Digital Printing for Packaging: the Next Wave in Personalization by Jeff Walker

It used to be that consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies supplied a relatively few retail outlets - primarily supermarkets and convenience stores. But market fragmentation has opened opportunities for newcomers like warehouse clubs, dollar stores and online merchants.

As a result, CPGs face demand for more products and, within brands, for different sizes and packaging.

Market fragmentation has been a key driver behind growth in digital printing as CPGs and others produce more point-of-sale and promotional materials for smaller market segments. The digital print industry is projected to grow from $131.5 billion in 2013 to $187.7 billion in 2018, according to research by industry consultants Smith Pira. The packaging and labeling portion of that amount, valued at $6.6 billion in 2013, is projected to jump to $14.4 billion by 2018.

Because it can incorporate variable data, digital technology makes it easy and efficient to print packaging and labels for different product sizes and flavors, as well as to switch languages and accommodate various national or regional labeling requirements. Equally important, the technology can be used to personalize merchandise, which can boost sales and strengthen brand loyalty.

This last point was amply demonstrated by Coca Cola's global Share a Coke With . . . campaign, which featured hundreds of the world's most popular names digitally printed onto the soft drink's bottles and cans. Taking a page from Coke's playbook, Bud Light, the official beer of the NFL, has kicked off the 2015-16 football season by introducing 28 team-specific beer cans.

Each of the cans features the team's logo, along with a customized message designed to create an emotional connection with fans. Miami Dolphins cans, for example, contain the slogan The perfect beer for making tonight like the '72 season - perfect.

The Power of Digital Printing

In a recent Iron Mountain/InfoTrends survey, a majority of respondents reported a need for faster turnaround and on-demand production for their business communications, while reducing material warehousing costs and waste created by obsolescence. Outsourcing their print to experts that offer digital printing capabilities lets organizations reproduce materials as needed, in smaller quantities, more affordably.

Digital printing also allows complex personalization that makes their messaging more relevant to recipients. Communicating with customers on a one-to-one level via mass production processes is a practice that has steadily evolved over the past two decades. Now, with technology that allows CPGs and other brands to mass produce high quality, personalized packaging and labeling, variable data printing has opened a new world of possibilities for reaching new customers and cementing relationships with existing ones.

What about your business? Have you put digitally printed packaging on your marketing radar? If not, you may be missing opportunities to create brand buzz and grow your market.

For more on the power of digital printing, check out Digital Printing Services: Print Just Enough, Just in Time. Or contact us to discuss your printing and fulfillment needs.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/marketing-production-...
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