The Washable Car

A printed car that you can wipe the dirt off? This is just one example of the unusual print products with which the São Paulo-based print shop Editora Gráficos Burti Ltda. surprises customers and consumers time and again.

Referring to Burti as simply a print shop would be an understatement. Leandro Burti feels the same way, "We're solution providers," the 36-year-old says self-confidently. Leandro is the eldest son of the company founder Luiz Carlos Burti. He manages the business dealings of the 700-employee company. "In our consultations, we go far beyond printing and technical issues. Working together with the agencies which represent our main clientele, we develop solutions for the most difficult demands, in part also in cooperation with their end customers," explains Leandro. He doesn't shrink away from any order, even when it seems insolvable at first. Accordingly, his motto is "Never Say Never."

Such was the case with the idea to create a washable car for an advertising campaign for the Brazilian Volkswagen (VW) subsidiary. The magazine ad pictures a very dirty sport utility vehicle. Inside the magazine, readers could find a small cleaning cloth to wipe away the "dirt." The Burti team's extensive expertise and technologically excellent equipment also facilitated the technical realization. "We tested out the concept in detail and only suggested it once we were sure that we could print the ad to the highest quality," reports Leonardo Burti. He is Leandro's younger brother and directs the print shop.

Dirt or Shaving Cream?
The advertisements were printed on a Speedmaster CD 102-6 equipped with CoolCure UV. The advantage of the CoolCure technology is that oxygen is replaced with nitrogen during printing. This prevents the printing stock from heating and therefore eliminates the resulting printing difficulties. At the core of the advertisement were the washable UV coatings. They were the foundation on top of which the "dirt" was applied. When you use the attached cloth to wipe the ad, the car shines as if freshly washed. The message: this car is the ideal companion for both rough terrain and on the streets - robust and low-maintenance. A similar wow-factor was also created in an advertisement for shaving cream. In this case, readers can wipe the shaving cream off a man's face and an impeccably shaved face appears. "These kinds of before-and-after depictions are convincing and imaginative advertising media which get imprinted in consumers' minds," explains Leonardo Burti.

Burti's customers, with whom manager Leandro cultivates close contact, appreciate this creativity, and also the reliability of the realization. It is not seldom that the companies, including the two Brazilian agencies DM9 and DPZ, the clothing store C&A, the telephone company TIM as well as Volkswagen and Nissan, have a particular wish or a very individual idea. "During product development, we often try out completely new things and push the envelope of what's possible. This has the advantage that we can tell our customers exactly what is possible in terms of printing, and what makes sense financially and what does not. This avoids disappointments," reports Leandro.

For their demanding orders, Burti relies exclusively on Heidelberg machinery, particularly Speedmaster machines in 70 x 100 format. The business prints credit cards, for example, on a Speedmaster CD 102-6 equipped with CoolCure UV. The Speedmaster CD 102-2 UV is used for UV coating, while the Speedmaster presses SM 102-6, CD 102-6, and SM 102-10 are used for printing advertisement inserts, brochures, business reports and books, including large-format art and photo books. The sheetfed offset department is supplemented with two web presses from Heidelberg, used for printing magazines like Vogue, for example. Seven Stahlfolders, one saddlestitcher ST 400 from Heidelberg and four cutters add to the machine park. Work is done six days a week in three shifts of eight hours each.

Leandro and Leonardo Burti, who make up the second generation to lead the business founded in 1976, are proud of what they have achieved: today, Burti ranks among the five largest print shops in Brazil. "Our productivity is as high as in Europe or the USA, but production costs are 20 percent lower," emphasizes Leonardo. "That's why we're planning to increase our foreign business to over 50 percent, especially since the market in Brazil is saturated. In addition, we want to offer our customers further options within the realm of printing, for example fulfillment and warehouse logistics," Leandro adds. His motto "Never Say Never" has established itself. The second of the three Burti brothers, Luciano, also behaves in a James-Bond style. The former Formula 1 pilot now drives in stock car races. But that's another story.