Dave, before we get into Hollywood Monster, let’s talk about the journey. Thirty years is a long time in any industry. How did you end up in large-format print?
It wasn’t exactly a masterplan. I started on the shop floor, getting hands-on with the print process from day one. Back then, large-format was a very different world – the technology, the materials, the scale of what was possible. I was curious about how things worked, which meant I asked a lot of questions and probably drove a few people mad along the way. But that curiosity is what moved me through different roles – from printer to production manager, through to sales, account management, and eventually senior leadership and managing partner level. I’ve worked at independents and at international PLCs, which gives you a very different perspective on how businesses operate and what clients actually need from a print partner.
What I’ve always found is that the fundamentals don’t really change. Clients want work that looks right, arrives on time, and doesn’t cause them problems. Everything else is detail. The detail matters enormously, obviously – but that’s the core of it.
What brought you to Hollywood Monster specifically?
Honestly? The combination of things they’ve invested in. When you’ve been in this industry as long as I have, you get pretty good at spotting the difference between companies that talk about quality and companies that actually build for it. Hollywood Monster have done both. The equipment is world-class – the SwissQprint Kudu, the EFI M3h, the Hasler Magna 5-metre cutting system. You don’t make those kinds of commitments unless you’re serious about what you’re delivering.
And then there’s the team. Long-standing, experienced, genuinely invested in getting every detail right. You can have the best machines in the world, but if the people running them don’t care, it shows. Here, they do. That matters enormously when deadlines are tight and there’s no room for error.
Sustainability keeps coming up when people talk about Hollywood Monster. Is it something clients are actually asking about, or is it more of a box-ticking exercise at this point?
It’s absolutely something clients are asking about, and the gap between those who are serious about it and those who are just paying lip service is becoming very obvious. What I found refreshing here is that Hollywood Monster’s sustainability credentials aren’t just a slide in a presentation. They’re backed up by real numbers, real processes, and real investment.
We’re talking about recyclable materials, closed-loop waste systems, and a genuine commitment to reducing the carbon footprint on every project. That’s not accidental – it takes deliberate investment and ongoing effort to maintain. And it’s becoming increasingly non-negotiable for bigger brands and agencies who are under real pressure to demonstrate that their supply chain choices align with their own sustainability commitments.
Being able to point to a partner who takes that as seriously as they do the print quality is a genuine commercial advantage. I’ve seen businesses lose contracts not because their work wasn’t good enough, but because they couldn’t demonstrate credible environmental practice. That’s the reality of where procurement is heading, and Hollywood Monster are already there.
How has sustainability changed the way projects are actually planned and produced?
It’s changed the conversation at every stage. Historically, material choices were driven almost entirely by cost and performance. Now, sustainability sits alongside those considerations from the very start of a project. Which substrate? What’s the end-of-life plan for this material? Can it be recycled, returned, or repurposed? Those questions are coming from clients now, not just from us.
What I think Hollywood Monster do particularly well is making that process feel seamless rather than compromising. The sustainable option isn’t positioned as the lesser choice – it’s presented as the smart one, because increasingly it is. The technology has caught up. You don’t have to sacrifice quality or longevity to make responsible choices, and that message is landing well with clients who care about both outcomes.
You’ve worked across production, sales, and senior leadership. How does that breadth of experience shape the way you approach client relationships?
It means I can have a proper conversation at any level. If I’m talking to a brand manager, I understand the commercial pressures they’re facing. If I’m talking to a production team or a contractor on-site, I understand what they need to make their job work. I’ve been a printer, a production manager, a sales director, and a managing partner. I’ve sat on both sides of most conversations in this industry.
What that gives you is empathy, I think. You stop selling and start solving. And when you genuinely understand how a project gets from brief to installation, you can spot the potential problems before they become expensive ones. That’s where real value gets added – not in the pitch, but in the planning. Anyone can promise a good outcome. Fewer people can map out exactly how you’re going to get there and what you’ll do if something changes along the way.
What does good client service actually look like in this industry? It’s a phrase that gets used a lot.
It does, and it can mean very little if it’s not backed up by specifics. For me, good service starts with honesty. Being clear about what’s achievable, what the timeline looks like, and where the risks are. Clients don’t always want to hear that something is complicated, but they absolutely need to know – because surprises on-site, when a crew is waiting, and a deadline is fixed, are the worst possible outcome for everyone.
Beyond that, it’s about taking ownership. When you’ve got a client managing a national rollout across hundreds of sites, they need one point of contact who understands the whole picture. Someone who knows the print, knows the installation, knows the logistics, and can make decisions. That’s what I’ve always tried to be for clients, and it’s the standard I’ll be holding myself to here.
Hollywood Monster operate across a huge range of sectors. Is that breadth of capability something you see as a real differentiator?
Without question. We can take a client from a single high-impact installation through to a 500-site national rollout, and everything in between. Out-of-home advertising, retail environments, exhibitions, construction hoardings, sports venues, live events – the range of what we cover is significant. And it’s not just print. It’s fabrication, precision cutting, specialist finishes, and nationwide installation. Having all of that under one roof in a 45,000 sq ft facility means we can manage complexity in a way that a lot of companies simply can’t.
Clients don’t have to juggle multiple suppliers or worry about who’s responsible when something doesn’t go to plan. We own the whole thing, from the initial survey through to the team on-site doing the install. That end-to-end accountability is genuinely rare, and it makes a significant difference when projects are complex or time-pressured.
You mentioned the Hasler Magna cutting system. For clients who aren’t familiar with it, why does it matter?
Scale creates its own challenges when it comes to precision. When you’re producing graphics that stretch five metres wide, or running thousands of panels for a national campaign, even the smallest inconsistency becomes visible. The Hasler Magna is one of only a handful of 5-metre conveyor cutters in the UK. What it gives us is the ability to work at genuinely industrial scale while maintaining millimetre accuracy, consistently, across every single panel.
For clients, that translates directly into cleaner joins, faster installations, and the confidence that everything will fit perfectly when it arrives on-site. It’s not the most glamorous thing to talk about, but precision at the cutting stage is what determines whether a job looks brilliant or creates problems. And it has a real impact on service quality too – because when we get it right in production, it saves time and cost at installation. That’s a benefit clients feel directly.
What’s the most important thing you want clients to know as you step into this role?
That we’re here to make their projects work, whatever that looks like. Whether they need production only, a full turnkey solution, or finished graphics supplied for self-installation, we’ve got the capability and the experience to deliver it across every model.
I’ve spent thirty years building relationships in this industry based on actually doing what I said I would do. Hollywood Monster shares that ethos completely. The combination of technical investment, genuine sustainability credentials, and a team that genuinely cares about the outcome – it’s exactly what ambitious clients need right now. I’m very much looking forward to showing more partners what’s really possible here.
Let’s Talk
Dave Cowen is Hollywood Monster’s Commercial Manager, based at their 45,000 sq ft headquarters in Birmingham. To discuss an upcoming project, contact Dave at dave.cowen@hollywoodmonster.co.uk or call 07549 958727. Alternatively, contact us via the form.
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