GSP Print, the company responsible for printing many of Australia’s most famous billboard ads for leading Out-Of-Home advertising company JCDecaux, is marking 50 years of operation in 2020. "Static billboards have an important place in the advertising landscape," said JCDecaux.
Based at Prestons in Sydney's south-west after originally opening in Adelaide in the 1960s, GSP Print began its operations producing paper billboards, and now prints nearly 6,000 billboard ads annually, along with around 200,000 signs for street furniture and transit advertising.
"Its 40-strong team is also committed to the printing business, with many clocking up over a decade of service to the company," says a JCDecaux press release.
JCDecaux head of production, transit and sustainability, Jose Sanz, said JCDecaux and GSP Print have been working together for 20 years. The print industry had "significantly changed" over the past 50 years, with the mass influx of new technology and ideas, he said.
“As technology has changed, so have we - we’ve moved from paper to screen printing to digital, and everything has become much faster and more efficient.
“As a business, we’re always looking to the future and our focus is sustainability - we’re investigating new materials and printing processes, as well as projects like solar power; we want to find ways to make our plant more environmentally friendly, in line with JCDecaux’s commitment to sustainable practices globally.”
Despite the growing emergence of digital technology in Out-Of-Home advertising, Sanz believes static billboards have an important place in the advertising landscape.
“They’re really one of the only mediums that give an advertiser a 100% share of voice. And, with print technology continuing to produce sharper, high resolution images, they look great as well.”
JCDecaux Australia and New Zealand CEO, Steve O’Connor, said the company was proud to help GSP Print mark this important milestone.
“We’ve been incredibly lucky to work with GSP Print for many years and their longevity is a direct result of their service,” he said. “The quality of GSP’s work and ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment has made them leaders in the printing industry and we’re excited to see them continue to grow.”
