The keepcalmandcommunicate.co.uk site went live last Wednesday (22 April) and features free, downloadable generic posters, flyers and postcards as well as artwork for social media posts.
The site was the brainchild of Nutshell managing director Lucy Swanston.
“With so much misinformation circulating we wanted to do our bit to help communicate reliable facts and advice about coronavirus. We saw the UN’s open call to creatives and approached Vpress in order to offer a complete web to print and online service,” said Swanston.
The professionally-designed marketing collateral features templates on subjects including personal hygiene, social distancing, community kindness, symptoms, and myths.
While firms can download and print the generic collateral for free, they can also commission personalised printed collateral on the site, which is produced and dispatched by Route 1 Print.
However, Swanston said that she is happy to talk to printers that would like to skin a version of the site with their own pricing model and then roll it out to their customers and produce the print themselves.
“We wanted to create something that not just brands can use, but printers also, so they are most welcome to make it their own, they just need to get in touch with me to create a version for them,” added Swanston.
“It’s an opportunity to spread the correct [coronavirus] message and demonstrate that as an industry we can deploy something quickly and effectively.”
From concept to live site, the process took just under two weeks – although most of that time was spent on developing and designing the artwork. Reskinning will be significantly quicker.
Speaking about the impact of the lockdown on her business, Swanston said that while the marketing agency had initially seen a drop in work in the immediate aftermath, there had recently been a rise in marketing activity across its client base.
“In the last week we’ve seen a shift in customer spend and we are now preparing marketing campaigns to launch when the lock down is eased,” she said.
Vpress managing director Tim Cox added that while the web-to-print software developer seen a drop in work going through the Vpress system since the social distancing measures were put in place, discussions about future deployments had skyrocketed in recent weeks as the industry prepares for life after the lockdown.
“It seems web to print has jumped up the list of print businesses priorities, so existing and new customer business development and diversity projects are making us a tad busy right now,” said Cox.
