Express ideas
Making ideas possible is Outbox's expertise. Printing expert Michael Kampos and his team find the best, cheapest or fastest print shop for advertising agencies and direct customers.
Many customers have already given Michael Kampos feedback that they consider Outbox "the greatest printer in the world." "We have never had a deadline bottleneck. We always have a supplier who can step into the breach," explains Michael Kampos. After seven years in the market, the founder of Outbox can now draw from a portfolio of around 500 suppliers. With these, the intermediary agency can always offer a solution for print jobs of any kind, even with an unusual idea. "I think of it as a big wall with 500 drawers. If the customer wants something specific, I can just pull out the solution."
Outbox connects projects with the most suitable partner in each case. "We are to be looked at like a print shop with the largest offering in Switzerland. That makes us strong. Our competencies are comparable to those of a general contractor in the construction industry or broker in insurance. It's just that this form of service is not yet as well known in our industry," says Kampos, explaining his business model.
Outbox sells solutions in this sense. Advertisers or direct clients often contact the agency, explain their budget and time horizon, as well as their more or less clear idea of their desired product. Outbox's team then shows what is possible with that budget and in the requested time frame. "We never want to have to say no - unlike a print shop that can only offer its standard services," says the boss.
The resourceful service provider came up with the idea of a commercial agency for print jobs because he himself worked in various print shops for 17 years. "It always bothered me when I had to tell a customer: it's not possible!" Often it was due to the size of the print shop. A small one can't print every format, or at a large one the machines weren't free. Maybe they secretly went to the competition because they didn't want to lose the customer. In the end, this game of hide-and-seek no longer satisfied Kampos. "Today, I no longer make a secret of our partners. The address of our suppliers is indeed our know-how. But when it comes to closing, we often play with our cards on the table. Our customers can even come along to the print shop for fine-tuning," says Kampos, explaining his much more open business policy today.
He founded his Outbox in May 2003. In the meantime, the company with offices in Bern and Zurich already employs ten people. All of them have previously gained a wide variety of experience in the printing trade, in prepress or lettering. Michael Kampos himself completed an apprenticeship as a reprographic printer. That was twenty years ago, when the printing industry was in the process of switching from manual work to computers. Today, the range of services has become even broader with the printing world of digitization, which is almost impossible to keep track of. And because he could never find all these possibilities in a single company, Kampos finally founded Outbox. "Here we can offer a solution for any production, no matter how unusual."
Many of these orders are placed with individual partners. "However, projects where we have to coordinate between several partners are also very exciting." Advertising agencies in particular have very original ideas in this area, for which Kampos can use all his imagination in finding a solution. "As print experts, we know a lot more suppliers than a creative director." With direct clients, it's more about finding a free deadline or budget issues. Here, Outbox is "completely neutral" in scanning the entire market.
Around 98 percent of Outbox's orders are processed in Switzerland. "Our printing industry is the most highly developed in all of Europe." Only for large orders does Outbox sometimes have to move to nearby Germany when it needs to find a free press at short notice for runs of up to several million. In addition to the quality, Kampos also appreciates the much shorter time horizons for processing the often multi-stage orders in Switzerland.
Most ideas are still realized on paper. However, the range is getting wider and wider, especially since new gimmicks are constantly being discovered in laser printing. Outbox has divided the offer into four different categories: Standard printed matter, packaging, lettering and textile printing, which also includes embroidery. In addition, there is a fifth area, the special productions with constantly newly discovered innovations.
Current examples include an asphalt film with three-dimensional-looking photos, as Outbox was able to use at the last Tour de Suisse. Even in the rain, the bicycles rode absolutely safely over the advertising-effective stickers. Lenticulars or "wiggle pictures" are also in vogue. This season, the "gift packets" in the shop windows of Mobiliar Insurance, which were built and printed by Outbox, attracted attention in three dimensions. A lot of tinkering is behind the ducks for Bern's Shoppy-Land. The 15,000 printed balloons had to be able to fly upright correctly, something that various balloon manufacturers have failed at. The big challenge in terms of coordination was a large banner made of a grid. The 14 x 4 meter wide advertising medium had to be prepared, printed and hung in just two days.
Kampos regularly visits the relevant trade fairs throughout Europe for his new discoveries. Conversely, it is also the partner companies that report their latest developments to him.
In addition to its wide range, another core competency of Outbox is price optimization. "We very often manage to surprise customers by getting better conditions out of them by placing the order in the right way." Outbox's employees know the market and its technical conditions. "Many small jobs are placed in printers that are too big and vice versa," Kampos knows.
As a result of the economic situation, Outbox has also noticed a trend towards shorter runs - but with a clearer target group. People have been talking about personalized printed matter for a long time. In the meantime, individualization has also been added. "There is more targeted advertising today. More different mailings to a few, more individualized." High-quality printed envelopes - delivered in runs of just ten to particularly valued customers.
Michael Kampos sees web solutions as competition for his idea in the printing industry. Certainly a viable solution for certain standardized jobs. Here, however, the customer finds neither advice nor a guarantee for the actual desired end product.
Outbox, which provides advice on a personal basis, has now more than doubled its annual turnover from 1.5 million francs at the start. The profit is again generated from discounts that arise thanks to cooperation with interested suppliers. In this sense, Outbox's consultants are also inexpensive "sales representatives" for the approximately 500 participating print shops.
In this constellation, it is not apparent to a customer at first glance what competencies lie dormant behind Outbox's specialists. "You only see an office with us and no machines. That's where it sometimes takes a bit of trust." The greatest pride for Michael Kampos is therefore when, after seven years as an intermediary, he can enjoy this trust again and again with an initial order. A project where the customer doesn't contact a print shop first, but comes straight to Outbox for advice.
