The Olympics: In January, the company had less than two weeks to produce 96 bus wraps and a 100 by 100 banner. The team at SuperGraphics worked day and night to deliver almost all the graphics you see in Salt Lake City. The large format printing company is responsible for creating 5,000 elements for the games, including the 100' by 100' foot banner that was used in the opening ceremonies.

When we published this story, many of our members had questions about the equipment used and how the company landed the contract. We went to the top for answers.

Greg Root is the President of the SuperGraphics division of GM Nameplate, a Seattle-based company established in 1993. A privately owned subsidiary of GM Nameplate, SuperGraphics is the world's premier large-format printing company. SuperGraphics uses state-of-the-art design systems and electrostatic, grand format inkjet and screen-printing technologies to create larger-than-life banners, architectural and vehicle graphic programs.

Q: Greg, tell us about your company and customers.

Greg Root: SuperGraphics provides graphics solutions for presence marketing and brand awareness. We specialize in out-of-home solutions for ad agencies, including transit advertising graphics, kiosk displays, billboards, building wraps, banner, airport graphics, p-o-p displays and posters. We also target retail clients for in-store graphic elements, and signage. We work with large events, like trade shows, sporting venues, like the Olympics and Alternative Media.


Q: Describe the scope of your contract with the Winter Olympics.

Greg Root: We have seven different contracts with the Olympic Committee and each is unique. We are doing transit wraps, hanging banners and clusters, sponsor recognition structures, way-finders, building wraps and miscellaneous graphics that are going all over Salt Lake City. We had four months to produce and install over 5,000 graphic elements. The project included very small directional signs to large banners, like the 100' by 100' installation we did at the Delta Center.


Q: In the original news story we published, you said that it took two years to land the multi-million dollar deal with the Olympics. What was that process like?

Greg Root: We made a strategic plan to go after the business two years ago, and pitched hard until we landed the deal. We went down to Salt Lake several times to meet with the Olympic Committee. We started by working closely with them to help find materials that would work with the harsh weather environment. We put our best foot forward and ultimately won the business based on the quality of our work, our reputation in the industry and our competitive pricing.

Q: In making your proposal, what were some of the key factors required to gain this contract?

Greg Root: The Olympic Committee needed a supplier that was 100% credible. The time-line was incredibly short, so they needed a company that could finish what they said they could. We relied on our reputation and our experience with other international sporting events we've worked with, like the 1998 games in Nanago.


Q: When we published this story, it created a significant amount of interest in your workflow and equipment choices. What are you using to print these wide format bus wraps and banners?

Greg Root: Because of the harsh environment, we chose Scotchprint 2000 electrostatic printers for the bus wraps and our Vutek 2360s, 3360s, and 5300 ink jet presses for the other projects.


Q: Many of our members would also be interested in your prepress or preparation of these files. Do they come to you ready-to-rip?

Greg Root: No, there is some clean up to do to get them press-ready. In general we check for accuracy and measurements and sometimes we have to add a bleed and resize the artwork, especially for the bus wraps.