It has been a long time coming and the road included several dead ends, but now, perhaps brought about by pandemic and lockdowns, the way is clear for digitally printed packaging to make its mark. There have been several false starts, notably the success of the Share a Coke campaign, which because of its gestation and complexity of the supply chain needed, has never been repeated. It has sparked an interest and slowly growing business in having your name on all manner of items, but as a gift or special purchase, not as a mainstream off the shelf product.
HP’s Mosaic software has enabled completely unique labels and pack designs for drinks and other FMCG products, because it crucially does not affect the supply chain. There is no extra step to putting a digitally printed Mosaic label on a bottle to the standard conventional label. This is vital. The technology works. And there is no reason to suppose that other digital technologies, whether toner or inkjet, will not work just as well. But digital print is expensive: that fraction of a penny being enough to put brands off doing any more than testing on sample or presentation quantities. Digital print could not be considered for real production volumes.
Now the work carried out by Warc and HP has shown that the extra investment in differentiated print reaps rewards. It seems that printed packaging is a more powerful persuader amid a sea of online activity than previously thought, perhaps the more so with the popularity of unboxing videos during lockdowns. Money invested in distinctive packaging that creates an affinity with the purchaser, and not simply because of an individual’s name, delivers an emotional kick that other forms of marketing cannot achieve. In turn that frequently leads to user generated comments on Facebook, Instagram and other social media – the sort of endorsements that are worth their weight in, well, whatever. And this is because of print. Print advocates have known this for many years. Now the brands are starting to understand this too. Digitally printed packaging is no longer that curious attachment on the Swiss Army Knife of marketing that nobody is sure what it’s there for. It is about to become one of the key tools for brands, retailers and marketers.
Digital print for packaging finds its mojo
It has been a long time coming and the road included several dead ends, but now, perhaps brought about by pandemic and lockdowns, the way is clear for digitally printed packaging to make its mark. There have been several false starts, notably the success of the Share a Coke campaign, which because of its gestation and complexity of the supply chain needed, has never been repeated. It has sparked an interest and slowly growing business in having your name on all manner of items, but as a gift or special purchase, not as a mainstream off the shelf product.
HP’s Mosaic software has enabled completely unique labels and pack designs for drinks and other FMCG products, because it crucially does not affect the supply chain. There is no extra step to putting a digitally printed Mosaic label on a bottle to the standard conventional label. This is vital. The technology works. And there is no reason to suppose that other digital technologies, whether toner or inkjet, will not work just as well. But digital print is expensive: that fraction of a penny being enough to put brands off doing any more than testing on sample or presentation quantities. Digital print could not be considered for real production volumes.
Now the work carried out by Warc and HP has shown that the extra investment in differentiated print reaps rewards. It seems that printed packaging is a more powerful persuader amid a sea of online activity than previously thought, perhaps the more so with the popularity of unboxing videos during lockdowns. Money invested in distinctive packaging that creates an affinity with the purchaser, and not simply because of an individual’s name, delivers an emotional kick that other forms of marketing cannot achieve. In turn that frequently leads to user generated comments on Facebook, Instagram and other social media – the sort of endorsements that are worth their weight in, well, whatever. And this is because of print. Print advocates have known this for many years. Now the brands are starting to understand this too. Digitally printed packaging is no longer that curious attachment on the Swiss Army Knife of marketing that nobody is sure what it’s there for. It is about to become one of the key tools for brands, retailers and marketers.
Gareth Ward
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