Award-winning The Printed Image is one of Ireland’s top brand enhancers. It is also a world sector leader in eco strategies. “We are committed to helping reduce the environmental impacts of printing and protecting the environment we operate in,” said Managing Director Tom Moriarty. Imogen Ward and Colin Chinery report.
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Brand domination and eco-sustainability – key for the successful specialist print sector in 2024 – see The Printed Image pre-eminent in Ireland.
“Delighting our clients is at the heart of what we do, and we have built a reputation for customer service, quality and reliability, unrivalled within our industry,” said Managing Director Tom Moriarty. “We start at the ideation and design stage, then carry that through the process right up to delivery and, in some cases, collection and disposal of a product.”
With multiple brands, big and small, like Amazon, BMW, Cadburys, Heinz, Lidl, Lindt, Tesco Bank and Zurich, the client portfolio is hugely impressive.
Dynamic creativity
Formed 33 years ago as a conventional print business, the Dublin company has 50 staff and has evolved to become a large dynamic end-to-end service partner to numerous brands. The Printed Image delivers creative, bespoke and cost-effective marketing solutions in settings such as in-store, outdoor, at-home and online.
“Innovation is at the core of what we do,” continued Mr Moriarty. “We’re experts at design and converting agency and client ideas into captivating printed and promotional materials that stand out for all the right reasons.”
Sustainability is another standout, a strategy that saw the company winning the prestigious Gold Standard from EcoVadis – an organisation that tracks 1.6 million companies across more than 175 countries. This places The Printed Image among the top 5% of companies globally for sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility and in the top 2% of print companies worldwide.
“The Printed Image is committed to helping reduce the environmental impacts of printing and protecting the environment we operate in,” Mr Moriarty explained. “We take environmental commitments seriously and have gone to great lengths to measure and reduce our carbon footprint and minimise any potential wastage.
“We are proud to be FSC certified, ensuring our paper is sourced from FSC certified mills promoting good forest management. Alongside this, we recycle everything including wastepaper, ink containers, LDPE, wooden pallets and plastic wraps. We are a 100% effluent and hazardous chemical free and zero PFAS site.”
Dedicated to client success
The €10m turnover company’s continuous investment strategy maximises client delivery potential. “It’s very important for us to remain relevant to them, dedicated to their success and their brand promotion in the marketplace,” said Mr. Moriarty. “With over 500 active customers who have dealt with us for many, many years and a live client base of over 2,500, we have a very loyal client base.”
Milestones in 33 years of consistent profitability include the move to full in-house digitalisation in 2020, overseen by a management buy-out the same year – “a seamless transition of ownership of essentially the same company,” according to Mr Moriarty. This was in addition to a move to spacious new premises; eco-friendly, with waste segregation, material recycling and solar-power install in progress.
The Printed Image offers services ranging from signage, display and promotional merchandise to marketing events and online portals. The company brands everything through the strategic use of branded promotional merchandise to increase brand loyalty, expand brand awareness and increase client top-line sales.
“One of the other areas we see a lot of growth in from our client demand is higher quality and longer lasting retail display,” Mr. Moriarty continued. “So, again regarding sustainability, 20 years ago it was just cardboard, clipped together with plastic and glue to a shop floor and lasting a week. Today, clients and retailers are more interested in items that will stay in the store for longer and are of higher quality, more sustainable and better-looking.”
In-house designers
For graphic and structural design, the in-house creative team of three graphic and three structural designers works closely with clients to understand their business and the message they want to deliver. Signage, display and vehicle graphics have seen the company working with some of the most forward-thinking brands, supporting them in creating the most powerful and appealing visual advertisement mediums.
“Our mission is to help grow a brand and increase sales through responsive connected marketing solutions, bespoke products and services, and meeting every advertising need, fitting corporate style with precision,” Mr Moriarty said.
Providing clients with an online portal streamlines the ordering process and manages brand and quality consistency. “In this digital age, we help join all the dots, centralising solutions tailored to client needs,” Mr Moriarty explained. “From beautifully crafted websites to personalised ordering communication and logistics centres, we deliver efficient tools to support our client’s operations.
“Altogether, we have a continuous investment in the technology for our portals to make life easy for the client. If life is easy for the client, then they’re very happy with the service and the savings, plus they’re very likely to remain loyal to us.”
A showcase of typical testimonials shows why – ‘consistently exceeds my expectations… swift responses… outstanding value… above and beyond with valuable enhancements… great to work with… superb quality.’
Sustainable operation
Producing everything under one roof, in state-of-the-art facilities, allows the company to manage all project requirements promptly and efficiently. This ensures the highest ISO-9001 standards of quality and consistency, according to Mr Moriarty: “As part of our commitment to become a carbon-neutral company, we are keen to do all we can in-house, and also to support and partner with organisations who are consistently, tenaciously and successfully working globally for the benefit of all.”
The printing industry in general is responsible for a significant amount of environmental pollution. The production of paper requires a large amount of energy, water and chemicals, while the use of non-recyclable materials and disposal of printing waste in landfills also poses a significant environmental threat.
Transportation of printed materials and the use of packaging materials also contribute to carbon emissions. Against this backdrop, The Printed Image took a decisive corporate step.
“When we carried out our MBO three years ago we decided that we would become the Home of Sustainability,” Mr Moriarty. explained. “Everything we do in the company is geared around ethical sourcing and ethical relationships with our suppliers and clients.
“Since we had a blank canvas, we totally redesigned our new premises fit for a full and proper segregation of all of our waste streams. Our industry has pretty high energy consumption, but by looking at new machinery we’ve succeeded in reducing our electricity consumption significantly, while working to achieve EcoVadis Gold Standard guidelines tracking of all our emissions.”
Investment in new machinery, technology and research to increase both efficiency and sustainability metrics is one priority over the next two years. Another task is to grow across the whole island, Republic and Northern Ireland.
“And of course,” said Mr. Moriarty, in conclusion, “all these objectives and advances will be achieved as a company who are ‘The Home of Sustainability’ – our tagline at The Printed Image.”
