Producing dummies is work for professionals

Interproof in Frankfurt, Germany has been making dummies and limited series of packaging for the advertising industry for more than 40 years. Their great reputation in this specialised segment got them quite a few big brands as customer.

Interproof´s core business is producing dummies for future packaging products for specialised campaigns. Interproof´s CEO, Wolfgang Marx, explains: you can of course make a 3D presentation or show an animation on a screen, but that won´t allow you to hold the packaging or view it from different sides. A dummy which looks like the final end product is much more convincing. You can really see what it looks like in the shop and what it feels like.

Lookalike
For these type of presentations it is very important that Interproof gets as close to the original product as possible. And that is a skill in itself. Marx: We do not use the same processes as used for mass producing products. That is offset or silk screen if it concerns labels. It is an art to control the colours and materials such that the dummy looks like the future mass product. It just doesn´t work if later the mass product turns out to be very different.”

Interproof uses a Roland DG UV printer, the VersaUV LEC-330 for these types of proofs. This printer was developed especially for this type of work and is able to work with many different types of materials and finishes.

Original materials
The Roland printer offers Wolfgang Marx the opportunity to print on original materials. We can print onto 300 grams cardboard products and synthetic materials. It is important that the colours do not sink into the materials, but stay on the surface. We have the machines to prepare the sheets so that the ink behaves on the materials as it would during the actual mass production. The support from Roland is very important to achieve this and Marx is very positive about this. The support we receive from the Roland technicians is excellent, he says. Roland helps us reach the maximum capacity of the printers. Every order we produce is different, so we cannot standardise. There is a lot of trial and error which helps us in preparing for other orders, which is great.

Big brands
Interproof works with many big brands. Marx: We have produced something for all the big names, but we are very pro-active. There are lots of personnel changes within advertising agencies and with the big brands which often means that people who know our products and the results have gone. It also happens that someone finds out that a simple print won´t work only a few days before the actual presentation. Our strength is in helping these parties with a short turnaround

Fast work
Also foreign advertising agencies use the services of this specialised company in Germany. We see that the world becomes smaller, says Wolfgang Marx. If necessary we can deliver a dummy to London the next day.
It is this specialisation in this particular niche market which makes Interproof what it is. A proof made by specialists is just right. Marx: It´s not just any proof. We also show special effects such as embossed or foil print. In this case we also work with original materials. For example foils embossed with heat. Industrial machines just would not be able to do this, but we know how to create these effects with original materials so that the feeling is the same. There are not many companies who have this skill.

more info: www.interproof.de