Queensberry Connects


Ian Baugh

Ian graduated with an arts degree too long ago to remember (OK, the early '70s), then worked in secondary teaching and small boat design and construction, including a foreign aid project in the Solomon Is. He developed Queensberry with his wife, Heather, who founded the company in the early '70s. Ian is a Director is of Queensberry and Photojunction and focuses on marketing and strategic planning. His wealth of industry knowledge is the result of over 25 years talking with Queensberry's clients.

http://www.queensberry.com/

Ian's Archive

Wow, last Friday we offered 200 sample books and albums discounted by 50% (instead of the normal 25%).

Well, it blew the doors off the OP department. They had 200 acceptances and counting before the email had even finished sending!

So first we need to say “thank you”.

Second, we can hardly say No to people who’s email address starts with “Z”, or who happened to be asleep in the “wrong” time zone, so if you’ve already contacted us we’ll definitely do the deal for you.

Just a few Buts (sorry!):

- Don’t forget they’re for samples only, and (new policy, so pardon the repetition) marked “not for resale”.

- We must have your order by Monday 6 February, and confirmation and payment by Monday 13th.

- Also, because we’ve had so many acceptances it may take us a bit longer than normal to deliver these albums.

Once again, thanks heaps for your support.

Cheers
Ian

PS Sorry, we can’t extend the offer past the dates above, so do get in quick…

 

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  • Well, it’s a sad day.

    Kodak has been felled by exactly what it espoused: universal access to cameras.The Washington Post.

    That’s true, but it’s not the whole story. Kodak was also felled by its commitment to its legacy film business … even though it was a digital pioneer too.

    To be clear, Kodak says it isn’t closing the doors, it’s continuing to restructure, but still, it’s sad to see a company (and technology) decline that brought so much good into the world – art created, memories conserved and stories told.

    Three things are certain:

    1. Our world is changing, and we have to change with it.

    2. We’ll miss the old world (the new one mayn’t work that sweetly for a while).

    3. Queensberry will be part of the change.

    So much has changed already. Since we started doing business in the northern hemisphere, it’s not just the big film and paper manufacturers that have struggled. All the major British and American album manufacturers we aspired to compete with have been toppled. It’s been just as wild a ride for professional photographers. The whole album business and how it works has been turned on its ear.

    Well, the revolution isn’t over.

    We aren’t the same company today as we were three years ago, let alone ten. We won’t be the same company in three years more, either.

    Last year was busy, as we deepened our involvement in digital offset printing.

    This year will be just as hectic. Watch this space!

    Cheers, Ian

    PS Kodak is emphasising it’s business as usual, but obviously we are concerned about continuity of supply for paper and chemicals. If worst comes to worst, we have some months’ supply, and alternatives from other suppliers. We are also very confident about our digital offset print capability. Queensberry Press is already a major product category for us, and there is no reason we can’t apply the technology to our other product ranges.

     

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  • No, that’s not what it means.

    WTF stands for…

    Website (yours): It’s hard to get people to visit, but you’re in charge, it looks like you – you shape it, you own it.

    Twitter: Millions hang out there, there are ways to get their attention – but it belongs to someone else.

    Facebook: Same thing with bells on. Millions and millions of people. Awesome networking and sharing tools. But you’re not in charge, it doesn’t look like you’re in charge, and Mr Zuckerburg gets the Google Juice not you.

    It’s essential to hang out with people in these public places, but invite them back to your place as well. Give them a chance to see what makes you different, and better, and authentic.

    For example, every week Anna posts a client’s album on our blog, and mentions it on Facebook. People click through to our blog to check it out. Some of them click the Like button, some click through to our main site.

    And it gets better if our client (or her client) links, likes and reposts as well.

    Chances are you’re not trying to rule the world, just set up your own place as best it can be. Better to own your virtual castle, I reckon.

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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  • There’s always a mighty surge in orders right on cut-off date, but right now we’re in the mood for another Queensberry Press special offer. You’ll have to be quick though:

    Order a Press Album or Press Book SAMPLE in the next seven days (i.e. by 26 October) and we’ll DOUBLE THE DISCOUNT – to 50% instead of 25%.
    Don’t tell anyone ;)

    All the best from everyone at Queensberry

     

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  • That’s a question we’ve been asked a few times, and the answer is different for Press Books and Press Albums.

    Books are inherently more affordable than albums – although as the saying goes you can really pimp your ride with Queensberry’s Press Books: translucents, art papers, leather covers, Mayu cases, the works. In fact it’s surprised (and gratified) us a bit how many of you have gone for the upmarket options.

    On the other hand, with Press Albums the challenge was two-fold: to offer something you couldn’t get with our classic albums (art papers in particular) and to strike a dramatically lower price point.

    How did we do that? By keeping things simple, and leaving out the options that ramp the cost up.

    Nothing non-standard. No Pagemount. No Duo. Just gorgeously simple Flushmount and Overlay. No optional extras, fewer sizes. As the price list says, “For more upgrade and design opportunities check out our other album ranges.”

    No compromise on quality though. They’re made in exactly the same way with exactly the same materials.

    By the way, the fact that Queensberry Press products are printed digital-offset instead of silver halide does help with costs, but surprisingly little in the big scheme of things. Check ’em out and you’ll see we’re not compromising on quality there either!

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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  • In 2000, when we started doing business in North America, our representative lived in Edmonton, Canada, and our very first clients lived in Houston, Texas, and Sacramento, California. No way could Darlene drop by!

    It’s a good illustration of our most interesting challenge as an international supplier: getting our products into new clients’ hands for them to touch and feel, no matter where they live.

