Gary James' Interview With OTTO Printing And Entertainment Graphics'
David Otto
OTTO Printing And Entertainment Graphics specialize in the design of backstage passes. In fact, they are the creator or backstage passes as know them today, having started their production forty years ago. (1979) OTTO Printing not only designs and produces backstage passes but they also provide security badges, bubble badges, woven festival wristbands, stickie passes, holographic badges, laser foil badges, printed lanyards, tour itineraries, anti-counterfeit tickets, full color wristbands, and luggage tags. David Otto talked with us about his company.
Q - David, your father was in the printing business, wasn't he?
A - My father. My grandfather.
Q - But they were not in the business of laminating backstage passes were they, because it's fairly new, isn't it?
A - That's correct. We started doing passes back in the late '70s.
Q - How did you get involved in that business?
A - Well, we were printing passes for local promoters here in Cincinnati, for the Coliseum and a couple of different venues. The band Boston was coming out on tour. They were coming into Cincinnati, so we put together a complete set of backstage passes as it's known today from Photographer and All Access, Before Show After Show and all the different categories. Five different colors. We used their album cover, which was the upside down guitar which looked like a spaceship. Great graphics. We used that as the main piece of the art. We met them backstage that night and said to them, "You haven't authorized us to print these. We'll give 'em to you. You're going out on this world tour. You need a set of backstage passes that will compliment your tour." So, they loved 'em. What we did was put our name and phone number and address on the back of the passes and stickie badges and on the laminates. From that point on, as they went from city to city, country to country, the backstage pass, literally the way it is today, was born.
Q - How did you know that Boston would like your backstage passes?
A - We didn't. We didn't know that it would go over at all. We just took a chance. They were using house passes on the tour.
Q - Who would provide the house passes? The promoter?
A - That would be the venue.
Q - Who would contact you about making backstage passes? The promoter? The management?
A - Their (the group's) management, their production manager normally contacts us.
Q - Now that you have a name in the business it makes it a whole easier for you to get customers.
A - Yes.
Q - Are you the only person doing this type of work?
A - There's other companies. They're spread out across the country.
Q - You're actually in the merchandising business aren't you because you design everything you make?
A - Yeah, pretty much. Sometimes we get designs from people and other times we totally design. We just designed a set of passes for Bob Dylan, which he approves himself. Then we just go from there and print the passes.
Q - Before you started Otto Printing And Entertainment Graphics, people would counterfeit tickets and backstage passes.
A - Oh, yeah.
Q - The tickets I can understand because people want to save money. But backstage passes? What do you do with a counterfeit backstage pass? Your name is usually on a list.
A - Yes.
Q - If you have a counterfeit backstage pass, what do you do with it?
A - Well, yeah. If a person had a ticket for a show and they had a counterfeit backstage pass, there are multiple entrances to get backstage. Most of the time it's not at the front desk where they've got the name and phone number of the person. That's how you go just by the stage. You can be admitted right alongside, in most cases, by just showing the badge.
Q - If there's any trend I'm noticing these days it's that name bands are starting to take up residency in Las Vegas.
A - Yes.
Q - Def Leppard. Aerosmith.
A - We just did some passes for Queen for their stay in Las Vegas.
Q - If you're doing a residency wouldn't that mean there's less of a demand for your services?
A - There still is a demand for our services.
Q - How many people do you have working for you?
A - We've got twelve people. We're a small company.
Q - You worked at one time for Riverfront Coliseum. What was your job there?
A - I just did whatever they needed me to do.
Q - What you're doing today would translate to a growing business?
A - Yes. We're doing a lot of holographic badges now that are virtually impossible to counterfeit.
Official Website: OttoPrinting.com
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