We offer a wide array of printing services and solutions. Our clients rely on us to deliver just about any print communication they need: full color brochures, highly personalized direct mail, books and manuals, CDs, DVDs and more. We work closely with our clients to recommend the best combination of solutions for each challenge, budget, and schedule. We have the equipment, the team, and the passion for excellence to deliver a quality product every time.

Our many diverse clients have projects that range from a single product printed in small quantities to projects that require our inventory management capabilities where we print thousands of products every month. It's important for us to be accessible to everyone who can benefit from our services. We strive to be the best in our field-to deliver the highest quality with the quickest turnaround and at the best price. With our unparalleled customer service, we seek to find a solution for every client-from worldwide businesses to small start-ups—with every project—whether 2 books or 2,000.

Digital Printing

In recent years, digital printing has become a major player in the printing world, cutting into offset printing's virtual monopoly. Digital printing offers a number of advantages that, in certain circumstances, make it an excellent alternative to traditional offset printing:

•	Speed—Unlike offset printing, digital printing does not require time-consuming, costly setup. A digital file, preferably a PDF, is all that is required. And where offset jobs typically take from one to two weeks to complete, often the turn time on a digital job can be a single day.
•	Cost—Offset printing comes with essentially fixed setup costs, no matter the size of the job. Consequently, the cost per piece on a small job can be quite high relative to digital printing. Conversely, larger jobs are typically more cost effective when printed offset because setup costs can be spread over a large number of pieces.
•	Variable Data and Images—This is where digital printing rules. With digital printing, each printed page can be different from the one printed before it and the one after. Think of it this way: Offset printing allows us to do 10,000 copies of one sheet. Digital printing allows us to do one copy of 10,000 different sheets.
•	Quality—Technology has dramatically closed the quality gap between traditional offset and digital printing. In most cases, the quality of a digitally printed piece is comparable to offset.
•	Some projects require offset printing regardless of cost, quantity, or turn time due to the size of the project or the paper and finishing options you choose.

The past decade has brought dramatic change in the printing industry. Incredible leaps in chemistry, hardware and software technologies have made digital printing a viable alternative to traditional offset printing in terms of quality and expense. When digital printing's advantages of speed, cost-effective short-runs, and variable data capability are factored into the equation, it is clear that digital printing offers today's businesses opportunities that were previously unimagined.

Offset Printing

Offset printing is a time tested and widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred or "offset" from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface (paper).

Advantages of offset over digital printing include:

•	Quality—Though this advantage is not as great as it once was, offset printing at times delivers a higher image quality than digital.
•	Cost—Extremely cost effective on larger or "long run" jobs that do not require variable text or imaging.
•	Variety of Printing Surfaces—No contest here, offset wins. Only offset can print on a range of printing surfaces that include cloth, rough paper, plastic, and of course, smooth paper.

Print on Demand

Print on Demand / Product on Demand
The term "Print on Demand" defines the practice of printing what is needed when it is needed, rather than printing large quantities that will take up space and financial resources until they are used or sold. At Hedgehog we use the term "Product on Demand" because we use On Demand workflow for more than just printed paper products. Among other products, we do CD/DVD/USB, binding and other services On Demand. While the per-piece cost is higher (due to the lower quantities and increased labor needed to run the job multiple times), this cost is often balanced by the advantage of having increased financial liquidity and physical space at your disposal. Given that over 30% of all printed materials become obsolete and are thrown out before they're used, Product on Demand greatly reduces or eliminates product obsolescence and in the end saves you money.

Variable Imaging

Variable Imaging has grown to be much more than simply personalizing a letter with a person's name and an envelope with their address. Software and hardware technologies have combined to make this one of the most exciting methods available to organizations to communicate with their customers, members, distributors, or constituents in a highly personal and effective manner.

For instance, imagine a ski resort that wants to market the upcoming ski season to its past visitors. What if the resort could manipulate a picture of the mountain, covered in virgin powder, to show the visitor's name written in the snow, as if by a skier? Something like, "John ripped this run." And maybe the white clouds in the perfect blue sky could spell "Remember?" This is the power of variable imaging.

Hedgehog recognized early on the power of variable imaging. We have invested the resources to ensure that we have the tools and the people to make your personalized marketing campaign stand out.

