HP exhorts brand owners to explore digital printing

“We are witnessing that the future of commercial printing is driven by digital printing. Digital printing has evolved in India and one key trend driving this shift has been the evolution of HP’s graphics solutions offerings from devices to effective marketing solutions for brand owners. We are thrilled to see increased traction with Indian brands from various verticals, as they embrace the power of digital printing,” said François Martin, global marketing director, graphic solution business, HP.

The company also showcased various applications, including label and packaging, general commercial printing, backlist, textile prints, point of purchase, corrugated print, signage, etc.

“As brands today talk about engaging, immersive and delightful customer experience, HP is uniquely positioned to fulfil this need with our rich digital printing portfolio. We believe in limitless possibilities with digital printing and are happy to notice some of the very interesting projects and implementations by our Indian customers,” said Nancy Janes, global graphics business development director, HP.

Puneet Chadha, director, market development, graphics solutions business, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP, shared insights on the importance of innovation in reaching out to the customers today. He also explained how advanced and differentiated printing applications could help brands develop a stronger brand recall with end customers and establish a competitive edge in the market.

Discussions on the successful real life digital printing campaigns and implementations by some of the leading brands helped the present audience build awareness and perspective around the path-breaking possibilities with digital printing.

“With brand managers trying to break the clutter for increased mindshare for their brands, the market place is getting increasing competitive. Digital printing can open entirely new and unexplored opportunities for brands with respect to customer outreach, contributing significantly to the brand recall,” said Chadha.

He also spoke about Dscoop, a community of HP’s print service providers helping them take part in education, networking and revenue growth opportunities. Highlighting HP’s commitment towards its print service providers’ community, he said, “We will continue to enable our print service providers with newer innovations in digital printing technology and more meaningful conversations with brands at such forums, hence helping them explore newer markets and generate fresh revenue streams.”

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François Martin, global marketing director, graphic solution business, HP

• Label industry became digital very quickly. Today, for wine, 90% of labels are printed digitally. HP has been very successful in this market, driving the adoption
• The trend is on for flexible packaging. Folding carton will follow the same trend. Trend of printing directly on corrugated boxes is also accelerating, because brands want to use that type of technology because it guarantees flexibility in terms of versioning, local languages, and even more importantly, security
• In Latex, we have shipped more than 35,000 Latex printers all over the world. India is doing a good job with latex
• With inkjet printers, in large format, you can do beautiful photography. And these pictures will last 200 years. We have done some accelerated aging tests, so the inkjet technology in the large format driven by HP has accelerated big time
• All the drawings that need to be done when you are making buildings are printed on DesignJets
• We had a vision, and the vision was clear. We turned the vision into reality. We have R&D capabilities; we do everything ourselves. We are integrating everything ourselves, providing printheads mechanisms, inks, workflows – we are building most comprehensive solutions, working with partners, to make sure the printing industry is evolving

Nancy Janes, global graphics business development director, HP

• Brands need to work harder to have a personal relationship with the consumer. That is a big challenge. Technology helps you do that, the internet helps you do that, and digital printing and packaging helps you do that
• Everything that we do at HP is to help brands who are aspiring to print on demand, on increasing the effectiveness of what they print and ensure that the solutions are sustainable and as environmentally friendly; and healthy for the people who  are usually responsible for printing these
• Run lengths are coming down and variety and number of things that we print are increasing. So brands have to be agile enough to respond to this
• The messages we give to brands when we speak to them are really in three areas. We talk to them about supply chain optimisation. This might mean environmental, track and trace, or short-run on demand. We talk to them about agility, about being able to respond but also being proactive quickly. And customer delight, how consumers feel is what they remember and that is what branding is all about
• As Darwin said, it’s not the strongest of the species that will survive, but those species that are most adaptive to change.  There have been some very big brands that have been there for a very long time, but they need to think differently about the consumer acts and environment around them. We help brands take that journey from analog to digital