Cover Story :
Colour Magicians Stage New Fantasies to the World

You can't recognize them by their appearances. They are ordinary folks working on just two floors in one of many humble factories in Chai Wan in the east end of Hong Kong Island. No flashy costumes, not even fancy decor in their studio. Every day and night, they are practising hard their colour magic. Their trick is to bring out volatile colour fantasies from their patrons' imagination to reality by a method called printing. The troupe's name : Wide Ocean Printing Company Limited.

Recently, their pursuit for colour perfection has driven them to make a bold move : investing in a series of technologies worthUS$1.54 million in the midst of an economic downturn. Patrick Mak, Director and one of the three founders, explained, "Wide Ocean's like an energetic guy in his late twenties, who has a solid knowledge of his trade and a proven track record, and is ready to grasp his future and actualize his dream. There's still a long way to go. It pays to sharpen his tools before he continues the journey." The newly invested technologies, which they brand collectively as Wide Colour System (see page 2), are believed to be crucial in keeping Wide Ocean ahead of the competition and meeting customers' increasing demands.

So what lies ahead of their road? "World-class customers, world-class jobs, customers' applause, and double returns," said Jackit Wong, Director and founder. "We're already working for big players like Remy, May Department Store, and Tony & Tina. We are capable of working for multinational firms and advertising agencies in developed markets like the United States and Europe. In the past ten years we've been working closely with large and small agencies. We are also interested in working with the developing markets such as China, India, South Africa and the Middle East. We are eager to work for up-and-coming firms who strive to create successful brands. Since we do printing in Hong Kong and post-print processing in China, customers targeting the PRC market will find our service convenient, with quality guaranteed and costs reduced as import tariff for printed matters is reduced. That's exactly what Philips' Asian headquarter in Singapore experienced."

However, in recent years Hong Kong has seen keen competition from the mainland. Customers are switching to printers in China because of their attractive pricing. Some even pull their roots out from Hong Kong to the mainland in order to enjoy lower operating costs. "Yes, we have been affected by this trend too. That's why two years ago we started to look for direct clients and overseas ones. These are clients who understand and treasure their brands and would not sacrifice quality for little savings, because brand qualities are the most valuable company asset. I've also heard of a case in which a customer moved to Shanghai and worked with printers there because sooner or later they would have to do so. What a disaster it turned out to be!" Jackit lamented. "Quality printing and packaging not only enhance brand image but also increase sales. Remy continues to patronize us simply for this reason. In the first year of cooperation, Remy needed to produce a packaging box with a special effect for its Chinese New Year gift set. You know, the festival is very important for liquor sales. Unfortunately, their gift production suffered a delay which didn't leave much time the production of the box, and though the box was delivered on time, the whole campaign was late for the festival. Magic happened. Within 3 weeks, the gift set was sold out just because, according to the customer, the box stood out from competing products. In the following year, Remy returned. This time we initiated another special effect that could differentiate Remy from competitors and fakes, and keep Remy the pioneer of the industry. Magic happened again."

"That's why we reaffirm that our target should be high-value market. Price cutting is not a way out. Quality is what matters in the long run. We position ourselves as a printing consultant providing value-added services at medium pricing, so that we can compete worldwide," Patrick added, "We've been doing so for years. Only in this couple of years has the vision become clear. In Wide Ocean, we promote a "printing culture" - printing is an art that completes and refines the creativity of graphic designers. Our goal is to fulfill our promise to customers, even if that means investing our own money in experiments, trying new methods of printing and processing, or sleeping in the plant for months to solve a problem."

Sounds pressing! "All three of us started out as press operators. We rely on our floor experience to work out solutions. It's easier to talk about technical problems than to make a deal," remarked Andy Wong, Production Director and founder. "Agree," Patrick responded. "Take the Blue Book of Kent (BAT's cigarette brand) as an example. A creative director of G2 (a subsidiary of Grey Asia Pacific and BAT's advertising agency) one day called me to his office. He said, 'Guy, you know I'm crazy. I know you are sort of crazy too. Let's make something really stunning!' He's planning a brochure to go with a new image packaging. I came up with 17 printing effects, warning him that some were very experimental. He signaled a green light and the experiment began with a tight schedule that made you sweat. One of the challenges was to print images on both sides of a laser foil as if on a piece of paper. All the effort turned out to be very fruitful : the Blue Book brought us two awards - champion of Hong Kong Print Awards and Gold Award (Brochure Fed Sheet) of Annual Gold Ink. Our work was recognized by the industries locally and overseas."

The three young founders are satisfied with the company's performance in the past four years, in which they gained more and more affirmation from customers and competitions, and are determined to achieve higher goals. "This seems to be the only way : being proactive and thinking ahead are the key to survival," remarked Patrick.
Wide Colour System is just the first step of the grand plan. "To complement the System and to cater for large quantity of jobs in the future, we will employ more staff, so that enough support is given to marketing, the floor and other supporting units," Andy said. "At present, we are collaborating with a processing factory in Shenzhen. Next year, we are planning to set up a processing factory there or somewhere in Guangdong with about 100 workers. New processing techniques will be added so as to produce more high-end specialties, while printing will be done in Hong Kong so that close quality control can be exercised. Customers will find that with such quality standards, our pricing is very competitive compared with that in the United States and even in China. Customers will also find communication with us easy since all our marketing people in Hong Kong are fluent in English," Jackit said.

"Yes, in these years we have been hiring university graduates. Staff training is also greatly emphasized. Regular meetings are held to talk about every section of our operations, so that every staff member knows the business in and out. Even a marketing person will understand the printing process and techniques, and a press operator will have an idea what's going on in the industry. We want to cultivate a team culture whereby everyone knows what the others are doing and that staff are proficient in printing knowledge so as to provide quick and accurate responses to customers' enquiries," Andy added.

With this working attitude, it is understandable why Hong Kong attributes her success in becoming a regional publishing centre to a highly developed printing industry. Another factor is the freedom of expression and liberal attitude towards the press, which attracts a concentration of prestigious international publications to Hong Kong. Hong Kong's printing exports amounted to US$ 1,029 million in 2001. The US (44.8%), UK (13.4%) and the Chinese mainland (9.5%) markets together absorbed 68% of Hong Kong's total printing exports, as many publishers had their books printed in Hong Kong, and exported back to their countries and the rest of the region. Hong Kong thus became the US's fourth largest supplier, the Chinese mainland's second largest supplier and Taiwan's second largest supplier of imported books and newspapers in 2001 (see table) 1.

Source: Census and Statistics Department

Nevertheless, for the first half of the year the printing industry has recorded decreases in establishments and employment. Figures from the Census & Statistics Department of Hong Kong SAR Government shows that establishments of printing, publishing and related services decreases by 9% from around 4800 in December 2001 to 4400 in March 2002, while employment was slashed by 11% to around 39,000 in March 2002. Hong Kong's economy is not expected to turn around soon. The weakened US economy also casts a shadow over the industry. What kind of prospects does the Hong Kong printing industry have? Patrick predicts there will still be 10 years for Hong Kong firms to do business because they are able to deliver products quickly. "There are always crises. We expected that the Internet would put us to an end, but it didn't. However, to sustain the industry, we need to add values to our service, giving professional advice, doing post-sales follow-up, improving facilities and technologies, and getting price down." Obviously, Wide Ocean is doing these already.