Color and Black-and-White Printing

Digital printing is unique in the way of allowing short runs without incurring a big set up cost, the way ink and press printing does. Digital printing uses dry ink in a process called 4-color, that starts with a laser beam projecting an image of a page to be printed onto and electrically charged, rotating drum coated with selenium. Photoconductivity then removes the charge from the areas exposed to light. Dry ink particles, also called "toner", are then electrostatically picked up by the drum's charged areas. The drum then prints the image onto paper by direct contact and heat, which fuses the ink to the paper.

With digital printing, the dry ink or toner that is used is different from the ink that is used in the offset process. There are four subprimary colors that are used in digital printing. These colors are referred to as "CMYK". C is cyan (a blue-green color), M is magenta (a reddish pink color), Y is yellow, and K is a pure black ink, the key plate or keyline color. The process of printing with CMYK is called the 4-color process. It is possible to produce an extensive range of colors just by using these four base colors.

To print in black digitally requires the use of only one of the four toner colors. There is a significant difference in price between four color and one color printing. The reason is explained above-to achieve any color, all four base colors must be used. However to print in black only requires the use of only the "K" or "black" toner, reducing the cost significantly. The cost to print digitally depends on a variety of factors including the cost of paper, toner, maintenance products such as drum replacements as well as other consumables such as toner, fuser, and transfer assemblies.

Product Categories

Hedgehog has printed thousands of different products and we are always looking for new solutions for our clients' printing needs. Whatever the project, we have the capabilities to create, produce, manage, and ship your products. The following list is a representation of the types of products we handle on a regular basis:

•	Books		•	Customer packaging
•	CDs/DVDs		•	CD/DVD/USB duplication/replication
•	High speed digital color		•	Bindery/finishing
•	B&W printing		•	Fulfillment services
•	Manuals		•	Variable data/variable imaging campaigns
•	Training kits		•	Mail services
•	Brochures		•	Graphic design
•	Flyers		•	Wide format printing
•	Name badges

Return to Top

Duplication

This one is easy to explain because you have probably done it yourself. Put a blank disc into your computer and use a "burning" program to make a copy of either a data disc (stores computer data files only) or an audio disc (contains music files that play in a CD or DVD player) and you have just accomplished duplication.

Hedgehog burns discs just like you do using your computer—we just do 210 discs at a time!

Replication

This you can't do at home. Replication is a very specialized process that requires a few million dollars worth of replicating equipment. We replicate discs by creating a stamping disc from the original data, audio, or video files. Then we use that "glass master" to press indentations into discs that a CD or DVD laser can read.

You Choose

So when does it make sense to duplicate and when is replication the better choice? As usual, it's a matter of time and money. Creating a glass master takes much longer than simply putting your master disc into a burner and pressing the button. Creating a glass master and replicating takes between 7 and 10 business days. If you need the finished discs faster than that, duplication may be a better choice.

Replicating more than 1,000 discs at a time costs less than duplicating the same number because you can spread the cost of creating the glass master and other setup expenses over a large number of discs. If you want fewer than 1,000 discs, duplication costs less per disc.

Nearly all players produced within the last five years play both duplicated and replicated discs. Less than 5% of the older players may have problems playing duplicated discs.

Silk Screen/Offset/Thermal Disc Labeling

What about labels for the discs? Again, there are multiple methods, and which method you choose depends on whether you chose duplication or replication.

Duplicated Discs

If we duplicate your discs, you can have labels printed on them with a thermal printer right here at Hedgehog. No, these are not labels that you print, then affix to the disc (the ones that jam your CD player). Rather, our custom printers print directly onto the face of a printable disc. Labels can range from single-color text to full-color, photo-quality pictures and graphics.

Thermal
A thermal transfer printer produces a printed image by selectively heating heat-sensitive ribbons when the ribbon passes over the thermal print head. The level of heat and the color of ribbon combine to create the image, which is then permanently applied to the surface of the disc.

Thermal printing offers the highest resolution and color saturation of all labeling methods. Discs that are labeled using thermal technology will not smudge, smear or peel.

If dramatic impact and a strong first impression are high on your list of wants, then thermal labeling is your answer.

Replicated Discs

Silk Screening
Silk-screening is used for labeling large quantities of replicated discs. Each individual color is applied to the disc through a screen that we produce for that color and design. For example, if a disc has four colors, it will have four screens.

