Minneapolis, MN - GLS Companies has been named one of Printing Impressions’ top 100 printing companies in America and has won Best of Show award from the GPA 2014 Print & Design Contest. Designed to recognize outstanding work by GPA’s customers, companies across the country submit their entries to compete in seven product categories for Best of Category, and from those seven, one is chosen as Best of Show. In addition to the Best of Show award, GLS won in the Ultra Digital^® Papers 1 category.

GLS’ entry was a self-promotional mailer created entirely in-house to showcase the capabilities of printing B2-sized sheets with the company’s new HP Indigo 10000 press. As only the third press installed in the United States, GLS developed a promotional campaign in advance of its arrival. The campaign included a digital variable comic book story, which was written by Pam Griffith and illustrated by Steve Barry from their in-house agency, NEXT Precision Marketing. Utilizing augmented reality, 22 different placements of variable data and a unique folded construction, the piece was an engaging representation of advanced printing technologies.

“My goal was to educate our clients on how they could use digital variable in a larger format to reach their target audience and get results,” said Jim Benedict, Marketing Director at GLS.   

The comic book required an exemplary image quality, which is a finish that offers richness without shine and enough substance to fold well without adding excessive bulk or weight. After testing several different papers, GLS selected GPA’s Ultra Digital 80# White Matte Text to achieve superior image quality and press performance.

The GPA Print & Design Contest is an annual competition. For a printed piece to be eligible, it must be from an actual job or promotion that was printed by a GPA customer on a qualified GPA substrate.