Oak Tree Mobility is a UK leading specialist in recliner chairs, adjustable beds and stairlifts. As a previous client of ours we had already established a long standing relationship with them and over the years we have developed a good understanding of their printing needs. When Oak Tree Mobility needed something ‘out of the ordinary’ doing for a Christmas direct mail exercise we were the natural choice to support them with the brief.

 

The Brief

We love a challenge at Flaps Envelopes and the brief that we received from Oak Tree Mobility was an interesting one. The brief was to create a Christmas-related envelope that carried a special offer to their existing client base. It was a significant print run with over 16,000 envelopes needing to be created, all by hand!

The main aspect of the design brief was to make the envelope look like a gift complete with ribbon and gift tag. As specialists in bespoke handmade envelopes we enthusiastically set about the task!

 

The Challenge

Oak Tree Mobility originally wanted a real ribbon to adorn the envelopes but once we advised that this would be problematical from a Royal Mail point of view (ribbons coming off, torn etc) it was decided that an alternative method was required.

Another significant challenge was the alignment of the ribbon on both sides of the envelope. Whatever solution we came up with needed to have a perfect finish or the envelopes would look unprofessional; it was therefore imperative that we got the folds right and the alignment spot on.

The registration of embossing and spot UV varnishing after printing was also a crucial part of the process and this had to be handled with absolute precision.

 

The Solution

Given that using a real ribbon was not practical we decided that in order to make the ribbon and tag effect stand out we would need to emboss it onto the envelope. Traditional Christmas colours of a green background and red ribbon were chosen and to make the tag stand out, spot UV of gold around the edge was used.

Finally there was the painstaking task of creating 16,000 envelopes by hand, ensuring that the folds were all correct and the alignment of the ribbon was perfect.

The finished result was a highly professional bespoke envelope that really stood out from the crowd and begged to be opened! The client was delighted.