As with replication, the time and cost involved with silk-screen setup makes this option more expensive for small quantities and less expensive on large quantities.

Offset
Offset disc labeling offers the same high resolution quality you get on offset-printed paper. Offset is best for extremely high quality, 4-color process printing that closely matches printed packaging. Offset is now the preferred process for printing the labels on new theatrical DVD releases.

One Last Thing

If time and run size allow, it is possible to have the label silk-screened or offset printed and the disc duplicated or replicated later. This is a good time-saving option in cases when the artwork for a larger run of discs is ready, but you're still working on the content for the disc.

CD Capacity

CDs contain up to 800MB of data or approximately one hour and twenty minutes of audio. We recommend that you use no more than 90% of a disc's capacity.

DVD Capacity

DVDs contain up to 4.7 gigabytes (1 gigabyte equals 1000 megabytes) on a single-layer disc and 8.5GB on a dual-layer disc. We recommend that you use no more than 90% of a disc's capacity.

USB Duplication and Capacity

USB drives, also known as flash drives, come in many different shapes and sizes and offer a variety of different capacities ranging in size from 256MB to 8GB with multi-platform capability. We can preload presentations, product catalogs or any other materials you desire. Whether it be to supply important data to your clients or just to reinforce your company message, preloading your custom USB flash drives with data is an excellent concept.

Hedgehog CD/DVD/USB Capabilities

Full-color digital thermal disc printing of over 75,000 discs per month
Single-color digital thermal disc printing of over 90,000 discs per month
Digital duplication of CD-R, DVD-R, Dual-layer DVD+R, Blu-ray, and USB media
Replication services for large quantity projects

To help you better prepare your artwork, we have provided templates that come complete with all the necessary specs. If you have any questions, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will be happy to assist you.

Return to Top

When it comes to customer contact, every link in the chain is important to your relationship. That's why our end-to-end services include order fulfillment. Whether you're fulfilling a request for literature, or mailing branded coffee cups as part of a promotional campaign, we can produce or acquire the products; inventory, ship, and track them; and manage the program for you.

Inventory Management

Hedgehog understands that inventory management is one of the most crucial components a company must manage to be successful. Too much inventory and you are tying up cash flow with non-needed goods. Too little inventory and you are not able to meet the needs of your customers in a timely manner.

Whether your inventory is stored here at Hedgehog or in your own facility, we will work with you to ensure that our production matches your sales flow. We are specialists when it comes to helping our partners manage their Just-in-Time inventory.

Storage

Hedgehog has a limited amount of space available for our customers to store goods produced by both Hedgehog and other vendors.

Product Assembly

Hedgehog assembles thousands of multi-piece products each week. Our processes and procedures are flexible enough to meet the varying requirements of different projects and structured enough to ensure that your quality assurance standards are met. Whether your product has two pieces or two hundred, Hedgehog will do the job efficiently and conscientiously.

Order Management

Our Order Management process streamlines the entire fulfillment process, allowing our sales reps to convert estimates into orders with just one click. They can also track order fulfillment along each step of the way. And with shipping integration, you can get a real-time view into shipping statuses. A smooth order fulfillment process will, in turn, reduce delivery times and increase customer satisfaction.

Bulk or Order Shipping

Hedgehog offers a wide variety of shipping options including inventory shipping, drop or blind shipping, pick-n-pack and split shipping. Inventory shipping can be a money and time saving option for your company—it involves managing an inventory of products for your company, and then shipping the client-owned, Hedgehog-housed inventory daily from the standing inventory.

Drop Shipping/Blind Shipping

Hedgehog can take care of shipping your product to your customers, clients, and employees. We'll do it just like you would, maybe better. We can even "blind ship" to make it look like the shipment came directly from you. The benefits just begin at taking away the headache of organizing orders and tracking them all through your company before they even ship.

Pick-n-Pack

Pick-n-Pack services are available through Hedgehog. We can receive orders for your products via the internet, email, fax, or phone. Your products are then produced or pulled from inventory, then shipped to your customer with a Packing Slip and shipping label branded with your identity.

The Pick-n-Pack solution can be expanded further to include our Web-to-Print, Online Storefront, Invoicing, A/R, and Bookkeeping services.

