THIS IS A PROMOTIONAL ARTICLE PAID FOR BY CANON
More than 6000 visitors streamed through the doors of the Sydney Showground’s at Sydney Olympic Park for PrintEx15 last month, with the iconic Dome providing the perfect backdrop for Canon’s ambitious and innovative display, which aimed to stimulate business in much the same way as a good cup of coffee can stimulate the mind.
With bright graphics and an intriguing range of printed products on display, the stand drew immediate attention and was a hive of activity throughout the three-day event. Themed around a fictitious client, the CoffECO coffee company – created by Canon for the show – the presentation drew strong interest from visitors, attracted by the new ideas presented in a real world production environment.
According to Dale Hawkins, senior marketing manager – Canon Professional Print, the display was a carefully considered means to demonstrate to visitors how new ideas can bring print to life and, most importantly, how these ideas, combined with good technology and backed by the expertise of a partner like Canon, can help drive businesses forward into an exciting and profitable future.
He says, “Walking in to an exhibition like this, it’s easy to assume it is all about the equipment – and, of course, that is what we are putting on show. But more fundamentally, our business has always been about helping our clients meet the needs of their customers at the end of the chain, the print buyer.
“Our role is to help print service providers find innovative ways to meet the needs of businesses who purchase print and, ultimately, to help facilitate the visual and communications requirements of that end customer, whether that be through their stationery and brochures, through the packaging they put around their products, through promotional collateral or through customised interiors, signage, POP and visual merchandising.
“On the Canon stand at PrintEx we set out to illustrate creative and innovative responses to the diverse print requirements of a typical business. To that end, we created a fictitious client – the CoffECO Coffee Company – and designed a full suite of print products to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the Canon range to visitors and, just as importantly, to help stimulate ideas which might help them strengthen their businesses and create profitable new revenue streams.”
CoffECO sprang to life on the two-storey stand, which featured a large demonstration area at ground level, decked out with customised wall art and product display stands, and an upper-level hospitality area with, of course, a talented barista on hand to provide the coffee.
With visitors to PrintEx taking time out of their busy schedules to attend the show, Canon took the responsibility of providing ideas, opportunities and inspiration very seriously, demonstrating a range of practical solutions live to show how they can be used to create new services and realise better margins, and even providing downloadable tools to help visitors make the most of their time on stand.
In terms of kit, Canon put together an impressive display. For a start, visitors were invited to experience the next generation of productive digital colour production with two Canon imagePRESS machines. The company’s C800, billed as ‘a powerful and versatile light production press’, was demonstrated with Fiery rip, one of three powerful workflow options which is available on the range. Tasked with a number of diverse jobs for CoffECO, it quickly demonstrated to visitors how high levels of quality and productivity can be achieved across a huge range of media, and with a wide choice of finishes.
Its little brother, the C700, running with the company’s own Océ PrismaSync workflow, also created a lot of interest, showing how simple, intuitive operation and innovative workflow can deliver impressive productivity on a range of typical jobs, with consistently brilliant image quality at this production level.
These two presses were used to produce a range of documents and other commercial print products for CoffECO, including business cards and letterheads, brochures, perfect bound books, menus and placemats. Even the serviettes in the upstairs café had been printed using Canon’s Océ ColorStream high-speed inkjet continuous press.
Complementing the production presses was a range of wide-format technology which not only produced a huge variety of specially designed work on the stand but, in fact, had been used to print the stand itself, with all banners, wall art and other decorative elements produced solely using these machines.
“Wide-format, in all its forms, is an exciting area because it not only allows printers to productively produce traditional products like signage and POS, it also gives them extraordinary flexibility to branch out into totally new services which can command the higher margins which are so critical to profitability,” Hawkins says.
Undoubtedly, one of the highlights here was the Océ ColorWave 700, shown for the first time in Australia. Based on Océ’s proven CrystalPoint technology, Canon calls this machine a business in a box, due to its exceptional productivity and media versatility. This was comprehensively demonstrated on stand, with the machine used to produce everything from pull-up banners and posters to wall paper and table cloths.
The Seiko SII ColorPainter M64s also impressed, utilising its entire 64” (1626mm) media capacity and high production speeds to produce much of the signage, banners and graphics used on the stand using its eco-friendly low-solvent ink.
Developed specially for this market, and adopted by Canon to flesh out its already comprehensive wide-format range, the ColorPainter demonstrated just how easy it is to produce durable, high quality images with an exciting colour gamut and striking saturation by delivering everything from interior finishes, to banners and signage, during daily live demonstrations.
Handling the rigid graphics for the stand was the Arizona 660GT flatbed machine, which is designed to print to virtually any reasonably flat surface for just about any application, at high speeds and with vivid colour and uncompromising accuracy.
The versatility of this machine, which is extended by a roll media option that was also on show at PrintEx, was amply demonstrated to visitors, with the machine used to produce everything from rigid panels, POS and product standees, to packaging, labels, shape-cut coasters and even customised iPhone cases.
The Océ Arizona was demonstrated in conjunction with the Océ ProCut 3200L cutting system, which further expanded the options available to visitors and demonstrated how a total print and finishing workflow can help expand options and add value – and margin – to print. This totally integrated system was driven by the EngView 3D prototyping and workflow solution, giving visitors a practical example of a real world production environment.
A busy program of demonstrations across the entire range of equipment on show was organised into theme areas including Products & Packaging, Promotional & Publishing, Photographic & Fine Art, Technical & Schematics, Sign & Display and Preparation & Workflow, to make it easy for visitors to identify sessions which would be of the most value to their businesses. These demonstrations kept the stand buzzing, with many visitors taking advantage of the company’s dedicated Events microsite to select sessions of interest from the demonstration timetable and pre-book their place.
Canon’s business development, finance and product specialists were also kept busy with ‘one-on-one’ consultations, many of which were also pre-arranged via the microsite, to help visitors explore ways in which various Canon technologies could meet their specific business needs and contribute to future success and profitability.
This was enhanced by the ability to work through various scenarios using Canon’s specially-developed ROI calculator, which allowed visitors to break down the exact production details, material, print and labour costs, and determine the potential profit margins for each of the products produced on the exhibition floor, providing hard numbers to back the ideas on show.
“We believe shows like PrintEx15 are vitally important as they not only provide a great way for visitors to get a broad appreciation of the industry landscape and current trends, but also to see, touch and feel possible solutions, evaluate and compare technologies, and discover new ideas they may never have considered before,” Hawkins reflects.
“This particular PrintEx came at what I believe is a pivotal time for the industry, with visitors keen to investigate new possibilities as they seek to innovate and transform their businesses to meet the demands of a rapidly changing market.
“In this environment, it can be a real challenge to grow business, and the solution is often in new applications which can help create profitable new revenue streams. That’s why we made sure our focus was not just on the boxes, but rather on what those boxes can deliver in terms of both products and profits.
“Canon’s PrintEx15 stand demonstrated exactly how print service providers can supply a comprehensive range of products which meet the needs of today’s businesses and, more importantly how higher-margin, value-add products can open up new business opportunities, improve profitability and, in the words of the PrintEx15 theme, give businesses a real chance to fly into the future.”
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