A printing technology bull's eye: The new book about Zlatan Ibrahimović

A heavyweight of the football world certainly deserves a weighty book: “I am Football” is the title of the latest publication about Zlatan Ibrahimović, the Swedish footballing superstar. The sporting book can boast a proud weight of 1,770 grams. Printed in Latvia by Livonia Print, the book scores with an elegant design, heavy in pictures, which are in addition to the CMY colours in particular printed in black and gold printing inks from Epple. Quality print promotes sales.

Labiink from Riga who is Epple Druckfarben AG’s sales partner in the Baltic States, expended enormous energy in the printing project “I am Football” and the corresponding ink supplies. Because many tons of sheet offset printing inks from Epple had to be ready for implementation in printing the initial print run of 200,000 books. The production of the book lasted 4 weeks. The central colours for the print on uncoated natural paper were a special CMY colour palette from the Livonia printing house, seven tons of black printing ink and 260 kilograms of Pantone Gold 871. The metallic tones had to be present as they were used for the 2011 biography “I am Zlatan Ibrahimović” which became a bestseller worldwide, with its black/gold cover. Not only does the footballer stand out from the crowd by scoring unbelievable goals, he can now expect to be a candidate for Book of the Year with “I am Football”.

Published by the Bonnier Fakta publishing house in Stockholm, the book initially went into the starting blocks in November 2018 in eight languages in eight markets: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Great Britain. Ivars Upmalis, Managing Director of Labiink, said of the challenging production “Thanks to our long term experience with Epple products we were able to provide our customer Livonia Print with outstanding technical support. The extensive ink supply was a challenge. However we were able to master it, thanks to our ink mixing station in Riga. Our customers, as proved by this book project, always receive the most varied printing inks in the exact colour tones they desire, in the shortest time possible.”

About Labiink

It is no coincidence that a book concerning a Swedish sporting icon was printed in Latvia: the Baltic printing industry is very lively and innovative, especially when it comes to book printing, and is particularly successful in the Scandinavian region. Labiink's strategy has always been: we focus on quality. The Latvians therefore selected, step-by-step, high quality products from only the best manufacturers. Today, Labiink offers a wide range of inks, varnishes and consumables for offset and flexo printing presses. Technical support, service and consultation round off the portfolio.

[Image caption] Making its mark on the highly competitive POS book market with the printing quality provided by Epple Druckfarben: the new book “Le foot, c’est moi / I am Football” about Zlatan Ibrahimović.

COMPANY INFORMATION

Epple Druckfarben AG stands for unique perfection in every detail. Since 1870, Epple has embodied permanent further development and the highest of quality demands. As the leading producer of offset printing inks, Epple has demonstrated its power of innovation with early development of mineral oil-free eco-series and special types of ink for very long washing intervals in perfecting printing. This has also been demonstrated in the sector of inks for foodstuff packaging with the patented products BoFood® MU and BoFood® Organic. PURe® is setting new standards as a third technology offset ink system, which completely avoids the use of metal dryers or photo initiators. Both sustainability and flexibility in business are top priorities at the medium sized family-run company. Unlike practically any other company, Epple is in the position to provide tailor made solutions for the individual requirements of their global customers.