Split Shipping

Split Shipping is a solution that allows you to maximize the cost benefits of ordering a large quantity of a product. This option allows you to ship to multiple destinations for the same product ordered at the same time. For example, if your company has multiple locations that all use a common form or brochure, you can order 10,000 at a time and ship 1,000 to 10 locations instead of paying more to order 1,000 10 times.

Import/Export

The main benefit of our import/export solution is being able to import your lists of shipping addresses and client names, and being able to receive back that list complete with itemized tracking numbers and shipping details such as date, time, weight and chosen shipping method. We do all the organization and hard work for you, then provide you with all the information to keep your clients happy and in-the-loop.

Return to Top

Hedgehog offers a full line of finishing options including:

•	Perfect binding (Hedgehog is capable of producing over 50,000 books per month)
•	3-side trimming
•	Computer-controlled precision cutting
•	Plasticoil/plastic spiral binding
•	Twin loop/wire-O binding
•	Saddle-stitch binding
•	Index tab cutting
•	Mylar reinforcing
•	Laminating (1- and 2-sided)
•	UV coating (Hedgehog can UV coat over 70,000 sheets per month)
•	Drilling
•	Corner rounding
•	Cutting
•	Folding
•	Perforating
•	Scoring
•	Assembly and shrink-wrapping

Chances are your distributors or sales reps are a wildly diverse group of individuals. This diversity stretches well beyond geography, nationality, race, and political views. Differing levels of education, business experience, and financial success all but ensure that, left to their own devices, your employees will develop sales and marketing tools that range from exceptional to downright awful.

inktank is our online system for ordering, versioning, and managing programs for agents, resellers, and franchisees. It allows parent organizations to create templates that deliver consistent branding and quality. At the same time, agents, resellers, and franchisees can vary messaging and images to suit their needs and then implement their own campaigns.

Producing effective-and cost-efficient-marketing materials for agents, resellers, and franchisees presents many challenges. Pieces have to abide by corporate branding, be versioned for individual agents, and personalized for the customer or prospect. The communications must have the quality required to represent the parent organization, and yet be cost-effective for the agent. And dozens, hundreds, or thousands of agents, resellers, and franchisees have to somehow deliver logos, return addresses, messaging, offers, and mailing lists to the printer and/or lettershop in time for production to begin.

Next to its people, a company's brand is its most important asset. In the traditional company model the brand is relatively easy to defend and promote through a central oversight group, such as the marketing communications department. All employees receive the same business cards, letterhead, and marketing collateral. Messaging is controlled and monitored.

A well-managed web-to-print solution gives your central operation a much higher degree of control over how your employees represent themselves and your company to prospective customers. This is accomplished by making available centrally-developed materials that are produced with a quality and attention to detail that is all too often missing when an individual attempts to create printed materials on their PC and print them on their ink-jet printer or at the local copy shop.

Hedgehog's web-to-print solution (inktank) puts an end to the headache and inefficiency associated with do-it-yourself. A distributor is able to visit a secure website, choose the appropriate item(s), enter their personal information to be included on the item, view a finished proof, click submit and be done with it. Their materials will then be professionally produced on state-of-the-art digital presses and delivered to their home or place of business, often in the same amount of time their local printer would have taken, and at a similar cost.

We combined our unique combination of end-to-end capabilities, technological innovation, and variable data marketing applications to create this remarkably simple solution for these complex challenges. Best of all, inktank provides maximum convenience: the parent organization sets up the templates just once for each campaign or format; the agents order their materials, customize their messaging, and upload their logo artwork and mailing lists at their convenience. Everyone takes advantage of the economies of scale, even though the orders may be placed and filled days, weeks, or months apart. For the parent company, program management headaches all but vanish.

Partnering with Hedgehog to develop and manage a web-to-print solution for your employees will open a new revenue stream that is both sustainable and efficient, in terms of human time and financial resource allocation.

Development and monthly maintenance costs are structured according to the level of partnership entered into between your company and Hedgehog. Factors such as financial and time investment, physical resources, expertise, and market ownership all play into the equation.

There are many ways that the ownership and management can be structured and Hedgehog will be happy to work with you in developing a mutually beneficial and profitable solution.

