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Case Study: HarperCollins and Penwizard
HarperCollins has become the first traditional print
publisher to realise the potential of digital book printing.
The publisher has joined teams with web-to-print specialists,
Penwizard, to supply its customers with personalised Noddy
books featuring customised illustrations and text.
The concept
Noddy is a much loved children’s book character and is
one of HarperCollins’s best selling children’s character with
sales reaching hundreds of thousands of books per year.
HarperCollins wanted to use innovative digital printing
techniques to attract new consumers in the 21st Century
and establish itself in the print-on-demand book market.
“Noddy is one of the most treasured and iconic children’s
characters and has huge breadth of appeal from children
to grandparents,” explained Claire Harding, brand and
properties director, HarperCollins Children’s Books. “We
wanted to allow children to enjoy Noddy in a new way
and felt that by inviting a child to enter Toy Town would be
a unique experience that all children would cherish.”
Maintaining Noddy’s brand authenticity
“Digital publishing is a very exciting place right now.
HarperCollins is very focused on developing new ways for
our consumers to access content and to purchase their
favourite character books, bringing web content directly to
the bookshelf,” added Harding. “We had therefore already
decided to launch Noddy in a personalised print format
and were proactively looking for a suitable partner. We
decided to work with Penwizard because they were the only
company that had the expertise to create and manage
complex customised illustrations in children’s books.”
“We have been producing personalised books since 2003
and have seen the market grow and develop,” said Richard
Adey, managing director, Penwizard. “We were really
excited about the Noddy project as it gave us the chance to
work with HarperCollins, developing new opportunities for
personalisation in the mainstream publishing market.”
Penwizard, alongside HarperCollins, developed the product
artwork to create the personalised characters and avatars.
“When developing the product artwork, it was vital that we
maintained the brand’s authenticity and was empathetic to
Noddy’s brand values,” explained Harding. “We worked
very closely with the brand owners, Chorion, to ensure that
the introduction of a child into the stories and Toy Town
complimented rather than compromised the integrity of
Noddy’s world.”
Bringing Noddy to life
The customer creates their book online via
www.mynoddybook.co.uk using a range of design
templates. The web application is user-friendly and allows
the customer to choose from a series of options to produce
a unique and individual book. Customers have the option
to choose from three different stories and to customise both
the images and text in a variety of ways.
The central character (avatar) - in each book can be
modified to the customer’s specifications to produce a
likeness to the child they are supposed to represent, such as
changing hair colour, skin tones and eye colour. The name
of the child is then included throughout the story.
“Thousands of children have grown up enjoying tales of
Noddy and his adventures in Toy Town. Personalisation
now allows today’s children to interact with the characters
in a way that wasn’t possible in the past,” said Harding.
Production
The books were specifically designed to be produced on a
HP Indigo digital press. HarperCollins and Penwizard
thoroughly investigated the digital market before deciding
to outsource the production of the books to an HP Indigo
print service provider (PSP) in the Midlands.
“We looked at a range of PSPs using a variety of digital
technology,” said Adey. “HP Indigo presses and
personalisation software, HP Indigo Yours Truly Designer®
offered us a total solution for all our production needs.
It was vital that the print quality of the books represented
the Noddy brand. In our tests the quality of work produced
by HP Indigo technology was unmatched.”
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“This is the first time that we have used digital
technology to produce personalised books and
we have been very happy with the consumer
comments that we have received. The feedback
has indicated that we have attracted new
customers and enabled a new generation of
readers to enjoy Noddy’s adventures. Our
customers and their children have been very
satisfied with their books,”
Claire Harding, brand and properties director,
HarperCollins Children’s Books
HP Indigo’s digital printing technology allows the Noddy
books to be produced in a flexible way. Rather than using a
fixed production schedule the PSP chooses when to
download the variable data (personalised information)
needed to customise the books ensuring that there are no
gaps in the production line. All orders for the books are
fulfilled within seven days.
Results
• HarperCollins wanted to capitalise on the growing
print-on-demand book market offering its customers
personalised Noddy books
• HarperCollins needed to maintain integrity of the
Noddy brand when developing new characters
“This is the first time that we have used digital technology to
produce personalised books and we have been very happy
with the consumer comments that we have received. The
feedback has indicated that we have attracted new
customers and enabled a new generation of readers to
enjoy Noddy’s adventures. Our customers and their
children have been very satisfied with their books,”
said Harding.
Solution:
HarperCollins has been pleased with the success of the
Noddy books. “We have a number of top performing
children’s brands within our portfolio and we have definite
plans to launch at least two more personalised brands, with
Penwizard, in the near future,” concluded Harding.
• The production of the books was outsourced to an
HP Indigo PSP
Feedback
“Hi, just thought that I would send you a message to let you
know how delighted I was with the service after placing the
above order. The online ordering was straightforward and
was immediately followed up by a confirmation. I was also
delighted to take delivery of the book so soon.
The book itself is super and I have certainly spread the
word amongst my young children’s friends and I am sure
that they will all be ordering from you soon too.” –
Karen Jones.
To learn more, visit www.hp.com
© 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change
without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
May 2008
Challenge:
• HarperCollins was the first traditional publisher to
realise the opportunity of web-to-print character
book publishing
• HarperCollins decided to work with web-to-print
specialists Penwizard to develop the characters and
handle the variable data
• The PSP used HP’s powerful SNAP template
technology. All of the Noddy images and
components were stored in the PSP’s Digital Front
End (DFE) and assembled at the time of production
in accordance with the data sent by Penwizard’s
system.
Results:
• The project was a success and HarperCollins is
planning to extend the number of brands offered to
the consumer, and are launching at least two more
personalised character books in the near future