Outbox connects projects with the most suitable partner in each case. "We are to be looked at like a print shop with the largest offering in Switzerland. That makes us strong. Our competencies are comparable to those of a general contractor in the construction industry or broker in insurance. It's just that this form of service is not yet as well known in our industry," says Kampos, explaining his business model.
Outbox sells solutions in this sense. Advertisers or direct clients often contact the agency, explain their budget and time horizon, as well as their more or less clear idea of their desired product. Outbox's team then shows what is possible with that budget and in the requested time frame. "We never want to have to say no - unlike a print shop that can only offer its standard services," says the boss.
The resourceful service provider came up with the idea of a commercial agency for print jobs because he himself worked in various print shops for 17 years. "It always bothered me when I had to tell a customer: it's not possible!" Often it was due to the size of the print shop. A small one can't print every format, or at a large one the machines weren't free. Maybe they secretly went to the competition because they didn't want to lose the customer. In the end, this game of hide-and-seek no longer satisfied Kampos. "Today, I no longer make a secret of our partners. The address of our suppliers is indeed our know-how. But when it comes to closing, we often play with our cards on the table. Our customers can even come along to the print shop for fine-tuning," says Kampos, explaining his much more open business policy today.
He founded his Outbox in May 2003. In the meantime, the company with offices in Bern and Zurich already employs ten people. All of them have previously gained a wide variety of experience in the printing trade, in prepress or lettering. Michael Kampos himself completed an apprenticeship as a reprographic printer. That was twenty years ago, when the printing industry was in the process of switching from manual work to computers. Today, the range of services has become even broader with the printing world of digitization, which is almost impossible to keep track of. And because he could never find all these possibilities in a single company, Kampos finally founded Outbox. "Here we can offer a solution for any production, no matter how unusual."
Many of these orders are placed with individual partners. "However, projects where we have to coordinate between several partners are also very exciting." Advertising agencies in particular have very original ideas in this area, for which Kampos can use all his imagination in finding a solution. "As print experts, we know a lot more suppliers than a creative director." With direct clients, it's more about finding a free deadline or budget issues. Here, Outbox is "completely neutral" in scanning the entire market.
Around 98 percent of Outbox's orders are processed in Switzerland. "Our printing industry is the most highly developed in all of Europe." Only for large orders does Outbox sometimes have to move to nearby Germany when it needs to find a free press at short notice for runs of up to several million. In addition to the quality, Kampos also appreciates the much shorter time horizons for processing the often multi-stage orders in Switzerland.
Most ideas are still realized on paper. However, the range is getting wider and wider, especially since new gimmicks are constantly being discovered in laser printing. Outbox has divided the offer into four different categories: Standard printed matter, packaging, lettering and textile printing, which also includes embroidery. In addition, there is a fifth area, the special productions with constantly newly discovered innovations.
Current examples include an asphalt film with three-dimensional-looking photos, as Outbox was able to use at the last Tour de Suisse. Even in the rain, the bicycles rode absolutely safely over the advertising-effective stickers. Lenticulars or "wiggle pictures" are also in vogue. This season, the "gift packets" in the shop windows of Mobiliar Insurance, which were built and printed by Outbox, attracted attention in three dimensions. A lot of tinkering is behind the ducks for Bern's Shoppy-Land. The 15,000 printed balloons had to be able to fly upright correctly, something that various balloon manufacturers have failed at. The big challenge in terms of coordination was a large banner made of a grid. The 14 x 4 meter wide advertising medium had to be prepared, printed and hung in just two days.
Kampos regularly visits the relevant trade fairs throughout Europe for his new discoveries. Conversely, it is also the partner companies that report their latest developments to him.
In addition to its wide range, another core competency of Outbox is price optimization. "We very often manage to surprise customers by getting better conditions out of them by placing the order in the right way." Outbox's employees know the market and its technical conditions. "Many small jobs are placed in printers that are too big and vice versa," Kampos knows.
As a result of the economic situation, Outbox has also noticed a trend towards shorter runs - but with a clearer target group. People have been talking about personalized printed matter for a long time. In the meantime, individualization has also been added. "There is more targeted advertising today. More different mailings to a few, more individualized." High-quality printed envelopes - delivered in runs of just ten to particularly valued customers.
Michael Kampos sees web solutions as competition for his idea in the printing industry. Certainly a viable solution for certain standardized jobs. Here, however, the customer finds neither advice nor a guarantee for the actual desired end product.
Outbox, which provides advice on a personal basis, has now more than doubled its annual turnover from 1.5 million francs at the start. The profit is again generated from discounts that arise thanks to cooperation with interested suppliers. In this sense, Outbox's consultants are also inexpensive "sales representatives" for the approximately 500 participating print shops.
In this constellation, it is not apparent to a customer at first glance what competencies lie dormant behind Outbox's specialists. "You only see an office with us and no machines. That's where it sometimes takes a bit of trust." The greatest pride for Michael Kampos is therefore when, after seven years as an intermediary, he can enjoy this trust again and again with an initial order. A project where the customer doesn't contact a print shop first, but comes straight to Outbox for advice.
Andreas Panzeri
Costs, dates
Someone has a good idea, but does not know how to implement the order. Outbox analyzes the market for its customers, offers the best solution and coordinates the projects from the idea to printing and distribution. The agency with offices in Bern and Zurich is the contact for standard printed matter, lettering, packaging and special productions.