In short, the benefits are:

•	Empower your field sales, franchise, agent, dealer, or member channels to increase sales with the ability to order high quality, consistent printed materials that adhere to the parent organization's guidelines
•	Maintain your corporate identity and design standards
•	Web-to-Print sites are custom-branded to your company
•	Order 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from any computer, accessible by any Internet browser
•	Give your sales channel instant access to pre-approved and up-to-date marketing programs and materials
•	You have instant accessibility to all of your direct mail, printed collateral, and marketing materials
•	You save money by leveraging your aggregated volume instead of pricing by individual jobs
•	Mailings can be produced at any time, even on different schedules for different territories, resellers, or reps
•	Your new marketing programs can launch in days instead of weeks
•	Management is immeasurably easier-no more coordinating same-time delivery of logos, agent identity, messaging, etc.
•	Easily handle orders, re-orders, inventory picks, and print-on-demand tasks
•	Secure! You define user access to suit your requirements

Upon approval of this concept, Hedgehog will produce a formal proposal and company-branded demonstration site.

Click here to link to our Web-to-Print Online Ordering System.

Return to Top

From conceptualization and design through production and processing, we guarantee we will manage your mailings every step of the way to your satisfaction.

Data Acquisition

Data acquisition is the collecting of addresses for an advertising mass or direct mailing for your company. Mailings are an excellent way to advertise and grow your business. The drawback is usually the money returned on those mailings can end up being just a fraction of what was spent on the marketing campaign. We are able to provide mailing lists for a specified demographic group/location to better pinpoint the prospective clients you are trying to market to. The list can be based on a number of categories including targeting specific zip codes, then slimming down your results by choosing a specific age range, gender, etc. The result is a completely customized mailing list that allows your company to spend the minimum amount to maximize the return on your investment.

Presort

"Presorting" means grouping your mail by ZIP Code (not city or state). All pieces going to the same destination are grouped together in packages. In order to have a mailing presorted, each mailing must have at least 200 identical pieces or 50 lbs. of mail. Bulk mail only applies to domestic mailings.

Bulk Permit

Items sent as Standard Bulk Mail must contain a general message aimed at all who receive it, rather than a personal message aimed at a particular individual. Standard Bulk Mail is a domestic service only. (Special Bulk Mailings may be sent to Canada. Call for more information.) Standard Bulk Mail cannot be sent overseas or to Mexico. In a bulk mailing, all pieces must belong to the same category. For example, they must be all letters, all flats, or all machinable parcels. Letters must be between 3-1/2"x 5" and 6-1/8"x 11-1/2", and between .007" and 1/4" thick. Flats are pieces of mail that exceed the dimensions for letter-size mail, but do not exceed 15" long, 12" high, and 3/4" thick. First-class mail is given priority over standard mail. Therefore, you should allow a maximum of 2-3 days for Hedgehog to process the Bulk Mailing. If the Bulk Mailing has a critical time value, we must be advised in advance.

Certifications

Our mailing service includes multiple "checks" to make sure that you are getting the most out of your postage costs. Our mailing service is Cass certified to check the United States Postal Service (USPS) database against known addresses. We also have an NCOALink that is used to check the USPS's database for any moving submissions that have occurred for a specific name for 36 months prior to the mailing. These features ensure that the amount of incorrect, incomplete, or obsolete names and addresses included on your mailing lists are kept to a minimum, so that you get the most out of the money you're spending on your mailing project.

Ink Jetting

Hedgehog's mail services are completed by an address printer to put a professional finishing touch on all your business mailings.

"Ink-jetting" is a high-speed typing or printing process in which charged droplets of ink issuing from nozzles are directed onto paper under computer control. Our Ink-jetting machine is a high-volume printer with processing speeds of up to 13,000 envelopes per hour, offering superior print quality for text, graphics, and bar coding. Our ink-jetter has a full 4" x 20" long print area with the print heads arranged so addresses, return addresses, logos and indicia can all be printed at the same time. The image quality is a true 600 x 600 dpi, always providing crisp, easily readable print and sharp, machine-readable barcodes. Besides addressing No. 10 envelopes at the rate of 13,000 per hour, our address printer can accommodate mail pieces ranging from 3" x 5" postcards to 13.5" x 17" pieces up to 3/8" thick. The ability to print message line in color can eliminate the need for preprinted envelopes; and printing delivery point bar codes can substantially reduce your postage costs.

