Magazine give-away testing
Durability of promotional give-aways
Avoid burst sachets, damaged give-aways and costly wastage...
Pira's magazine insert testing is recognised by leading publishers, contract packers, sachet manufacturers and marketing companies as the definitive way of demonstrating the robustness of small sample packagings before acceptance for insertion into magazines and periodicals.
Pira first developed a magazine insert testing procedure 25 years ago at the request of a major publishing house. The publisher was experiencing instances of product leakage, writing off not only the giveaways themselves but sometimes entire print runs of magazines.
Pira's highly responsive testing team can complete testing within one day of test request, providing confidence in the performance of magazine give-away samples in time to meet production deadlines.
The Pira test realistically simulates the physical hazards experienced by giveaway samples from point of insertion into the magazine to point of sale- Drop impact (representing handling) and compression (representing binding and stacking during distribution) are key elements of Pira's test methodology
- Sachet performance has been assessed in terms of material and seal strength; both of these factors are vital in developing packs suitable for magazine distribution, but other issues are equally important...Product fill level and viscosity, location of the sample within the magazine and the size and weight of the magazine itself are all key to the overall performance in distribution and all are assessed in the Pira test
Types of packs that this is applied to:
Sachets- Health and Beauty
- Bags and Pouches
- Bottles
- Gift items
- Kids give-aways
- Holiday promotions
- Blister packs
Why test with Pira?
Turnaround is fast - testing can be completed within 24 hours
of test request and is recognised as definitive. Pira can:
- Identify packs likely to fail in distribution
- Give guidance on design specification
- Advise on the best location of inserts
- Provide independent qualification and
internationally recognised testing - Help you ensure safe delivery to point of sale
- Give validation of durability
- Help eliminate handling damage
- Offer fast turnaround
Magazine test clients include:
- National Magazines
- Conde Nast
- IPC
- Sampling Innovations
- Klocke
- Johnson & Johnson
- Procter & Gamble
- Estee Lauder
- Socoplan
- L`Oreal
Types of testing
The procedure consists of three distinct physical tests that are performed sequentially on magazines containing the samples:
- dynamic compression test, representing the binding and trimming forces occurring in magazine production
- series of drop tests representing impacts that occur during manual handling of stacks of magazines in distribution
- static compression (stack) test representing the loads applied to stacks of magazines during storage.
Range Testing
If the type of magazine associated with the give-away is not known at the time of testing, then 'Range Testing' can be requested. The give-away is tested in a 60 page title and a 450 page title to provide an assurance of performance across the normal range of magazine weights and sizes.
Laboratory based testing offers the significant advantage of controlled, repeatable and rapid sample evaluation, allowing an objective assessment of real life performance.
The test has a proven track record of identifying sample packs that are likely to fail in distribution so that they can be re-worked or refined before being inserted into magazines and being distributed.
Contact:
Alan Gillespie
eMail: alan.gillespie@pira-international.com
Tel: +44 1372 80 2081