What are the right key performance indicators (KPIs) for the production of branded materials? And how do you implement and leverage them? The benefits can be tremendous. Schawk explains.

1. What ambitious brands need to knoW
about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point
management perspective.
ExEcutivE Summary
in the production phase of branded materials, errors and but of course, that’s what kpis are supposed to do for
inefficiencies always have root causes; key performance almost any process in almost any kind of industry. Where
indicators (commonly known as kpis) help you locate and the production of branded materials is concerned, the key
identify those causes and give you the facts you need to questions are, “What are the right kpis and how can you
correct them. kpis foster collaborative analysis among the implement and act on them?” surprisingly, many brand
brand owner and all production supply-chain partners to owners aren’t as clear on the answers as they should be.
promote efficient and effective processes – and to improve they’re missing a huge opportunity. this paper will help
and innovate on them continuously. provide those answers.

2. What do KPis achiEvE for thE Production ProcESS? SEEinG thE valuE of KPis Within
thE Brand oWnEr’S oPEration.
in short, kpi data leads to insights that encourage
concrete steps to process improvements that increase a Within brands, sometimes the departments of marketing and
brand’s efficiency, agility and faithfulness to standards. procurement have different value priorities. this doesn’t
simultaneously, these improvements decrease errors, need to be the case with kpis. When decision-makers align to
time to market and costs. specifically, these process common values across domains, they see the mutual benefits.
improvements can include: brand owners should be interested in how briefs are
• Better briefs. inefficient brands have poorly conceived developed and how clear, concise and effective they are.
and vaguely written briefs that result in senior-level procurement typically wants to drive costs out of the process.
involvement in the production process at a later stage both teams benefit from tracking the activities we will
than is optimal. effective kpis facilitate a deeper suggest below. at most brands, procurement puts out rfps
understanding of communication priorities, which leads and pricing matrices; but these are only the first stage of
to better briefs. brand process management, relating to the basic costs of
• Better communication hierarchy. this leads to materials and services. these don’t shed light on a brand’s
improvement in fewer jobs fast-tracked, fewer revision effectiveness in:
cycles and faster approval time. • the on-time delivery of materials at each stage in the
• Greater visibility of projects in the pipeline. this drives production supply chain
process efficiency and flexibility. the accuracy of materials as they’re produced and copy
2 •
as it’s deployed on those materials – a key issue where
in contrast, companies with weak or no kpis suffer from: regulations are concerned
What ambitious brands need to knoW about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point management perspective.
• Lack of benchmarks to measure against • the preservation of the brand values and equity that are
• Limited data to quantify performance represented in all materials
• Little or no supply chain visibility these benefits are not what the brand is paying for, strictly
• Weaknesses in efficiency, agility and brand fidelity, speaking, from their production partners, and there is no
and the resulting bottom-line detriments line item for these in any rfp or pricing matrix. but kpis
make it clear how the brand and its production partners
need to function to achieve these benefits – and then
kpis measure performance toward them. marketers and
procurement people simply need to agree on this.

3. incorPoratinG KPis.
the basic steps in incorporating kpis are quite logical. but
the devil is sometimes in the details. there are independent
consultants who advise brands on this process; also,
larger production firms can offer this service as part of
their overall delivery. this second option has the logical
advantage of streamlining communication. regardless of
who oversees the process, the key steps are:
• identify what to measure and what the measurements
should tell you. here you are building a hierarchy of
production activities you want to measure and an
understanding of how they relate to your ultimate goals
of efficiency, agility and accuracy of materials through
optimized briefing, review and approval processes.
• determine the best ways to gather and measure the
information. although some kpis are basic, some can be
arduous to track if the brand lacks the tools, technology
or resources – for example, if the brand does not use
3 an electronic communication routing tool, or if its tool
is inferior to one available from a production partner.
ultimately there must be a tool or mechanism to capture
What ambitious brands need to knoW about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point management perspective.
data on the activities measured as part of the kpi.
• determine baseline performance goals. What levels of
performance for the production activities will translate to
the overall goals you’ve set?
• articulate and interpret the findings and translate
them to actionable measures. this step is fairly
straightforward when the previous steps have been
handled effectively.

