This is not a framed picture on a wall. It’s the world’s best business card.The call came at 11am. It was two days before Christmas.

The guy said: “I want a Christmas present for my boss. I’d like to get him a picture of the project we’ve been working on. Aerial shot, mounted and framed. Possible? When can I pick it up?”

“I love a challenge,” smiles Julie Belanger. “We’ll do it. ‘Get here for 3 o’clock.’”

Case study

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4AA7-3806ENW, October 2018

The 111th Group is an aerial photography specialist, based in San Martin, California. Its office is next door to the aircraft hangar.

“We can be up and over any location in the Valley, from San Francisco to Fresno, within 20 minutes,” says Julie Belanger, founder and vice president of The 111th Group. For this job, there was no need to scramble a plane.

“We could have gone up and taken the shot, but we already had a picture on file.

“To be honest we could have turned the job round in an hour,” says Julie, “but I needed to buy us some time. I wanted to put a ribbon on the frame and needed to head out to the shop to buy one.”

The 111th Group has been in business since 1994, and photographs anything from 360° panoramas to news footage to detailed updates on construction projects. All weathers, all hours. ‘Unusual’ is the norm.

Brilliant, unique photography is only part of the story. For Julie, and for any business that wants to win new customers, service is the killer:

“Delighting the customer, that has to be in our hands. When it’s our name on the job I can’t be relying on third parties.”

Where possible, 111th wants to control the entire workflow – from flights to cameras to printed output. “It’s the reason we invested in the HP DesignJet Z6 PostScript® Printer,” says Julie.

“We can’t trust a third-party printer to get the quality right, and we need to control the turnaround times.”

Print makes it realControl is good for business, good for customers, and great for the bottom line.

Julie says the printer effectively paid for itself on its first job. A customer she hadn’t heard from in years called wanting 50 prints, mounted but not framed. The call came on Friday, the customer wanted to collect the following Tuesday. The HP DesignJet Z6 Printer took the job in its stride, with not one throwaway in the print run, and, says Julie, cemented its reputation as a can-do service provider.

“When customers want quality, and they need it quick, the HP DesignJet Z6 Printer is effectively a license to print money.”

Digital photography has its place, she continues, but there are many occasions when only a print will do: “Site safety managers need up-to-date prints of construction projects. They can’t rely on week-old shots, and for this kind of thing Google™ Maps isn’t detailed enough. They need today’s detail, today.

“We’ve also been called out to take shots for legal cases, with prints sent straight to court. Or for an event taking place at a certain time and place – a demonstration, sports event, or wildfire. Print makes it real.”

Beautiful colors, great quality print111th had used another brand of printer for years, with patchy success. “I hated it,” says Julie. “The color was never right. We had to print everything twice. A turning point for our business was when we switched to HP!”

Third parties were either slow, ineffective or both. “We’d have clients questioning the color quality, and we’d be paying a fortune. I want to provide great service, but the business needs to make a profit.”

Julie admits she was about to give up when she came across a demo of the HP DesignJet Z6 Printer at a trade event. Carrying a thumb drive with her, she was invited to test the print quality. “Beautiful colors, great quality prints. It was unheard of. We had one delivered within a week.”

The best business cardIt’s now 3pm. The gift is framed, wrapped, wearing a ribbon, and waiting in the reception area. A giant, 40”x60” print of one of San Francisco’s most high-profile projects. Discreet black aluminum frame, beautiful resolution, crystal clear clarity.

“The customer was beaming,” Julie says. “The picture is now hanging in his boss’ office, pride of place. He’s the CEO of one of California’s biggest construction firms, and our name and website address are in the bottom corner.

“You couldn’t ask for a better business card.”

Learn more at hp.com/go/designjet

“ When customers want quality, and they need it quick, the HP DesignJet Z6 PostScript® Printer is effectively a license to print money.”

– Julie Belanger, founder and vice president, The 111th Group

About The 111th Group

The 111th Group has provided the

finest aerial photography since 1994.

Specializing in construction progress

photography, commercial real estate

photography, mapping, aerial surveys,

GIS, and more.

Founded: 1994

Website: the111th.com

Case study | The 111th Group