mammothmediainc-blog

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Mammoth Media is proud to sponsor The Ad Club's 100th Anniversary Gala. (Photos by Michael Blanchard Photography.)

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Mesh Banner for the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins at the Massachusetts State House. (Image courtesy of Adam Hansen)

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DIGITAL OUTPUT: MAMMOTH MEDIA

Avalon Communities Project By Gretchen A. Peck

(Part 3 of 3)

Founded in 2004, Mammoth Media’s roots are in jumbo print. The Pembroke, MA-based wholesale print supplier produces billboards and building wraps for a national customer-base of creative and advertising firms and property managers and owners.

Mammoth employs an array of print engines from Hewlett-Packard (HP) and EFI VUTEk, including an HP Scitex XP5100 and a VUTEk PV200. Most recently a VUTEk QS3200r was installed.

Today, Mammoth’s nearly 30 employees produce a slew of print products including banners, vehicle and transit print, wallcoverings, trade show displays, floor and window graphics, as well as billboards and building wraps.

Avalon Communities is a property management firm that is a repeat customer of Mammoth’s. "We do building wraps all across the country for them—CA, IL, and NY. I believe they have at least 350 properties throughout the country," confides Kenneth Rowell, VP, Mammoth.

Last February Mammoth started a job for Avalon at the Prudential Center in Boston, MA. The building was being renovated with new luxury condo units and the company needed a creative way to draw attention to it. The application was targeted to last two to three years, with some of the graphics changing out periodically.

The job was printed on the QS3200r using One Way Vision perforated window film from Clear Focus Imaging, Inc. The One Way Vision film solved the initial problem of obscuring the views of the building’s tenants. Media choice is especially critical to building wraps.

Rowell recalls that pre-production challenges were immediately apparent. "It’s a glass building, so there was no way we could just drill in a mesh banner or stick a giant building wrap up without obscuring the views of the people inside. Another challenge was that the residential complex doesn’t have the benefit of height. Visibility would therefore be limited to street-level traffic—less than 20 feet high," he explains.

An initial site survey included a photo shoot, so Mammoth could refer to digital photos and mock-up schematics of the building throughout production.

Results from the survey led Mammoth to designing templates for seven types of windows, based on different dimensions. These were first done to scale and each window literally became its own image file.

To read more about Mammoth’s Prudential Center project, as well as gain more insight from grand format printer vendors, look for the December print edition of Digital Output—mailing November 27, 2009.

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CASE STUDY: MAMMOTH MEDIA

Mammoth Media Inc.

Wholesale Print Provider uses HP Digital printers for multi-application campaigns, winning business from offset competitors.

High-profile banner celebrates sports champs…again!

At Mammoth Media, located near Boston, getting no-time-to-spare printing requests following a major sports team's win has practically become an annual event. Several times in the past few years, Boston–based sports teams have won top national titles, prompting a massive victory rally in the state capital—and an urgent need to provide a celebratory backdrop.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won the Baseball World Series, breaking an 86-year curse…And then they did it again in 2007. Last year, 2008, the Boston Celtics took home the NBA Championship, the top basketball title in the US. Upon each win, fans came together in front of the State House to cheer their winning heroes—all in front of a giant banner printed by Mammoth Media.

Mark Rowell, Mammoth Media’s CEO, is full of pride when he tells the story: "Until the final game is over, no one can plan the rally. But once the score is in, it's full speed ahead, and it usually happens like this: We get a call in the afternoon to deliver a 40 x 40 ft (12 x 12 m) banner the following morning for the noontime end of the rally. All the players do their speeches for the crowd and TV cameras under the banner covering the State House. We’re nice guys, and we’re fans too, so our team works through the night to get it done—voluntarily, I must add.”

(Image Courtesy of Nick Angiolillo)

For the Celtics rally, Mammoth Media used its HP Scitex XL1500 Printer to produce the giant banner in record time. From start to finish, the team got everything done with perfect timing: they designed the artwork in house, printed the banner, and took the finished, ready-to-hang backdrop in their pickup truck the 20 minutes to Boston.

“It took just 1.5 hours to print, using our HP Scitex XL1500 Printer,” says Rowell. “In 2004, when we printed the Red Sox banner on our old Grandjet, printing took four hours. So, that was a massive savings that certainly made the whole thing a lot easier!”

The vibrant banner, which highlighted the Boston Celtic’s famous green team color, was seen by the more than one million fans at the rally and by millions more through national TV coverage of the event.

"Using HP gives our customers trust and confidence: ‘Oh, they’ve got HP, that’s good.’ It’s hard to explain that I have a giant inkjet printer but if I say it’s HP, it’s a lot easier.” 

— Mark J. Rowell, CEO, Mammoth Media Inc.

Roll-to-roll printer from HP delivers vital speed for huge bus-wrap job

Mammoth Media’s HP Scitex XL1500 Printer is constantly used for tight-turnaround jobs, meeting demands far beyond those of the sports victory rallies. Recently, the high-speed printing system was used to produce 4645 m2 (50,000 ft2) of artwork on pressure sensitive vinyl for a bus covering campaign for a major phone services company.

The advertising agency handling the phone company account came to Mammoth Media with “a ridiculous turnaround time”. “They needed 30 full bus wraps installed in two weeks,” recalls Rowell.

“We printed the whole thing in seven production days, working two shifts, all on the HP Scitex XL1500 Printer. The multi-roll option made the machine perfect for the job. It gave us the speed to get the job done within the crazy timing.”

The HP Scitex XL1500 Printer excels at this kind of complicated job. “There were 24 panels per bus, for a total of 720 panels, and that was divided by five different creatives. The HP Scitex XL1500 Printer allows us to put tags on the tiles in the information line, so it made it easier to collate the panels and coordinate the whole job.”

Speed and versatility becoming increasingly vital

According to Rowell, giant jobs with tight turnaround times are becoming the rule, rather than the exception. “I think it’s because people are starting to get used to digital and to being able to get things printed fast. And if we don’t do it, someone else will, so there’s really no question: the call comes in, and we jump into action.”

To keep up with changing market demands, Mammoth Media has adjusted its offering, turning mostly to HP to provide the needed new capabilities. “As billboards became a commodity, we looked for other profit opportunities, which brought us into the transit and POP market,” explains Rowell.

Exploring new horizons with HP

Over the past few years, as HP has invested in large format companies and technologies, Mammoth Media has gained the confidence to move forward along with HP.

“HP can invest and deliver printers that really work. So we anticipate that the new technologies and printers from HP will help us grow our business and expand into new markets. We are producing small to medium-run POP jobs now and we want to go to large-run jobs, and we are looking to HP to bring us the equipment," says Rowell.

“We see ourselves becoming an HP shop. They build a quality machine and they stand behind their stuff with fantastic service. If we have a problem, they show up. The response time is unbeaten.”

“The HP Scitex XL1500 Printer is an excellent, versatile platform; one of the most used machines in the shop.”

— Mark J. Rowell, CEO, Mammoth Media Inc.