4. Which KPis Should you tracK?
many brands focus on the “base level” kpis listed immediately • number of revision cycles and their drivers. here,
below. the first two may be important in tracking what has typically, there’s a comparison of the revision cycle
been done, but they provide limited forward-looking value; the numbers between brand teams or portfolios. When there’s
rest provide insight into process, technical or organizational a difference in the sample groups, their respective
issues and are more valuable for driving improvements. processes are analyzed for evidence of problems,
including flawed briefs, too little project visibility, too
• spend in production art, premedia, adaptive creative
little involvement of higher-ranking mangers early in the
(historical)
process, etc.
• spend by substrate, flexible packaging, carton packaging,
• client approval time. disparities between products
aluminum (historical)
or categories can signal flaws in the client’s approval
• project duration time (process/technical/organizational) process and point up the need for better workflow
• rework cycles (process/technical/organizational) technology.
• incoming errors (process/technical/organizational) • Production cycle time. this can give the first indication
of inefficient processes.
• on-time performance (process/technical/organizational)
• the average cost per job relative to total spend.
for a more effective program, schawk has identified a projects with similar scopes and deliverables can be
standard set of eight kpis that add value to the process compared for insights.
4 of managing brands. you will see that these promote an • number/percentage of jobs done right the first time.
analysis of core workflow processes and point to solutions
this is a crucial baseline kpi that speaks to the quality
What ambitious brands need to knoW about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point management perspective.
for problems that are uncovered.
of processes and communication.
• number/percentage of jobs fast tracked/rushed at some • number/percentage of incoming errors on design files.
point in the schedule. this helps uncover risks to quality
this can help to start pinpointing the source of workflow
and consistency and helps determine if pricing is fair to
issues upstream.
both client and production partner. this also allows the
production partner to forecast demand for services more • overall on-time performance (and a subset of this,
accurately and can indicate when smart-sourcing is a cycles relative to service agreement). this kpi can be
good idea. slightly more difficult to outline. measuring “on-time
performance” requires a hard start date and delivery date;
when these are fluid, it’s difficult to achieve consensus.

5. SEEinG KPis throuGh to thEir BEnEfitS. SchaWK, KPis and Brand Point manaGEmEnt.
brand owners must take a few steps to ensure that kpi schawk is a strong proponent of collaborating with clients
data is translated into concrete actions and continued on kpis that give insight into the client’s own processes
improvements. several steps are key: and the processes shared with schawk, to drive the benefits
• make sure there’s a steering committee or leadership discussed above: agility, efficiency, cost savings and
team that performs a regular (for instance, quarterly) branded materials that adhere to brand standards and
business review. Without a formal venue and scheduled regulatory demands.
meetings, kpi data will be reported but not acted on. this collaboration – and this focus on optimizing processes
the steering committee must see to it that information that cross multiple disciplines, departments and partners
and recommendations are delivered to marketing, – is innate in schawk’s delivery of brand point management
marketing services or procurement, and that concrete for its clients. brand point management is the integration of
plans are made. services across brand lifecycle stages, across service areas
• the brand owner must be committed to long-term, and across geographies to promote the benefits touted
sustainable relationships and to letting production throughout this paper: agility, efficiency, cost savings and
partners collaborate with marketing and other key players branded materials that are compelling and consistent. and
within the brand. this allows procurement to do its job of for schawk, insight into the power of kpis is integral to its
sharing information without assigning blame. delivery of brand point management.
the process of the steering committee driving the results
5 •
down through workflow-chain partners in creative and
production is vital, especially in the first year.
What ambitious brands need to knoW about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point management perspective.
a KPi SPEcific to SchaWK
the health of a production relationship depends on many factors beyond those
measured by traditional kpis – such as whether the production partner is
knowledgeable, engaged, responsive. so for many clients, schawk performs surveys
of our delivery of key services. We survey everyone we work with on an account –
as many as 80 people, including our contacts at other partners, such as printers.
the results are statistically significant. We share these findings with the overall
brand team at regular business meetings. this is something brands should expect
from a production partner.

6. schawk, inc., (nyse:sgk), is a leading provider of brand point
management services, enabling companies of all sizes to connect
their brands with consumers to create deeper brand affinity. With a
global footprint of more than 40 offices, schawk helps companies
create compelling and consistent brand experiences by providing
integrated strategic, creative and executional services across
brand touchpoints. founded in 1953, schawk is trusted by many
of the world’s leading organizations to help them achieve global
brand consistency. for more information about schawk,
visit www.schawk.com.
visit www.brandsquare.com, powered by schawk, to participate
in a one-of-a-kind, exclusive online marketing community.
registration is fast, free and easy. as a registered member, you’ll
have access to news and trends from leading blogs, magazines
and webcasts. you will also be able to ask questions and join
threaded discussions on hot topics. all this and more is at
www.brandsquare.com. follow brandsquare on twitter at
twitter.com/brandsquare.
© 2010 schawk, inc. all rights reserved. no part of this work
may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
6 the copyright holder. schawk is a registered trademark of schawk,
inc. the schawk logo is a trademark of schawk, inc. bLue is a
trademark of schawk, inc.
What ambitious brands need to knoW about key performance indicators
(kpis) for production: a brand point management perspective.