The two-year rolling deal is to handle all of Gillette's point-of-sale and marketing material and it is anticipated that there will be an annual print spend of 2.7m.

Communisis' Paris division will run the account with a full-time manager on-hand at Gillette's Geneva headquarters. Communisis' Leeds operation will handle repro and workflow brand management.

In total, the company will cover nine European countries for Gillette.
Gillette appointed Communisis after a six-month trial period.

According to Communisis managing director of European print management services Simon Tate, the link up could save Gillette around 30% of its print spend.

"Previously print was being sourced in each individual market and Gillette was losing control of its brand consistency," he said. "Unit costs had also become huge but by managing print centrally we have saved Gillette money."

The European print management division of Communisis has been operating for two years in Germany, the Benelux region, France and Spain.

"Over that time we have been expanding the supplier base," added Tate. "What also helps  is that we have the print expertise that Gillette doesn't have."

"Communisis have made a big difference in a short period of time," said Gillette global procurement category leader, Ben Hughes.

"We found Communisis are highly motivated to achieve Gillette's goal of influencing all our European point-of-sale print spend."

Communisis also manages print on a European basis for brands including Barclays and Nike.

Story by Philip Chadwick