    Getting started is an act of faith on your part, and an act of commitment on ours. “You take the first step and we’ll go the extra mile.”

    It gets even more interesting when the product is new to existing clients, as has been the case with Queensberry Press. To introduce our new books and albums we’ve been giving away some major discounts.

    It’s cost us serious money, but it’s got the product into your hands, and when we see the feedback from our clients we think it’s money well spent.

    And maybe we’re not finished yet…

    But this is one reason we won’t be there in force at WPPI and FOCUS. We can only spend the money once!

    Tomorrow: why Queensberry Press is cheaper.

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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  • Our first Northern Hemisphere show was in Birmingham UK in 2001, when we shared a booth at FOCUS with the Guild of Photographers. We did so well we decided to fly solo at WPPI the following year. Our first time in Vegas!

    At that first show I turned up late on Day One because of a minor drama back home. It was amazing. Our little team (with an Aussie customer in support) were red-faced and practically shouting to make themselves heard to photographers piled up like driftwood round our booth. We had a blast for three days, heading back to the Casino in the evenings for a quiet drink in the din of the slot machines.

    Each year we’ve built bigger booths at both shows, taken more staff along, and the events have certainly been good to us. Thank you!

    But we think it’s time to try something new.

    We started thinking about this last February at WPPI. There were – how many? – fifty? sixty? vendors selling albums. There was Costco! There was breast painting! There were people throwing dollar bills around (in the booth next to us!) And plenty more side shows and conversation stoppers.

    We don’t care so much that it’s a bazaar (or a circus – it’s Vegas after all) but we do care that it’s so hard to get quality time with clients and prospects in the middle of this me-too madness.

    We prefer situations where you can have our full attention, and we can get yours.

    So yes, you’ll be able to catch up with us at both shows in some way, but we’ll be doing things differently.

    Stay tuned for more about what we’re doing, and that “something new”.

    Tomorrow: Why we’re doing discounts.

    Cheers
    Ian

    PS As always, we’re keen to know what you think.

     

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  • Yesterday we introduced you to our Good Better Best product matrix, designed to help you navigate our products and services. We designed our new price lists, which you can download here, to match.

    Maybe the best thing about them is that they’re SIMPLE. The prices for each range of products fit comfortably on a single page. No jokes, please, but that’s a step forward!

    How did we do that? More than 95% of you now order our albums and books in Photojunction, printed and fully assembled, so that’s what the price list assumes you’re doing. If you’re interested in DIY, contact us and we’ll send you a supplementary sheet.

    The next best thing about them is that, despite the destructive currency movements that have been impacting us afresh since early this year, our prices will remain the same, and in some cases reduce. (There are two minor exceptions you can read about below.)

    More good news…

    • We’ve dropped the prices on Queensberry Albums un-matted pages by 10% including printing. (We’re calling them “Flushmounts” now to avoid confusion with our digital offset products.)

    • We’ve reduced our album design prices for Flushmount, Duo and Press albums, by about a third in most cases.

    • You can now add translucent titles to all our album products, including press albums and flushmounts.

    • We’re discontinuing the 9×9 format and replacing it with a 10×10 at the same price.

    To make way for the new we’ve also discontinued a few cover materials, as well as the 6×6, 15×15 and 20×16 formats. (The 6×6 format is now Press Book only.) Also going are all un-matted self-mount options, including digital albums, demis and self-mount miniatures.

    All discontinued lines will be available for a further twelve months as per our normal policy.

    I mentioned a couple of exceptions.

    1. Since everyone is now using the latest version of our software we will be canceling the small “PJ Credit” in the New Year.

    2. We need to align the price of smaller format covers (8×8, 10×7, 10×10) in the Queensberry Albums range with those of the Queensberry Press (the small formats have been cheaper in some cases). Obviously that is a potential cost increase to you, but it’s countered by the fact that all small albums, including 8x8s and 10x7s, will now qualify for free freight, or if you order them with a 12×12 or larger album we’ll discount the smaller album by 20%.

    With that exception all the significant price movements are reductions, so why wait? They come into effect immediately.

    Next: why we’re stepping back at WPPI and FOCUS.

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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  • This has been a big year for Queensberry. Especially the launch of Queensberry Press. New products, new services, new technology, new price points.

    The challenge is making it easy for you to get your head around. Why so many products? What’s the difference between them? How much do they cost?

    We came up with this Good Better Best matrix to map out what we do.

    Good Better Best is a strategy – having a range of products and services to tempt your clients across a range of price points.

    Good is your entry level – affordable if you like. Best is aspirational (expensive). Better is in the middle – what you budget on!

    Before Queensberry Press we were under-represented at the lower end, so one of our goals was to establish new, lower price points, important in an environment where people are looking after their cash more carefully.

    Queensberry Press is about more than lower prices, however. It’s also about digital offset printing (as opposed to traditional silver halide) and books (as opposed to albums).

    The graphic above shows how everything fits together, but it caused a fight here at first, so in the end we went with Great Better Best, and added an extra column for Musée!

    You may notice that we’ve reorganized our website along these lines, with a couple of changes in product names along the way.

    Our new price lists include a more detailed version of the matrix, designed to give you a quick insight into the main differences between our various products. More about them in our next post.

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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  • Quoddy Workshop – Lewiston, Maine from Oliver Wilkins on Vimeo.

    We love this video about products made by hand with love and pride.

    Credit and respect to Dan Maillette, the craftsman, and Quoddy, the manufacturer. AnnaM found the video on core77.com. And check out Oliver Wilkin’s other excellent videos!

    Cheers
    Ian

     

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