Vinehall Displays creates festive fun with Roland Soljet
Print Solutions
Vinehall Displays has got into the Christmas spirit with a festive advertising project for Coca-Cola, transforming a retail kiosk into a yuletide grotto. The displays were printed on Roland DG Soljet Pro 3 and Pro 4 high production wide format printers.
The client approached Dublin based Vinehall Displays with a brief to promote Coca-Cola's 'Holidays are Coming' campaign with a full wrap and the ‘biggest bow possible’ for the kiosk at the busy Europa Buscentre in Belfast. As an events and exhibition specialist with 20 years' experience designing, building and installing creative projects, Vinehall Displays duly delivered with a two metre high bow with halo lit 3D letters.
The Christmas campaign follows a Halloween project for the same client, which saw the Europa Buscentre kiosk turned into a spooky haunted house. Featuring a skull graphic that imitated a shelf wobbler with red eyes lit with LEDs, the project also included Fanta logos installed 15 mm off the wall with an impactful halo LED lighting effect.
Both of these jobs were completed on Roland systems – the first Soljet having been installed ten years ago and still going strong, as Gerard McElhinney Jnr, director at Vinehall Displays, explains. ‘We had been considering a flatbed printer but saw a demonstration of the Soljet Pro 3, and discovered it ticked a lot more boxes for us than the flatbed. We ran some sample files and found that the quality was very, very good,’ he said. ‘It was our first step into printing having previously outsourced everything, and as a result we now print almost all work in house.’
The first job on the Soljet Pro 3, for Irish meat brand Denny, set the tone for ambitious print projects. ‘We turned a removals van into a house on wheels complete with brick-effect walls, customised internal wallpaper, front door, windows with trompe l'oeil views, furniture and a kitchen,’ explained Gerard.
At this stage, Vinehall Displays was run by Gerard's parents, with the current director working alongside his father Gerard McElhinney Snr until taking over its management six years ago. The family business has grown by 20% each year and now employs 14 full time members of staff including printers, carpenters, designers and administrators. Its blue chip clients span multiple markets, and include supermarket chains, banks, phone companies, confectionery brands and Dublin Zoo.
The Soljet Pro 3 has been running for one third of Vinehall's 30 year lifespan – a longevity Gerard says is down to using Roland branded inks, regular maintenance from Neopost engineers and weekly cleaning. This printer now works alongside a newer SOLJET Pro 4 supplied by Sign & Digital Materials, a workhorse printer/cutter running Greenguard Gold Certified Eco-Sol Max inks including metallic and white options.
Gerard explains that the Roland Soljet's Pantone reference library was immediately a major draw for Vinehall's clients, adding that it has also been put to work printing a colour accurate backdrop for a Dulux paint advert.
‘Our clients trust us to deliver accurate colours, so the Pantone library is very important,’ he said. ‘The machines have been fantastic for us – the print is brilliant, sheer quality.’
