Prontaprint makes franchise final

Just one year on from the launch of its new brand identity, Prontaprint has been nominated for the prestigious British Franchise Association Franchisor of the Year award.

The nomination comes at the same time as the print-on-demand franchise announced a 15 per cent year-on-year average sales increase across its repositioned centres.

Following a £3 million investment and almost two years’ research into the market, brand development and training, the new brand positioning was piloted at seven Prontaprint centres (Aberdeen, Dundee, Birmingham, Brighton & Hove, Carlisle, Wrexham and Victoria).

As a result of the six-month trial, a nationwide roll-out got underway last summer, beginning with Ireland and the south east in September, followed by Scotland and the north east in January this year. The programme is set to continue throughout 2007 in regional groups of 20 centres.

The repositioning includes an intensive learning and development programme for franchisees and their staff, enhanced business services and a brand new corporate identity.

A new positioning statement - ‘Trusted to deliver every time’ - has been introduced to reflect the company’s ‘can-do’ culture, alongside the strong use of illustration and a warm aubergine corporate colour to reinforce the human face of the brand.

At the same time, Prontaprint has simplified its business services into five core areas - design, print, display, direct mail and finish.

“Our nomination for Franchisor of the Year and the sales growth across repositioned centres is testament to the research, investment and hard work of both the franchisor and franchisee teams that has gone into developing the brand positioning,” says Keith Davidson, Prontaprint’s Head of Marketing.

“The most forward thinking and ambitious franchisees have set the benchmark for other centres to follow in order to meet the needs of businesses throughout the UK and Ireland.

“The repositioning roll-out has moved Prontaprint away from the ‘copy shop’ label. Increasingly, business clients request a holistic solution for their design, print, display, direct mail or finishing needs. We are ideally placed to offer this with the new brand positioning and can-do culture of the Prontaprint brand.

“We are now looking forward to implementing this throughout the rest of the network and are proud to be named as one of the top franchisors in the country.”