Currie Group signs off on a brace of Horizon finishing equipment and a new HP Indigo 7600 as Shadi Taleb prepares to shift his business up a gear.
Powered by Southern Colour’s investment early in the year and ahead of a move to larger premises, Cheltenham-based Intelligent Media has gone on a technology buying spree. The ground-breaking multi-channel enterprise has specified a sophisticated Horizon digital finishing line from Currie Group to further develop its trademark ‘spiffy’ intelligent print (SPIFF – Substrate, Personalisation, Ink, Folding and Function).
According to Shadi Taleb, who sold a portion of his rapidly growing business to Southern Colour in order to access more capital and customer opportunities, the next few months will see a transformation in Intelligent Media. “We’ve yet to decide where the new location is, but it will be close to Southern Colour. We need more space to grow. Bigger premises will make it easier,” he said.
At the time of acquisition Rod Dawson, managing director of Southern Colour, acknowledged Intelligent Media would bring more than printing expertise to the business. “We recognise and understand the changing face of the print industry. It’s been our long held belief that we need to enter the digital space and saw a great deal of potential with Intelligent Media,” he said.
A pioneer of complex marketing print, Intelligent Media services a wide range of agencies and large corporations with sophisticated personalised printing. Taleb spends a lot of his time presenting ‘innovative printing’ ideas to creative directors, as well as presenting on the international circuit for HP and Dscoop. He is one of the new directors for Dscoop in Australia.
“We combine paper engineering and data manipulation to generate greater cut through and increased relevance," he said.
A data evangelist, Taleb promotes the synergy of print and online marketing. “One doesn’t work without the other and marketers are starting to understand that. Print and online complement one another in the marketing mix. Make no mistake the budget for print is always there if you can demonstrate effective returns,” he said.
The new investment in digital finishing and a high-powered HP Indigo 7600 will power up Intelligent Media’s development of complex printing. Working with long-term creative director, Allan Fox, Taleb is promoting a monthly print innovation DM piece to agencies, encompassing the ’SPIFF rating system. This places the latest complex marketing examples in front of creative directors, demonstrating the power of print.
The million-dollar investment in Horizon post press and digital printing will further allow the company to transform print into sophisticated marketing products.
“This is a very good digital finishing line. It is versatile and productive. It allows collated print to be put together with offline covers. It is perfectly suited for digital printing,” said Bernie Robinson, managing director, Currie Group (pictured).
In addition to the HP Indigo 7600, the Horizon shopping list includes:
- CF 400 – cover/folder
- CR 400 – creaser/trimmer
- AC 400 – accumulator
- SPF200L – stitcher
- SC200L foredge trimmer
- BVS – barcode reader
- CRF 362 – creaser /folder
The line up joins a recently purchased BQ 280 PUR – single clamp perfect binder, also from Currie Group.