Shawmut recently attended PINE’s Industry Awards Gala on Thursday, April 11, 2019, at the Boston Marriott Burlington. This year marks the third consecutive year that Shawmut has won more awards than the prior year—earning our highest award total to date! In total, Shawmut brought home 21 awards including 7 Pinnacle Awards (best of category), 7 Awards of Recognition, and 7 Awards of Merit.
The most interesting thing about Shawmut’s winning entries this year is the variety. From packaging and magazines to trade show banners and catalogs, this year’s entries ran the gamut. Like the awards gala itself, which attracts over 300 entries from printers throughout New England, our 2019 awards show us how print remains a large and important part of our customers’ communications strategies. They are using print and direct mail to welcome new customers, sell products, succeed at events, and more.
Here’s a quick peek at the Pinnacle Award-winning projects we produced for clients this year which were recognized in a variety of print format categories.
Zerto: Client Welcome Chocolate Box
Like many B2B companies, Zerto’s sales process is complex. The company which offers the only all-in-one IT Resilience Platform knows how important it is to properly welcome new customers and retain them. That’s why they partnered with Shawmut last year to create their new customer welcome box program which received a Pinnacle Award in the business to business promotions category.
The project included an elegant custom box with a deboss of their logo which was designed by Shawmut’s internal creative team. Inside, new customers received rows of different flavored chocolates each wrapped with unique artwork. When the chocolates are kitted in the custom foam core trays, they displayed a thank you and welcome message along with additional program literature. As Zerto wins new customers they send Shawmut a data file and our fulfillment team kits and prepares each shipment with fresh chocolates from our promotional products partner.
Wildlife Acoustics: Echo Meter Touch Box
Packaging is a big part of product sales, particularly for in-store purchase decisions. But when the product is sold almost exclusively online, like the handheld bat detector called the Echo Meter Touch, brands lean towards more cost-effective packaging options like folding carton style boxes. Folding cartons, which are made from a variety of paperboard stocks, can be shipped flat and then assembled upon arrival, which is exactly what we did for Wildlife Acoustics.
We printed the Echo Meter Touch box on an 18 pt. Tango board grade stock and used an overall gloss aqueous coating. The sheets were then die-cut and scored and shipped flat to the client for assembly which is a great way to save space and prevent packaging from getting damaged in transit. With the addition of our in-house die-cutting services in 2019, we were delighted to receive a Pinnacle award for this project and look forward to helping our clients with additional folding cartons in the future.
McConnell Design: Little House Capital Folder
This boxed pocket folder which won a Pinnacle Award in the Die-cuts, Pop-Ups, and Folds category is a great example of how exceptional design and production go hand-in-hand. The folder includes two front panels that fold in and interlock (similar to a gatefold) which pairs perfectly with the door artwork used by the designer.
To ensure that everything went according to the designer’s plan, we recommended a stock dummy—which is a best practice when working with a new dieline or intricate format. A stock dummy (produced on the actual stock that will be used for printing) gives designers a physical sample of how the piece will fold and where panels will line up so they can make any necessary adjustments before a project is put into production. This is a crucial step that can save valuable time and money and helped to ensure that this project went off without a hitch.
Harvard University: Bacow Inauguration Booklet
Prestigious events call for elegant materials. This inauguration booklet for Harvard University won a Pinnacle award for its exceptional use of the registered emboss on the front cover. Each person’s signature was embossed giving the book an elevated look and feel. The booklet was printed on a Mohawk Superfine Eggshell Finish Ultra White 100# text and cover stock and included a 4-page translucent flyleaf and 3 special mix spot colors. In addition to receiving an award from PINE, the Inauguration team at Harvard sent a glowing review to the entire Shawmut team that worked on this project, noting the impeccable quality and care that was taken for their momentous event.
Emerson College: EM Magazine Spring 2018
We love producing magazines for Emerson College, which have won a PINE award for the last five years. Why? Because their magazines are beautifully designed and include exceptional photography which comes alive on press. This year’s winning entry was no exception.
The spring edition of EM Magazine was a 112-page perfect bound magazine printed on our H-UV perfector press. In addition to the incredible skin tones and color, the magazine cover also included an overall Soft-Touch Aqueous coating which gave it a luxurious feel and matched the caliber of content and photography inside the issue.
Printing Sources Inc: Ace Infinity Catalog
The first step to getting product sales from catalogs is the catalog cover. It needs to catch someone’s eye and entice them to flip through the pages inside just like this catalog which won a Pinnacle Award for its use of specialty inks and coatings. It’s tough to see in a photo, but this piece really shines when recipients hold it in their hands. Using a strike-thru dull varnish and overall gloss technique, the designer of this catalog was able to highlight certain elements on the cover.
This technique offers an effect similar to a spot gloss, however, it does not require special printing plates, making it more cost-effective and faster to produce. To create a strike-through, a dull varnish is applied to areas where gloss is not desired, then an overall gloss coating is applied. The gloss coating shows through the areas where the dull varnish is not applied, giving it that pop and shine.
Lutkus Partners: Wildlife Acoustics Trade Show Banner
Rounding out our seven Pinnacle winners is this retractable trade show banner for Wildlife Acoustics. In addition to being recognized by PINE for its exceptional print quality in the wide format category, this banner stand has given the client great flexibility. Using our lifetime-warranty recommended hardware and services provided by our wide format printing department, Shawmut is able to help Wildlife Acoustics swap out graphics for their trade show banners on a frequent basis. This is a strategy we often recommend to our clients in order to save them money in the long-run by investing in quality trade show hardware that can be used again and again.
These seven Pinnacle Awards showcase the wide array of projects we produce for our clients—all under one roof. In addition to these projects, Shawmut was recognized for dimensional direct mail campaigns, a die-cut holiday card, our own Tactics Magazine, among many others. Each entry was judged for registration, clarity and neatness, sharpness of halftones and line drawings, richness and tonal qualities of color, paper and ink selection, ink coverage, the difficulty of printing, effective contrast or softness, overall visual impact, and bindery.
