Article highlights positive and negative effects of London Olympics on UK print businesses.
According to the article appearing on technology website PrintWeek, the London 2012 Olympic Games has seen winners and losers within the print industry, with those selected to produce printed material left unable to talk about it or promote themselves due to sponsorship rights, and those that have not been involved in the Olympic preparation feeling “badly let down” or disrupted by the events.
One such company is Quad DM, which was “forced to relocate, at its own expense” due to the vast amount of additional traffic and pedestrians making it impossible for the business to remain in its original location.
Paul Edwards, Managing Director of Quad DM commented: “We were told by LOCOG not to worry because there would be a maximum of 4,000 extra pedestrians a day during the Olympics.
“We then got the model from Tower Hamlets that forecasts 76,000 a day. I don’t think we’ll be able to get in or out of here. There are two routes, one of which has been turned into a coach park with coaches due every two minutes and the other runs past Hackney Wick, which is going to be overflowing with pedestrians – how do you get a 40ft container of paper through that lot?”
Despite paying £35,000 ($55,000/€45000) in legal fees to take LOCOG to court, the company were told that there would be no compensation for relocation costs or loss of business. Overall, the Olympics has cost the business around £150,000 ($235,000/€192,000), with the company forced to sell equipment at prices lower than their value and paying outstanding lease fees at its original site.
While wide-format printers were employed across the country in making banners, bunting, building wraps, posters, handbooks and point-of-sale displays, with one printer commenting that “there is no doubt that every wide-format printer in the country is flat out – everyone is near enough at full capacity,” many SMEs within the print industry claim to have been overlooked, with 31 percent of respondents to a PrintWeek survey indicating that they have not received any Olympic-related work.
Despite the Games only lasting two weeks, Edwards claims that his company will not be moving back to its original location: “Even if we wanted to [move back] the writing is on the wall for the whole area – I guarantee you that in few years, where all these businesses are now will be flats and there won’t be printing around here anymore.”