PUBLICATION CENTER

Marten’s printing capabilities, recently supplemented with the addition of a Canon iPF8100, have branded Montana Silversmiths beyond his photography work for catalogs and other collateral material, and into large-format displays that attract people at the point of sale.

“You have to start with good photography, because you can go a lot of different directions with it. Clark’s association with Montana Silversmiths has been a good, solid, and cherished relationship for a long time,” says Judy Wagner, director of marketing for Montana Silversmiths.

This year, Montana Silversmiths ran a temporary store at the Denver Merchandise Mart to coincide with the annual National Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show being held down the street at the Denver Coliseum. Basically, one venue is dedicated to the spectacle of rodeo and livestock, and the other to Western gear of all types, from saddles, belts, and boots to hats.

Montana Silversmiths sells an exceptional and original line of Western jewelry, as well as any number of Western-themed gifts, décor, and leather goods. At the 2009 Western and English Association Market (WESA) held at the Denver Merchandise Mart, Montana Silversmiths had two show rooms, each of which was wrapped and decorated with graphics produced by Clark Marten.

In the past, Marten has re-purposed his photography into banners and posters for Montana Silversmiths’ displays. This year, Marten also printed wall murals, creative cut-outs, and floor graphics on Photo Tex PSA Fabric from LexJet with his new Canon iPF8100. Marten estimates that he printed about 200 feet of images for this year’s store displays.

The displays included full wall wraps and cut-outs applied to the display walls depicting Montana Silversmiths’ various product lines. With the addition of the wall murals and cut-outs, branding was elevated significantly and Montana Silversmiths’ products were highlighted and differentiated effectively.

“Judy is fun to work with because we can dream up different ways of promoting their company. All through the year we’re working together so that she can take her perspective and meld it together with my photography,” explains Marten.

“I came back from LexJet’s Great Output Seminar in Seattle with this new Photo Tex product, and Judy and I collaborated on images we could apply to the walls at the stock show. There are western wear people from all over the world who show their products at the Merchandise Mart, so it was important to make sure the images captured people’s attention, so I used files I had shot for them over the year and put them in a different format,” says Marten.

“The Photo Tex has some nice depth to it; I was really impressed with how it was printing. This prints were deep and rich and showed all the details. Years ago I would print something and the blacks were just black and all blocked up. Photo Tex showed me all the tones of my blacks and nothing was lost in the process. Plus, with the awesome profiles LexJet has on-line and my new Canon printer it’s fairly fool-proof,” Marten adds.

Marten printed about 30 eight-foot long panels, going through two 24-in. rolls, and some 36-in. and 42-in. rolls. In addition to the standard rolls sizes at LexJet, Photo Tex is now also available in 24-in. x 20-ft. rolls for the aqueous material and 54-in. x 20’ rolls for the solvent material.

Marten provided a key sheet for each section he sent to Denver for the show. The panels were numbered to coincide with the key sheet so that the crew at Montana Silversmiths had something to reference as they installed the prints.

“It was an extremely successful event for us, and the images Clark photographed and printed for us really made a big difference,” says Wagner. “Any time you can bring out your products with outstanding images in a large format that complements the environment and is appropriate to the product – whether it requires a more serious look, like our wedding products, or a fun look, like our Bareback Kickers – the more likely you are to increase your sales in the store.”