Shredding the Competition: Lookbook Printing with Burton’s Mine77
Burton // Mine77 Collection
Lookbook printing accomplishes crucial goals for your business. Custom lookbooks create a visual experience that immerses your client in your product, showcases said product in enticing, persuasive ways and then turns that persuasion into profit. For Kim Smith, Marketing Coordinator at Burton Global, there was one more goal for the Mine77 lookbook: carry on a legacy. It’s a tall order, but one Smith was able to fill with Perfect Bound Books.
The Right Look
Featuring high-tech outerwear, apparel, accessories and bags, along with hardgoods like snowboards, boots, goggles and helmets, Burton’s Mine77 collection is the epitome of performance meets style. With action aerials on stunning slopes and cozy captures of cabin culture, Smith’s lookbook turns the customer into the rider and puts the rider on the mountain.
“We wanted a premium lookbook that highlighted the product in the Mine77 Deep Winter collection,” Smith said, “along with Jake Burton Carpenter’s impact on the Mine77 brand.”
Passing away in November 2019, the late founder’s concepts fit right into the clean, modern look of Perfect Bound Books. With a cover and pages that line up exactly to create a seamless square spine, these custom booklets are both marketing tools and collector’s items.
Ideal for publications with 30 pages or more and up to two inches thick, Smartpress’ lookbook printing capabilities were just what Smith needed to take the Mine77 design to an epic elevation.
“As the collection grew, we needed more pages to house all of the products,” Smith said. “Creating a perfect bound booklet was the most premium option that gave [it] a high-quality finish while incorporating all the pages we needed.”
Clutch Customization
Highlighting icy blues, rustic reds, subtle mauve and smoky tie-dye, the Mine77 collection came to life based on collaborations with and feedback from riders. And just as Carpenter personalized each item in their collection, Perfect Bound Books let you experiment with your own lookbook design.
Already nailing the visual component, Smith added another sensory element to her lookbook with Smartpress’ array of premium paper stocks: “The coated matte stock had a smooth buttery feel that added just a little bit extra to the overall feel of the booklet.”
Customizable by size, cover and interior paper stocks (including recycled), Perfect Bound Books let you tell your story your way. You can even double down on Smith’s approach and add protective UV coatings or Soft Touch laminate to the cover for a professional, modern finish.
From catalogs, magazines and portfolios to graphic novels, manuals and directories, our online booklet printing easily fits into your marketing strategy.
Hint: Take a page from Smith’s lookbook printing strategy and incorporate similar colors from one campaign to the next. It’s a simple tactic that creates brand cohesion and recognition for your customers.
A Freestyle Format
Interspersed among images of base layers, sherpa-lined moccasins and cashmere beanies are the words of Carpenter himself. Offering product inspiration and essential specs, Smith found the right balance of text and imagery. And she added a personal connection to Carpenter that goes beyond a sales pitch.
“He had impeccable attention to detail and love for product development,” Smith said. “We wanted this booklet to convey that same premium look and feel.”
With booklet templates and layout guides, Smartpress’ online printing services make it easy to score a winning run on your first try. To get her customers stoked about the product, Smith knew what format would get the job done.
“When the need is to both appeal to the snowboarding audience and sell a specific product, it’s important to highlight the product features, materials or technical details,” Smith said. “If a fabric is ultra-stretchy, we’ll show the material up close and include an action shot of the rider doing a trick that’s not inhibited because of the stretch.”
Smith knew having a polished lookbook with engaging assets is great, but featuring them in the right way is even better.
Stick the Landing
Since Mine77 is so exclusive, Smith’s lookbook was an essential marketing tool and a key component in Burton’s combined print and digital strategy.
“These booklets were placed in our flagship stores in order to drive traffic to shop the Mine77 collection on our website,” said Smith. “This was our way of broadening the audience.”
Smith notes working with an online printer like Smartpress made the execution of that strategy as satisfying as your first step onto fresh powder, especially “the ease of ordering, speed of printing and shipping, while still delivering a premium product.”
In the end, it’s about leveraging Burton’s online and in-store presence. Smith knows they go hand in hand.
“Catalogs and zines are still relevant, especially in an action sports world,” she said. “Customers like to collect [them] and read about their favorite products and athletes. Printing booklets is one way to get that done.”
Hint: Get more booklet and lookbook printing inspo:
