Package Design - January/February 2013 - 24

Instant

g r a t i f i c a t i o n
Digital package printing helps agencies
and brands break production and cost
barriers to expand creative possibilities.

W

herever specialty products and tightly targeted marketing requirements exist, so do
significant opportunities for digitally produced
packaging. Digital printing systems typically don’t
need the factory environments of conventional production equipment; they can turn out short runs of
packages and labels almost anywhere—including
the working locales of brand owners and their creative agencies.

Now, instead of letting someone
else’s production schedules and
quantity minimums dictate when
new products can be launched,
the specialty coffee purveyor can
deliver whatever its customers want
regardless of order size.
Freed from having to source conventionally
produced packaging materials in quantities larger
than actually needed, small-scale consumer packaged goods (CPG) producers can pursue a business model that makes sense for them: Packaging
their wares for distribution on demand in custommade batches.
24

january/february 2013

By
Patrick

Henry

“We were locked into 3,000 to 5,000 label minimums from our other printer, so short runs of
labels were either much more costly or impossible,” says Jon Katzung, director of operations at
Peace Coffee, which expanded its options by
investing in its own short-run label printing
machine. Now, instead of letting someone else’s
production schedules and quantity minimums dictate when new products can be launched, the specialty coffee purveyor can deliver whatever its
customers want regardless of order size.

No need to job out
National brands can turn to digital printing for limited runs of the prototypes and samples they rely on
to open markets for new products. One provider of
creative services that understands these applications well is Kaleidoscope, a branding and packaging design agency with branches in New York City,
Chicago and the UK. Kaleidoscope is unusual
among creative consultants in having extensive production assets of its own, housed in a 30,000-sq.-ft.
innovation center offering digital printing, roll-fed
and flatbed inkjet proofing, finishing systems and
milling machines for structural work.
A short-run of labels for sales samples of haircare products tested the capabilities of two of
Kaleidoscope’s most sophisticated pieces of equipment: Its HP Indigo WS4600 digital label press;
and its new Digicon label finishing system from A
B Graphic International. The client was Unilever,



Package Design - January/February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Package Design - January/February 2013

Package Design - January/February 2013
Contents
Editor's Letter
Front Panel
Snapshots
Sustainably Speaking
Converters Corner
Tracking Authenticity
Anti-Conterfeiting, Track-and-Trace Products
Great Expectations
Instant Gratification
In-House Printing Equipment and Supplies
Product Focus: Special Effects for Packaging
Datebook
Index of Advertisers
Field Notes
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Intro
Package Design - January/February 2013 - BB1
Package Design - January/February 2013 - BB2
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Package Design - January/February 2013
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Cover2
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 1
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Contents
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 3
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Editor's Letter
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 5
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Front Panel
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 7
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Snapshots
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 9
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 10
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 10a
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 10b
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 11
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Sustainably Speaking
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 13
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Converters Corner
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 14a
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 14b
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 15
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Tracking Authenticity
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 17
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 18
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 19
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Anti-Conterfeiting, Track-and-Trace Products
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 21
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Great Expectations
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 23
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Instant Gratification
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 25
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 26
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 27
Package Design - January/February 2013 - In-House Printing Equipment and Supplies
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 29
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Product Focus: Special Effects for Packaging
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 31
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 32
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 33
Package Design - January/February 2013 - 34
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Index of Advertisers
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Field Notes
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Cover3
Package Design - January/February 2013 - Cover4
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