names revealed that there were 4.5 million names that fit the demographic profile the client wanted to reach. In addition to the selected demographic targets, the client would require an additional 1 million copies of a version B insert. These copies would be mailed in bulk to selected retail distributors for mailings to the retailer’s customers.

With a total number of inserts needed now known, we began to estimate the production and manufacturing costs in order to supply the client with final cost details. Creating and publishing an eight-page insert is generally not very complicated, however, because it would be printed in one plant and shipped to several other plants would require good planning and timing to insure that inserts would arrive in time for each magazine’s binding schedule. The 1 million overrun copies would be shipped bulk to one location. Even these copies had to be packed and shipped on pallets in a way that would be appropriate for acceptance by the warehouse. Another potential problem to consider is proper packing. I have never thought how important this is and subsequently understand. Here’s why. When you pack inserts on top of one another, weight becomes an issue. Product that is on the bottom can become crushed or torn if the straps that are holding are too tight or too loose. Packing chosen were honeycomb type boxes that separated layers of inserts.

Once pricing was submitted to the client and a final okay was given to start the project, we developed a time line and began the actual process to produce the 8-page insert. It would prove to be a tight schedule allowing approximately four months from concept to completion.

While the stylist worked to organize what products would be featured on the pages, it is the responsibility of the production manager in the manufacturing department to make sure that the production of the insert would be smooth sailing. Below are the items that were the production manager’s responsibility for this project:

1. Develop a manufacturing schedule.
2. Order paper.
3. Evaluate/coordinate pre-press operations.
4. Locate and secure a printer.
5. Coordinate with the bindery operations.
6. Coordinate with the production managers at all magazines.
7. Administration with the Database Company for names of selected consumers.
8. Secure trucking of the inserts to the appropriate plants.
9. Quality control checks.
10. Follow through on all points in the process.

1. Manufacturing Schedule. What made this project unique and challenging from the beginning of the process was the fact that the insert would be bound into more than one magazine. That meant that the production manager overseeing the insert needed to constantly communicate with the six other production managers whose sole responsibility includes his or her own magazine title. The schedule needed to take into consideration the quantity of inserts to be printed. In addition, the insert needed to be printed in a universal size to prevent the insert from being bigger than the smallest sized magazine. The insert schedule allowed very little room for error with respect to time. (See enclosure for the actual schedule).
2. Ordering paper. 5.5 million copies needed to be printed and some waste would be taken into consideration. This equates to 4 tons of paper. The production manager working with the estimator figured out how much paper would be needed. It was also important to insure that the correct paper would be delivered to the plant at the appropriate time. Again, a good schedule goes a long way to insuring success. Communication across all lines from the production manager to the customer service representative at the printing plant means the difference between success and a potential make-good. In this program there was a breakdown in the communication and subsequently the wrong paper was printed on. As the project manager, I made the decision to reject these printed inserts. Unfortunately all of these copies were discarded and the plant had to write off the entire loss.
3. Pre-Press. Pre-press is an important part of the process. Good pre-planning and preparation enable you to head off problems. Unfortunately, even with the best-laid plans, Murphy’s Law has a way of interjecting itself. In this program, this section was designed to have a perforation so it could be removed from the magazine. When the unit size was communicated from the production manager to the creative director, the perforation and gluing measurements were not considered. The creative team was not aware of this, and designed the creative without the perforation. Once everyone got passed the finger pointing, a cooperative team effort allowed for a redesign to accommodate the perforation. The creative team had concerns that the imaging on the pages now reduced would compromise the creative they worked hard to develop. Couple this with the fact that the products being featured are small to begin with, making them smaller when a client that wants them bigger, and this was not an easy task. New creative developed was submitted to the client and approved.
4. Locate and secure a printer. The production manager will place bids out into the marketplace. Since Hearst is a large publisher, printers will work very closely with manufacturing to accommodate requests and make competitive pricing available. We work with all different types of printers for different types of projects. Some printers are better at programs that are small run, some better for large run and some for special binding or other requirements. Again, communicating and being accurate with a printer from the start of the type of job is necessary.
5. Coordinate with the bindery operations. With six different magazines all on various schedules, timing is crucial. When the manufacturing schedule was being established, it was important that the bindery dates of all of the magazines be taken into consideration. Initially there were seven magazines on the list. One of the earliest bindery dates was for one of the special interest titles that did not have a monthly frequency. Using that publication’s bindery date was the initial target date in order to have all of the pieces printed and ready for binding. This put the project on a tight schedule of just four months from concept to completion. The publisher for this magazine also oversaw the monthly magazine that the special interest title was a part of. After client approval, the publisher wanted to have the inserts placed into all copies of the monthly magazine, and eliminate completely all of the copies of the insert that were scheduled for the special interest title. I put on my selling hat and asked the publisher what they would do for the client should they decide to do this. The publisher offered a research survey instead. With my sales hat on again, I had a candid conversation with the client and made the recommendation they subsequently agreed to. This small change was a saving grace because this gave our team an additional five weeks to prepare and print the inserts. As it turned out, we needed the five extra weeks to help compensate for the wrong paper and the minor dilemma with the perforation. Sometimes challenges become opportunities.
6. Coordinate with the production managers at all magazines. All of the production managers pulled together to make the project work.
7. Administration with the database management company. When the time came to actually pull the names for the lists chosen there was a slight variance to the total and a question of whether or not the Canadian names had been accounted for since the bulk of the names selected were from the U.S. With the totals readjusted, the names were pulled, merged, purged and de-duped. This process made sure that if a customer is a reader of more than one magazine; they would only receive on of their magazines with the insert. Not that duplication would have been a problem, but the goal was to reach each person just once and this insured there would be enough inserts to cover all of the targeted selection.
8. Secure trucking of the inserts to the appropriate plants. This was a fairly straight- forward process. Inserts that were needed and due to the various binderies for an issue, there was coordination between the production manager who oversaw the entire program with the individual production managers.
9. Quality control checks. The project manager was responsible to make sure that the pieces were printed properly. In addition, any color corrections that were necessary would follow the color proofs supplied to the printer. The paper chosen was a better grade and would allow the reproduction of the piece to really stand out in the magazine so it was important to match the color proofs. Different paper stocks and lower grade papers would have been okay if that was the look to be achieved. Printed pieces have a different look when the same item is printed on coated versus non-coated paper as well as a different grade weight. As it turned out when the incorrect paper was used and the printed piece was compared to the correct paper, the tones of the incorrect paper were not as true to the color as compared to the proofs. When the actual reproduction does not look the same as the proof, there is a potential for a make-good. This is not a good thing and could eat away at your margins.
10. Follow through on all points in the process. Follow through, follow through, follow through much like location, location, location in real estate is the best way to achieve success in any printed or published program. The production manager needs to be a traffic cop, a sales person and in some cases must look into the crystal ball to head off potential problems.

What we learned. The selective binding process across this many magazines was a true learning experience for our production managers. Since many of our titles have selective editions already, this complicated a complicated process to begin with. Would we do a program like this again? Yes, we would absolutely without any question. However, knowing what we know now, we are better prepared to understand the true cost of the program and make sure that when we price out the program, it compensates for additional press and bindery time.