How to design a beermat

Because different manufacturers may have variations, it is always worth checking first, but as a general guide the following would apply to designing a beermat.

Most beermats are printed square with rounded corners or less commonly, are round. Beermats are normally 94mm square or 94mm diameter. However, the beermats have to be printed and cut, therefore it is not acceptable to simply provide artwork which is 94mm. The following guidelines relate to a ‘square’ beermats with rounded corners, but the general principles would apply equally to a 94mm diameter beermat.

Artwork should be provided 100mm x 100mm. This allows for a 4mm guide, the cut edge and a bleed area. Edge borders should be a minimum of 7mm (4mm plus bleed). The beermat itself is 94mm x 94mm and the corner radius is 6.35mm. Because of the absorbent nature of genuine beermat board, the design process must always be treated differently to normal paper stock. For example, fonts must be a minimum of 7 point and for ‘reversed out’ text, a minimum of 9 point. Gold, silver and florescent’s are not accepted colours, although they can normally be provided as a ‘spot colour’ but this can add considerably to any price quoted.

Although beermats are typically litho-printed using the industry standard CMYK, because the board is manufactured using a particularly absorbent substrate, colour variances are inevitable, therefore if anyone has a particular pantone in mind for their company logo, they should stick with coated paper!

Most beermat manufacturers now insist on a high resolution PDF of the design, those that do not will normally insist that the image is converted to process colours and saved at a minimum of 300 dpi. Some of the more ‘switched on’ beermat manufacturer will offer an in-house design service, more often than not, at favourable rates, so it is always worth enquiring. If you want to deal with the manufacturer direct, it is best to ask a few pertinent questions, because some company’s lay claim to be a manufacturer when they are not and others may not even be based in the country you are from…relying instead on a ‘virtual office’ address!

Up in smoke? UKIP use beermats to campaign

Beermats are often used in campaigns given, it is suggested though independent research, that they are read some 10 times before being discarded. Perhaps aware of this fact, UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom launched a beer mat campaign aimed at rousing public opinion to have the blanket smoking ban in pubs overturned.

 

Clearly the beleaguered landlords of the UK’s public houses were for the most part, supportive of this initiative, given many want to provide their customers with the choice, rather than having blanket bans imposed by government.

 

Not for the first time, UKIP utilised beer mats to re-enforce their message, allowing the beermat to do the talking. Beer mats can now be ordered in smaller quantities making them ideal for smaller campaigns, targeted campaigns, promotions or brand building. Some beermat manufacturers will offer 1000 genuine pulp board beermats, printed in full colour both sides, for the princely sum of less than £100. This really places the beer mat in reach of the vast majority of small and medium sized business in the UK.

Beer Mats? – Just the job!

In 2004, Pertemps used beermats to boost the number of applicants signing up on their jobs website.

 

Each beermat described, with humour, a different type of job available through their job portal. They used a total of 8 designs and distributed them around the pubs and clubs of the UK. This is yet another example of beermats being used to promote something that has nothing to do with alcohol, demostrating the power of this medium. No doubt they were encouraged by independent research which claims that a beer mat will be read 10 times before being finally, if reluctantly discarded.

 

Since 2004, UK based beermat printers have improved their printing methods allowing orders to be taken for as few as 1000 beermats, all for under £100, allowing beermats to be used by the mass market..at last!

The Beermat Game – Flicking Beer mats online

If you enjoy flicking beermats in your local pub, but don’t actually get the chance to visit your ‘local’ as often as you like, there is a solution. The Beermat Game is an online version, where you can flick beermats as many times as you want and you won’t even have to buy a beer!

 

You simply click the ‘flick’ button and then the ‘catch’ button when you are ready to grab your beermat, and there is a flickometer that will test your time. It is great fun and certainly worth considering for your online entertainment.

Cancer awareness campaigns using beermats

Once again beermats prove their worth as a medium for delivering serious messages to a targeted audience. Every year, some 27,000 men are diagnosed with prostrate cancer and 10,000 die from this disease. The UK based ‘Prostate Cancer Charity’ launched a campaign called ‘Real Man’ which was aimed at raising awareness of this disease. The beermats featured a quiz which offered prizes which included £200 of Dixons vouchers.

 

This campaign, once again, proved how beermats can be utilised to deliver a serious message as well as offer a little fun. By utilising the option of printing different design on the front and back of the beermat, the charity maximised the impact of their message.

 

Whilst this particular campaign was targeted at men drinking in pubs, beer mats are often used for direct mail campaigns, free giveaways and at conferences. Some companies also offer pre-printed beermats with serious, fun and safety awareness messages.

Beermats deliver Road Safety message

You may well ask what beermats have to do with road safety. Well, road safety campaigners in the county of Cumbria used beer mats to reinforce the message that drivers should wear their seatbelts.

 

The county was alarmed at the number of people driving in Cumbria who were not wearing seatbelts. Therefore, they launched a campaign utilising beermats which included pictures of the injuries suffered by people who had not been wearing their seatbelts.

 

This particular campaign has a pleasant picture on one side and then relying on the age old practice of ‘beer mat flipping’ they included an image on the reverse of someone that had suffered horrific injuries as a consequence of not wearing a seatbelt.

 

Clearly beermats can deliver serious messages as well as act as an advertising or branding tool as was clearly recognised by the road safety campaigners in Cumbria. Some UK manufacturers of beermats offer short print runs at a fraction of the cost, allowing a wider audience to use beermats for small campaigns or perhaps, a number of different campaign designs.

Beermats used to target under-age drinkers

Leominster and Area Drugs and Alcohol Forum used beermats in their campaign to tackle underage drinking and anti social behaviour. They produced a series of beermats which featured young people who were drunk. These beermats were subsequently distributed to off-licenses and alcohol retailers.

 

The forum intended that the beermats would have a practical use as well as delivering a serious message to potential under-age drinkers. The forum is run by the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership.

 

Once again beermats are proven to be an excellent medium for delivering messages to a targeted audience. There are several manufacturers of beermats in the UK who can design, manufacture and print bespoke campaign messages.