The David in the equation is Back-Bench Solutions – a new print-production facility set up by a team of seasoned national newspaper and magazine professionals.
The company, based on the edge of Trafford Park’s industrial estate in Manchester, is headed by MD Andy Pacino and specialises in providing fully designed and subbed print-ready editorial and advertising pages to the newspaper and magazine industry.
“We realised the potential of Back-Bench Solutions at the end of last year when production departments were starting to be decimated across the print media industry,” Pacino says.
“And as we have minimal overheads, we can undercut the few major agencies capable of offering the same service,” he adds.
He sees little change in the landscape today and he believes the continuing recession will play into the hands of BackBench Solutions (BBS).
“The pressure of the credit crunch is forcing editors and publishers to wake up to some unpleasant truths,”
“For years most British publications have relied on extremely costly
in-house production departments to sub-edit and design their pages.
“The recession has graphically illustrated that this tradition is no longer financially justifiable.
"As titles struggle to cut costs, more publishers are coming to accept the simple fact that outsourcing their production needs makes commercial sense as well as going a long way to securing the jobs left within the industry.
“By transferring their editorial and advertising page make-up operations to BackBench Solutions they will significantly reduce production costs.”
Print design specialist Pacino and BBS’ Head of Editorial and their team have all honed their craft at senior level on various national publications.
Pacino insists the time is right for the company to challenge the might of the UK’s outsourcing Goliath – the Press Association – and beat it at its own game.
“As the recession tightens, many, many more papers and magazines will choose to outsource some or all of their production operations.
With BackBench Solutions they have a realistic British alternative to PA – and the other two or three suitable facilities currently available worldwide.
“I believe the big agencies are simply
"Their sheer size prevents them from offering what is the best value, and while we at BackBench Solutions strive for efficiency, we will also maintain both design and editorial standards.
“BackBench Solutions has a great deal of combined national press experience gained over many years – and being a smaller and more productive company than the others we are easily able to mould to individual publishers’ material requirements – and their budgets.”
It is these qualities which Pacino says will undermine the giants like PA.
“Our flexibility, value for money and more personal approach is going to be the key to what I see as our USP and our success.
"We aim to provide a bespoke service catering for the individuality of the publications which we envisage will range from the nationals right down to the much-loved, and well-established weekly regionals and locals, and from high-end glossy magazines to corporate bulletins.
“We intend to maintain close relationships with both publishers and editors. They will still remain very much in control of the production operations they want rather than have to go through endless layers of telephone staff before they can talk to someone who’s actually handling their material,” he adds.
And despite offering the best out-sourcing value for money around, quality is still very much at the heart of the BBS ethos.
“Our team has a such a high level of skill and experience that our clients
will often see an improvement in the design and editorial content.” Pacino says.
"I pick up papers every day, nationals included, and see many designers do not even possess the most basic ability to underscore a headline properly. I find that utterly outrageous!"
With titles across the country looking for a means to provide a suitable solution to the oncoming editorial crisis – and with Woodwing, the sub-editing software still unproven – BackBench Solutions looks set fair to aim its sling at the Press Association et al and win itself a share of the spoils.
Pacino says: “Within three years we estimate BBS will be producing some 75,000 print-ready pages
annually in the UK alone – and Goliath will know all about David by then."
Seconds out, round one...
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