Brands are always looking for new ways to engage their customers and increase consumer loyalty. HP digital printing solutions for packaging are enabling new applications including eye-catching quality graphics, timely event-based messaging and implementation of integrated multi-channel online and instore print campaigns.
An interesting aspect of printing is understanding what really drives innovation. Is it the vendors who manufacture the hardware such as HP, the print providers who actually print the job, or the brands who come with the ideas and influence their customers?
The options that digital print technology brings to designers, packaging technologists and marketers is growing every day. Here, HP Indigo highlights some of the best case studies to inspire your brand development
OREO Colour-Filled
Oreo Colorfilled gave fans of the brand the chance to pick one of a range of exclusive black and white artist-created seasonal designs from its website. They could then either define a colour scheme for the pack, colour them in manually using a digital paintbrush, or simply order a black and white pack that they could colour in themselves at home.
Orphan Barrel
These ‘orphan barrels’ are small stocks of product with unique taste profiles. Some will only be available once, and when they’re gone, they’re gone forever. Each whiskey is therefore given a unique personality that reflects the individuality of the product.
Digital print combined with post-finishing on this project – which was produced by CCL’s facility in Portland, Oregon on an HP Indigo WS6000 printer – allows the design to be printed on real wood, leather and metal. This is a fantastic example not just of strategic and creative use of digital print’s agility. It is also a great showcase for a premium and craftsman-like approach to technology.
Café Pelé
The Brazilian brand Café Pelé was facing a challenge with the country’s coffee-obsessed consumers: the perception that its packaged product sold in stores was not as fresh as the coffee it sold through coffee shops.
Café Pelé turned to marketing agency Lew’Lara, part of TBWA, who developed a simple idea: print today’s news on the packs, proving to consumers that the coffee had been freshly packed that morning.
Lew’Lara designed a special pack in the proportions of the newspaper O Estade de Sao Paulo, featuring its fonts and frontpage styling. It then turned to flexible packaging printer Camargo Compania de Embalagens – which had recently installed an HP Indigo 20000.
From my modest experience in this industry, I have to say that it is really a combination of them all. The vendor must supply equipment that enables particular applications and HP has shown a lot of innovation doing this across a number of segments. The print provider must know how to produce the asset timely and effectively. All of this, however, is not really that interesting unless brands derive real value for their campaigns.
While it is really an eco-system that really inspires innovation, what makes an impression is what is presented in the public eye. So when a brand launches an innovative campaign using personalized labels, for example, consumers connect with the cool photo-quality graphics and unique messaging – but they have no idea that these types of campaigns are another example of how digital print makes the impossible – possible. Campaigns that were not run a decade ago using analog equipment, have only recently become possible thanks to digital print technology.
On the 5th April, HP Inc will be presenting a complementary webinar on the subject ‘Delivering Customised Product Packaging Instore‘ in partnership with KOMDRUCK Printing Solutions to discuss this area in more detail. Please click here to register.