Under the metal beams of the Oberthur factory, cardboard covers covered with color photos, puppies or headlights, vintage cars or stars from the 1980s, are piled up as far as the eye can see. In the middle, machines. They cut, glue, assemble. Further on, shelves connected by conveyor belts.
This is where are assembled and shipped to ninety-five French departments near 30,000 mailman’s calendars, distributed at the end of the year, at New Year’s Eve, by postal workers.
To see the making of calendars you have to aim right. Before June, it’s too early; after September, too late. At the end of June, the factory doors opened to us, in Cesson-Sévigné (Ille-et-Vilaine).
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The preparation of the orders of the factors. © Guillaume Saligot, West-France
Picky schedule
At Oberthur, market leader, calendars are assembled as and when orders
, according to Isabelle Dragonne, director of communication and marketing. Letter carriers choose from a catalog the type of images and range (first price, mid-range and high-end) they want. It is a question of not making mistakes in the forecasts. The unsold, vintage cannot be recycled …
This is why the process responds to a meticulous and well-established schedule. In December, two years before the letter carriers distributed the almanacs, marketing completed the creation of the collection. At the same time, the elements of the calendars for the coming year are printed. Those semi-finished
, as Julien Chilou, technical manager (inside pages, covers…) says, are ready to be assembled in January. In January, the production of catalogs presenting the models will also begin, with around a hundred different covers, which will be sent to postmen in March.
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In the Oberthur factory, a worker cuts out a calendar board. © Guillaume Saligot, West-France
” Tour de France “
Can then set off the waltz of orders: in May-June, a tour of France
, according to Isabelle Dragonne, director of communication and marketing, takes stock of the initial wishes. The first thousand orders reflect the taste that will prevail until the end of the campaign.
, she assures.
There will be a second at the end of August, then a possible third at the end of September. An astronomical amount of packages are sent in four months
, underlines the director of communication and marketing. 35,000 to be exact, from June to September.
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Counting calendars. © Guillaume Saligot, West-France
In the factory where an astonishing calm reigns, Martine Madau, champion of the assembly, makes the 10,000 copies of Côtes-d’Armor on the Rubis, a top-of-the-range machine. The range popular with westerners and rural dwellers. Prepared notebooks full of departmental information straddle the production line. They will be covered with various blankets, chosen from a hundred, corresponding to local tastes.
In the obsolete universe of this almanac, trends change only slowly. New cooking recipes take three years to become successful.
Coluche and Balavoine flopped, while Johnny Hallyday did well, the year of his death.
No matter what, puppies and kittens remain on the hit parade, and as the letter carriers want to please their customers, they bring them back the cats they like
, reports Isabelle Dragonne.
20 000 photos
However, Oberthur employees, twenty-five full-time equivalents in season, of which ten create the collections, take special care. 20,000 photos are viewed by the marketing department, which will only retain 350. We pay great attention to the harmony of colors between the different animals in a jumble: if we are wrong in the races, the positions, if the colors are too dark, we can lose 10,000 copies.
Photos are often purchased directly from photographers, being careful to do not take a photo for five years, to avoid the feeling of déjà vu
, explains Fabienne Chouan, sales and marketing director. All are worked in photoengraving. None are chosen at random
, assures Isabelle Dragonne. A painstaking job.
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