paris, france

COPYTOP: a new visual identity with USM

COPYTOP is well known in France thanks to its numerous agencies in the Paris region and other major cities. Tell us about the history of the company.

The original concept was to provide offset printing and reprographics services within very short deadlines and in trading areas with a very high concentration of businesses. This concept still applies today and has evolved with business needs by offering more and more communication services.

COPYTOP is so well known that some customers tell us that they’ve been to COPYTOPs in towns where we don’t even have a store! Right now, we have 42 stores throughout France. This year, we’ve opened two new stores – one in Lyon and the other in Marseille.

All COPYTOP stores have been kitted out with USM furniture (mainly reception desks) right from the start (so, for over 40 years for some stores). Do you know what inspired this choice at the time? Does this furniture hold a special place in COPYTOP’s culture?

Henri Beck, the company’s president and founder, opted for the USM brand due to its excellent reputation, its durability and its modular design. With its large choice of coloured panels, it was also the ideal way to proudly display our corporate colour, which was yellow at the time. As and when our stores opened up, we really appreciated the fact that we could tailor each counter to the size of the store. With its emblematic yellow colour, the counter became a distinguishing feature for COPYTOP – a visual cornerstone of its DNA.

When you revamped your visual identity, you also reviewed the furniture in your stores. What options did you consider and what prompted your decision to give your USM furniture a new lease of life?

First of all, COPYTOP drastically needed to rethink its identity and image. The codes no longer reflected the reality of our profession, which involves being a real communication partner for businesses as opposed to a reprographics technician. We therefore changed our logo, slogan, graphics charter, sales processes and, of course, our sales outlets. Together with our communications agency, Dragon Rouge, we looked into the possibilities of redesigning the interiors.

“Although restarting everything from scratch was an option, we thought it would be wise to update the existing furniture by changing the panels. The impact was immediate, with brand-new red panels on the existing USM structures.”

We renovated everything and modernised the décor with special branded wallpaper, a new 3D logo, merchandising totems, trade panels featuring beautiful black & white photos, etc. Needless to say, our decision helped us to keep a tighter rein on our budget.

Times have changed and your current role is to be a real communication partner for businesses rather than a simple reprographics technician. How have you adapted your services?

Some classic products have experienced a drop in demand, such as the notorious spiral-bound folder. And this drop is only logical because nowadays an increasing number of presentations are made using online tools and files. However, our clients are still attached to physical media as they have a stronger impact than digital formats, whether for canvassing purposes or for use at events or in-house. Whereas quantities are decreasing, the demand for quality, creative media or special finishes (varnish, gilding, cutting, etc.) is on the rise.
Machine developments have also opened up new markets, such as packaging. Although packaging has been around for a long time, it is now possible to create customised boxes for a meeting or for customer gifts, etc., which was inconceivable a few years ago. Customising advertising items is therefore becoming a classic choice for our customers. Digital technology is playing an ever greater role in our offerings because it’s ideal for communication (digital versions of catalogues, e-mails, websites, etc.).

The decision to refurbish your USM furniture was undoubtedly the best move in terms of sustainable development. How do you take this objective into account, more generally, in COPYTOP’s day-to-day business?

Sustainability has always been the driving force of our actions, investments and, above all, our general services. The decision already made sense from a logical or financial perspective, but it makes even more sense in the interest of circularity. There’s a genuine virtuous dynamic between our suppliers, our customers and us, especially with the development of CSR policies, and it’s really stimulating to think along these lines!