* Specification based on environmental credentials and depth of colour management advice

BBC Magazines, the UK’s third biggest publisher of consumer magazines, has chosen Galerie Fine Gloss coated paper from M-real for its lifestyle magazines including Gardener’s World, Good Food, Good Homes, Top Gear and Olive. Coinciding with the completion of the BBC’s Smart Repro project to bring all its repro in-house, the decision reflects the depth of M-real’s technical advice on colour management using Galerie Papers – which will eventually include the adoption of a tailored ICC profile - as well as the high environmental criteria set by the BBC.

BBC Magazines is a division of BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the Corporation that also handles programme sales overseas, on-line and new media developments, as well as the franchising of BBC magazine publication in other countries. In addition to the top-selling Radio Times, its portfolio consists of 35 magazines in three categories: lifestyle, youth & children, and Top Gear. Thirty of the magazines are produced in London; the rest in Bristol.

Steve Wehrle, Paper Manager for BBC Magazines, explains the reasons behind their choice following a tendering process in January to March this year: “It is our policy to move all of our magazines to qualities that carry FSC certification (or other certified grades recognised by the major environmental organisations) as and when they become available, and provided they are not at a premium price. We were already using Galerie Fine, made at M-real’s Husum Mill in Sweden, and it meets all our environmental criteria including chain-of-custody certification. We have a historical relationship with M-real, believing Galerie grades to be the best on the market, and remain impressed by the research and development M-real puts into developing new and improved grades.

“We feel our magazines have a distinct personality, and the best magazines need the best papers in order to attract advertising. Our close relationship with M-real’s mills is very much a factor in keeping our standards up to those of the competition.”

The importance of quality is echoed by Michele Cohen, Project Manager with responsibility for implementing Smart Repro at BBC Magazines since January 2006. “As well as financial benefits and greater control over the page by moving repro in-house, quality was a major issue for us. Advertisers need to be able to rely on the quality of the BBC’s magazines, and readers are influenced by the standard of repro. We are aiming higher to get the optimum quality for our magazines and help our printers achieve the best results.”

Repro Manager, Daniel Hargreaves, approves of M-real’s approach to colour management, saying: “M-real’s technical expertise has really helped us - they were certainly more proactive than other suppliers in this respect - and they supplied us with a Galerie Fine specific ICC profile from the FOGRA39 data for use with Galerie Papers. We are currently using the standard version of the profile, but it makes sense to move eventually to a version optimised for use with M-real papers.

“Consequently, our role is simplified and we have more control throughout our colour managed workflow. The benefit to the printer is faster make ready with less ink wastage and less energy required,” says Hargreaves.

Olive magazine, aimed at ‘foodies’ and with a print run of 130,000, is already printed using Galerie Fine Gloss 80 g/m2. Other monthly titles now printed on Galerie Fine 70 g/m2, are Easy Cook (print run 100,000), Gardener’s World (print run 250-400,000), Good Food (250-650,000), Good Homes (250,000), and Top Gear (260,000). M-real is also supplying Galerie Fine Gloss in 65 g/m2 for the Top Gear Directory. Printing of the titles is carried out by Polestar Colchester and Polestar Chantry.

M-real has worked with colour management issues for many years and produces ICC-profile guidelines based on extensive testing of the surface properties that impact on dot gain when Galerie Papers are printed. The guidelines also utilise research into the effect of paper shade and brightness on print results. M-real also provides recommendations and help in adjusting existing ICC profiles for the best match with Galerie Papers, and can assist in creating and implementing paper or title specific ICC profiles.

Figure text:
BBC publication portfolio consists of 35 magazines in three categories: lifestyle, youth & children, and Top Gear.
© The Packshot Factory


Note to editors: ISO 12647-2 is the official ISO standard for offset printing. ICC profiles are one practical application of the ISO standard in print production processes. ICC profiling provides a way to calibrate the image reproduction process so that RGB colours displayed on a designer’s monitor match the colours reproduced with CMYK inks on the page of a publication. ICC profiles are files that contain data on how to convert and reproduce colours accurately from one device to another. More information can be found at www.eci.org.

FOGRA datasets are produced by the Fogra Graphic Technical Research Association for the benefit of the international printing industry. FOGRA39 is specified for printing conditions in conformance with ISO 12647-2: 2004, for gloss or matt coated offset papers.

BBC Magazines is committed to buying paper for its magazines that has been independently certified as coming from well managed forests in accordance with globally recognised social, environmental and economic criteria. Currently, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the only certification scheme that fully meets the BBC’s criteria.


Note to editors:

M-real is one of the leading producers of paper and paperboard in Europe. The company's customers include publishers, printers, carton printers, paper merchants, office suppliers and well-known consumer brand manufacturers.

M-real supports its customers' businesses by providing quality papers and paperboard for consumer packaging, communications and advertising end-uses. Together with its customers and partners, M-real develops products and solutions for demanding end-uses, such as magazines, art books, brochures, direct mail, and office papers. The company's paperboard is used for packaging of beauty and healthcare products, cigarettes, branded food and consumer durables.

M-real is headquartered in Finland. The company's sales are EUR 5.6 billion, and it employs over 13,000 people. M-real, which is part of the Metsäliitto Group, is listed on the OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange.

For additional information, please contact:

Andrew Gunman
Director - Publishing Business Area
M-real UK Ltd
Publishing Business Area

1st Floor
Sentinel House
16 Harcourt Street
London
W1H 4AD United Kingdom
tel. +44 (0) 1628 411780
mob: +44 (0) 7740 027372
E-mail: andrew.gunman@m-real.com


Marjo Halonen
Vice President Marketing Communications

Kirkniemi Mill
FI-08800 Lohja
Finland
mob. + 358 50 598 70 46
e-mail: marjo.halonen@m-real.com
www.m-real.com

Press release images