HH Print Management – beyond Europe’s “Favourite” Print Manager

With more than 40% of turnover for the largest independent UK print management company now coming from the continent, HH have proven that the old adage of ‘speculate to accumulate’ does indeed pay off.

When managing director Robert MacMillan looked to the European market in 2004, HH was already providing regular services on the continent to existing UK-based clients but required a local language and supply support network.

The commitment of the company to grow its operations strategically went directly against the grain of the few competitors HH had in the market, where many relied on a more conservative approach of winning the business before staffing overseas markets.

Combined with exceptional growth in a challenging UK market and in a marketplace vastly changed over the past few years, HH has firmly found its feet in all of Europe with a new brand and with a vision to new horizons for the company and its clients.

“To be honest, it is only in the past six months that we have seen some of our UK peers begin to scratch the surface of the continental market and there still seems to be little understanding of how the clients buy on the continent. You simply cannot pitch for a pan-European contract and expect the client to be happy to have it all produced in England. European supply management is about having the nous to tailor the workflow supply chain according to the clients’ needs, rather than assuming a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

We always believed that we would succeed in Europe, but only with proven, experienced staff and a robust supplier network. Today, we service more than 30 brands across all of Europe – it would have been impossible without the dedication and hard work our staff has put into establishing the HH brand in Europe” says Robert MacMillan.

But MacMillan is clear that the success on the continent reflects an overall company strategy to dominate the independent print management market. The company has always fiercely defended the position of nonmanufacturing print management companies and maintains an independent procurement perspective which has enabled HH to remain competitive compared to the multi-service BPO organisations and manufacturers.

In fact, MacMillan firmly believes that there has been a fundamental change in the UK print management market which will form the competitive landscape going forward. With many of the previous print management ‘leader board’ companies changing hands and focus, MacMillan believes that smaller players will start to resolve which is the right growth strategy for them rather than just playing catch-up or trying to compete in markets they may not be equipped for.

Serving the needs of its clients rather than purely its own end, is one of the key factors behind the success of the company. The company re-focused itself in 2005 and set out to clearly differentiate itself in a predominately ‘me too!’ marketplace. Such has been in success that the market is now emulating HH, and today, the cyan magenta identity has become readily identifiable as HH and MacMillan is quietly proud of the amount of competitor hits the company website gets each month!

But the identity is not just about an energetic outlook and brand appeal – the company has also been able to sustain impressive top line and bottom line growth with the retention and development of key client contacts and new service areas.

“We have signed up some of the world’s largest consumer brands and are managing to prove the print management paradigm in new verticals and new segments of the overall marketing communications marketplace.” Remarks MacMillan. “Our staff finds it hugely motivational to be working with these household names. There are some exceptional roles to be had at HH currently.”

So where next for Europe’s favourite print manager?

“There are still tremendous opportunities in Europe that will continue to attract HH in building additional strength and depth overseas. We expect non-domestic activities to outgrow the UK within the next 12 months. However, our European network is already sufficiently mature and attracting impressive clients, so we are widening our attention to include the other regions on the globe.” The company is primed to open offices in Russia and the Middle East as various clients seek to activate the MEA options in their EMEA agreements.

“To be opening offices in these markets gives the management team a real buzz. With offices already operational in New York and Mumbai and partners in more distant markets, we are starting to believe for the first time that we can launch HH as a global player” comments MacMillan. “We watch in amazement as the competition move from printer to marcomms factory overnight, when the veneer is this thin they are in danger of damaging the market’s reputation, not just their own.”

Other than our geographic reach, HH is investing significant time, energy and resources into the non-printed components of its proposition. This will see the company invest heavily into overhauling its pre-media hub, and the studio in-plant resources it currently provides to corporate clients.

“The continuing convergence of both technologies and marketing outputs demand that HH is flexible enough to support cross-media activities. Campaigns that were print focused in recent years are finding their way online or synchronised with other channels such as email, SMS and outdoor. Providing clients with a single view of their campaign seems like a sensible way forward for us.”

"There is still tremendous opportunities in Europe." Robert MacMillian

At the other end of the marketing supply chain the demand for a European HH logistics service is growing fast with recent wins at Ford and The Carphone Warehouse. There are seemingly hundreds of vendors that support semi-static inventory, but much of this can be more effectively managed by migration to print-on-demand or distributed print solutions. However, the ability to ramp the fulfilment level on a campaign up or down, depending on its take-up, is more tricky.

“We’ve avoided the commodity play in this space, marketers are prepared to pay a fair price for a highly flexible service that supports their changing campaign requirements” comments MacMillan “As always, it’s all about perceived value”.

These developments will hail a number of additional senior appointments from major competitors in the next trading quarter, to further strengthen pre-media, client services and fulfilment across the HH group of companies.

“Once fully implemented, the net result will be a careful and considered brand stretch in 2007 aligned to what are clients are telling us. Listen carefully to your clients and you won’t go far wrong”.

HH extends The Carphone Warehouse relationship with a landmark deal

The Carphone Warehouse and HH Print Management have agreed a new five year agreement for the provision of marketing print services to the pan-European retail chain, currently valued at £15 million per annum.

The relationship, which today includes more than 2,000 stores in Europe, started in 1998 and is set to continue its expansion in the UK with the extension of existing print management services and the addition of new service areas including Logistics and Stationery, as well as services provided to the recently launched US branches.

Robert MacMillan, managing director at HH, comments “We are delighted to continue the partnership with The Carphone Warehouse which is one of our flagship clients. The new contract will deliver the group a wide range of savings as well as true value and innovation in new areas of the remit.”

The Carphone Warehouse has undertaken a full consultant-led review of its supply chain for the marketing and print services and found that HH was able to tailor its offering to the retailer’s future needs. This will include additional onsite staff resources, bespoke technology for digital asset management and workflow and the addition of the HH logistics solution, which according to Robert MacMillan will deliver a truly integrated end-to-end workflow cycle from the design to print and fulfilment of the products.

Georgina Bramall, Head of Retail Marketing, The Carphone Warehouse commented: "HH has absolutely become an extension of The Carphone Warehouse. They know our business inside out and seamlessly manage print production from sign off to delivery in the warehouse. Their response time is second to none turning round production in a matter or days where others could take weeks."

US expansion of services

Having established itself as Europe's favourite print manager, HH is now being challenged by its client base to respond to the globalisation of their brands, and their requirements to conduct business more effectively on a global scale. HH Print Management supplied all the printed collateral for the much anticipated November 06 launch of The Carphone Warehouse / Best Buy joint venture in America. To support the launch, HH established a US based account team and supplier base to support the regional requirements.

An initial pilot was launched in Manhattan and New York. HH was invited to extend its highly successful European partnership by supplying a suite of marketing materials, printed in the US, for the pilot.

Robert MacMillan, managing director at HH said: “The Carphone Warehouse is one of our largest pan-European clients and we are absolutely delighted to be supporting them in this new venture. It is an excellent opportunity for HH to develop our US supplier relationships, in marketing print categories that we have unrivalled experience of.”

HH has developed a bespoke network of US printers for The Carphone Warehouse, who will supply welcome packs, Buyers Guides, POS and other in-store literature all under the careful eye of the HH in-house team based in New York.