Variable Data

Variable-data printing (VDP) (also known as variable-information printing (VIP) or VI) is a form of on-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics, and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the printing process and using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is mainly used for direct marketing, customer relationship management, advertising, and invoicing on self-mailers, brochures, or postcard campaigns. The technique is a direct outgrowth of digital printing, which harnesses computer databases and digital print devices and highly effective software to create high-quality, full color documents with a look and feel comparable to conventional offset printing.

Variable data printing enables the mass customization of documents via digital print technology, as opposed to the 'mass production' of a single document using offset lithography. Instead of producing 10,000 copies of a single document, delivering a single message to 10,000 customers, variable data printing could print 10,000 unique documents with customized messages for each customer.

There are two main operational modes to VDP. In one methodology, the document template and the variable information are both sent to the Raster Image Processor (RIP) which combines the two to produce each unique document. The other methodology is to combine the static and variable elements prior to printing, using specialized VDP software applications. These applications produce an optimized print stream, such as PostScript and PPML, which organize the print stream efficiently so that the static elements are only processed once by the RIP.

There are several levels of variable printing. The most basic level involves changing the salutation or name on each copy. More complicated variable data printing uses 'versioning', where there may be differing amounts of customization for different markets, with text and images changing for groups of addresses based upon which segment of the market is being addressed. Finally there is full variability printing, where the text and images can be altered for each individual address. All three types of variable data printing begin with a basic design that indicates which sections can be altered and a database of information that fills in the changeable fields. Since 2005, the term TransPromo or transpromotional has emerged to cover the merging of promotional content and transactional print pieces by involving more business users in the printing process.

The returns for variable printing vary from double the normal return at the basic level to 10-15 times the return for fully variable jobs. This naturally depends on content and the relevancy of that content, but the technique presents an effective tool for increasing ROI on marketing campaigns.

Direct Mail

Direct Mail is one of the best marketing methods available. The right piece to the right person will, at minimum, build an organization's name recognition and good will with a prospective customer. Of course, it could lead directly to a sale and a new, satisfied customer.

Mass Mailing

As with anything involving a government agency, mass mailing involves a complex and confusing bunch of regulations, specifications, and rates. Hedgehog has both the experience and commitment to cut through all that and ensure that each mail campaign is processed at the lowest possible rate and according to your needs.

Drop Shipping/Blind Shipping

You have better things to do. Let Hedgehog take care of shipping your product to your customers, clients, and employees. We'll do it just like you would, maybe better. We can even "blind ship" to make it look like the shipment came directly from you.

Let us do your shipping, and suddenly there are no long lines to wait in, no paperwork, and no shipping receipts to keep track of-we do it all for you.

Hedgehog Mail Services Capabilities

•	Direct Mail and Print Production
•	List and data acquisition and management
•	Data processing
•	Laser, inkjet and 4-color digital personalization
•	4-Color, variable data printing, and digital direct mail
•	Print-on-demand
•	Full offset printing
•	Complete mailing services, from lettershop and bindery through USPS delivery and mail tracking

Return to Top

Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (e.g., people) in such a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time, and cost constraints. A project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service, which brings about beneficial change or added value. As part of our solutions, we offer Project Management to assist you with projects containing multiple facets, such as kits, large project runs, offset printing needs, promotional items, product returns, etc.

Kits

Hedgehog loves to find solutions to complex or even seemingly impossible projects that your company can benefit from. When the job calls for above and beyond just printed paper, we can help your company create a statement. Anything you can imagine, we can find a way to produce and include in a kit. Some ideas may include branding a USB flash drive with your company logo, burning some marketing material on it and then sending it in a mailer. After the customer learns about your company, they'll have a flash drive with your name on it to use every day. Or during the holidays, send out a branded audio CD with holiday music, a personalized variable-imprinted greeting card, and chocolate bar with a custom wrapper! With Hedgehog, the sky is literally the limit! If your company is just out of ideas or doesn't have the extra man-power to put into a big kit like this, come to Hedgehog to ensure that your company is represented professionally, creatively, and uniquely!

