Affinity Express Service Bureau Model
The Affinity Express standard offering includes: AdWatch software and configuration, redundant servers, storage, and network connectivity into the Affinity Express hosting center.
The technology solution allows Affinity Express to track:
Production
Ad types
Real-time status
Deadlines
Productivity
This solution is very powerful for automating ad production and provides tools to production managers and designers for manual tasks. Other benefits include:
- Version control
- Last-minute corrections
- Detailed reporting
- Lower bandwidth requirement (OPI)
- Communication through a non-conformance note (NCN), email process within the system
The Affinity Express hosted, service-bureau technology platform is offered as a critical component of our ad production solution. It enables us to deliver cost savings, fast turn times and greater control for our clients.
Software
Affinity Express uses Adobe InDesign as the default application for design. However, several of our clients use QuarkXPress. We support MultiAd Creator and over 30 different software applications for our advertising and document creation clients.
Workflow
Jobs are typically routed based upon product type and complexity to the staff that have the experience and skills to handle them. Ad production workflow differs depending on the types of ads being processed.
- Camera-ready ads arrive at the client site completed and only need to be
preflighted and, possibly, scaled before publishing.
- Spec ads often need to be built in-house before they can be billed.
- Pickup ads are exact copies or copies with changes to previously published ads.
- Composition ads are “new builds” that have a booked status.
- Real-estate/automotive ads are a combination of two above-mentioned ad
types. They involve a significant amount of production effort, but can also require
changes to an ad which was previously published.
- Marketing house ads are prepared internally for publication, for example: recruitment or institutional ads to be used for fillers.
