It is currently using it for classified ads, but is hoping to expand this to include display ads and is talking to clients about it.

Classified is the first step, said Guardian Newspapers head of advertising services Keith Fielding. Hopefully as clients and agencies gain confidence it will move to display. Quickcut is also working with most of the other national papers and a number of magazine publishers and hopes to become the leading printed advertising submission service in the world.

It has recently added an ICC-based colour managed component to its system that allows advertisers to view a soft proof of how their ad will look in the selected
publication before they submit it.

I think the technology is now available that allows for colour controls that werent there when the preferred suppliers system was set up, said Quickcut UK managing director Grant Blanchard.

London is the only market in the world where advertisers are forced to go via preferred suppliers.

Last year Quickcut was used to send 650,000 adverts, amounting to a total of 250m cm2 of space, 60% of which was spot or process colour.

Story by Barney Cox