How Blooming Color Leverages Neon Pink Ink as a Competitive Edge

A proof printed on one of Blooming Color's HP Indigos using fluorescent ink.

This is an interview with Rosemarie Breske Garvey, VP at Blooming Color in Lombard, Ill. Blooming Color is doing some pretty spectacular work beyond traditional four-color printing and I wanted to learn more.

Cholmondeley: Rosemarie, let’s start by you telling me a little about Blooming Print.

Breske Garvey: We’ve been in business for 30 years. We also own two retail locations that we actually still operate as Minuteman Press franchises. So we’re three locations, all in. Always looking for that next acquisition.

We’re relatively small. We’re about 40 people strong, but we’ve amassed a pretty good business here and our people are really dedicated to exceptional client experience. And again, we’ve kind of been known for the place where you come when you need something different, you need something unique, but at the same time we’re also the place where we get it done, no matter what.

GC: Looking at your website, it appears that Blooming Print focuses on specialty printing. How’s that working for you?

RBG: Yeah, focusing on the specialty and letting go of some of that more marginalized commodity thing in print has really been a differentiator for us. Focusing on what makes you unique and what makes you different and what you can bring to a client which is again why we love the pink so much, why we love the white so much. It’s being able to offer something that maybe the other guy down the street can’t. It sets you apart.

GC: OK, let’s get specific about fluorescent pink. That’s not a very common color. What applications use it?

RBG: Yeah, sure. So we are primarily a commercial plant, so the applications that we have for that are really for more of our high-end, specialty clients. Short-run, high-end. It’s really meant for a piece that really has to stand out. Where we see it most. We have done a number of smaller projects that are pretty event specific. So we’ve done a lot of invitations with that particular pink. We’ve also done a very small packaging application. Again you’re talking like 50 pieces for that. It was something high end. Something different. So that’s where we primarily use that.

GC: How do you sell it?

RBG: What really helps us maybe suggest that to clients when they come to us looking for something unusual is that we print something that is 100% magenta. And then we also do the exact same piece and we’ll print that with that fifth spot color for that fluorescent ink and the difference between the two is night and day. And so for all the clients that we’ve pitched to, we’ve never not had them choose the fluorescent, just because that’s so different than what you can typically get in a digital world.

GC: And how do you price it?

RBG: Well that really depends on the project because if you’re doing 30 pieces of something you’re probably doubling your price but if you’re doing 3,000 pieces of something you’re probably seeing somewhere in the 15 to 20% increase.

It absolutely does command a higher price. It’s also nice because not everybody has that. So it still is somewhat exclusive. You have to purchase that from HP and you have to have a press that obviously has your five-, six-, or seven-color capability. So, it works really well for us.

GC: So, all of your business isn’t pink. Does having this capability drive other business?

RBG: Yeah, oh absolutely. People come to us because we are known for being a little bit different or for choosing things that are different. We really specialize in more, weird, specialty substrates and your different applications when it comes to ink. We do a lot of raised clear ink on our Indigos as well in addition to that fluorescent.

GC: And, finally, how did you decide to add fluorescent pink to your repertoire?

RBG: We have a really great relationship with HP and so they had asked us to be one of the betas for the new fluorescent ink which was really exciting for us. So it lends itself really well to our brand obviously. So whether or not that was part of it, or whether it was our good relationship, we were super excited when they first came to us with that. So, we love it.

GC: Thank you for sharing your story. It is always so much fun to talk with someone who is creative and loves their job.

RBG: Awesome. Well thanks so much for thinking of us. We really appreciate it.