Large Projects

Does your company ever do a special mailing for any holidays or anniversaries for the company? Hedgehog is able to take on large projects like this and exceed your expectations. The creativity and skills of our team will help you achieve success in any large project. Some of the capabilities we have for large projects are: a creative design team and prepress department to first get your project to look just right; 2 digital color and 4 B/W printers; 90 CD/DVD duplication drives; 5 thermal CD/DVD printers; 48 high-speed USB duplication drives; and state-of-the-art cutting, binding, and finishing equipment to complete your project on time or sooner, with the highest quality available.

Offset Printing

There are certain projects that require printing a high volume or on a substrate or printing material that we are not able to print digitally, or the sheer volume makes it more cost effective to have it run on an offset press. Hedgehog can assess your needs, come up with a solution that works best for you, and then help you achieve the goals set forth for your printing project.

Promotional Items

With any project that your company wants to "brand" to get your name out there, it sometimes needs to include products other than just printed materials. Hedgehog is able to get any product you desire to include in any of your mailings or kits. These products can be something as simple as a pen, magnet, hat, or T-shirt, or as creative as a puzzle, a candy bar with a customized wrapper, or even jelly beans in your company colors. Whatever the project, a personal touch customizing a promotional item with your logo, colors, and contact information will be sure to get your client's attention, as well as keep your name at the forefront of their daily activities.

Product Returns

We are able to offer a few options to handle returns from your clients. First, we can always have the products shipped back to your company to be handled by someone that is already designated to handle them, or Hedgehog can accept the returns for you, and then take the desired action, whether it be to ship new products to the customer in a timely manner, or process the return and take the returned merchandise back to re-stock it into your inventory.

Marketing

The whole idea behind marketing is attracting and retaining a growing base of satisfied clients or customers. Hedgehog understands this important aspect of business and all of its online and offline facets. We would love the opportunity to work with you to help you implement your marketing strategies. Contact us for more information.

Return to Top

Electronic Prepress

At Hedgehog, quality control starts with our electronic prepress process. Clients can send files in just about any format, via the channel that's most convenient for them: secure FTP, disk, email, or our own courier will pick it up. By keeping our prepress in-house, we can offer our clients the flexibility and efficient schedules that they need.

Graphic Design

Graphic design refers to the visual communication of information using elements such as color, images, typography, and layout. Hedgehog's excellent graphic design team can assist you with any design needs you have, from the simple creation of a logo, business card, or letterhead to more elaborate design work for a brochure, poster, t-shirt design, etc. Let us help you put your best foot forward in creating a new brand for your business, or promoting your existing brand.

Variable Data

Variable-data printing (VDP) (also known as variable-information printing (VIP) or VI) is a form of on-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics, and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the printing process and using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is mainly used for direct marketing, customer relationship management, advertising, and invoicing on self-mailers, brochures, or postcard campaigns. The technique is a direct outgrowth of digital printing, which harnesses computer databases and digital print devices and highly effective software to create high-quality, full color documents with a look and feel comparable to conventional offset printing.

Variable data printing enables the mass customization of documents via digital print technology, as opposed to the 'mass production' of a single document using offset lithography. Instead of producing 10,000 copies of a single document, delivering a single message to 10,000 customers, variable data printing could print 10,000 unique documents with customized messages for each customer.

There are two main operational modes to VDP. In one methodology, the document template and the variable information are both sent to the Raster Image Processor (RIP) which combines the two to produce each unique document. The other methodology is to combine the static and variable elements prior to printing, using specialized VDP software applications. These applications produce an optimized print stream, such as PostScript and PPML, which organize the print stream efficiently so that the static elements are only processed once by the RIP.

There are several levels of variable printing. The most basic level involves changing the salutation or name on each copy. More complicated variable data printing uses 'versioning', where there may be differing amounts of customization for different markets, with text and images changing for groups of addresses based upon which segment of the market is being addressed. Finally there is full variability printing, where the text and images can be altered for each individual address. All three types of variable data printing begin with a basic design that indicates which sections can be altered and a database of information that fills in the changeable fields. Since 2005, the term TransPromo or transpromotional has emerged to cover the merging of promotional content and transactional print pieces by involving more business users in the printing process.

The returns for variable printing vary from double the normal return at the basic level to 10-15 times the return for fully variable jobs. This naturally depends on content and the relevancy of that content, but the technique presents an effective tool for increasing ROI on marketing campaigns.

Return to Top