Digital Print for Packaging Europe, which took place this year on the 5th & 6th of December in Berlin, is an event representing the entire digital packaging and label printing industry. Including designers, brand owners, marketers, equipment providers, suppliers, and converters.  

Managing Director of Springfield Solutions, Matt Dass, had the opportunity to not only attend but also speak at the event alongside Paolo Grasso from ACTEGA.  

Matt discussed the installation of our world’s first ECOLEAF sustainable metallisation unit – sharing our experiences so far as the first Digital BETA tester of this new technology. 

Matt gave us a rundown of his time at the event, where he spent two days listening to panels and talks, learning a lot about exciting Digital Print technology of the future! 

Some of the main themes of the two-day conference were sustainability, the supply chain and the flexibility of digital print processes. Let’s get into some of the learnings from the event! 

Digital Print for Packaging Europe – Day One 

Patrick Poitevin – Advisory4Pack 

The first talk I attended on day one of the event was from Patrick Poitevin. Patrick formerly worked at Mondelez and now runs Advisory4Pack Ltd. Patrick discussed the challenges and opportunities that are often missed by brand owners.  

Personalisation was on the agenda. With Patrick stating that customers will pay a 200% premium in comparison with standard digital labels, as well as being four times more likely to engage with a brand. 

Patrick also highlighted some really interesting thoughts on the future of digital packaging, including print on demand and bringing digital print in-house into product manufacturing locations.  

Luis Arevalo – Mondelez 

The following talk was from Luis Arevalo, formerly at Kellogg and now working at Mondelez. Luis gave an incredible example of customised packaging with a Colgate Barbie brand activation in which 50+ Barbie designs adorned the Colgate products in America.  

This project resulted in charging 220% above revenue – proving the value of customisation and variable data in digital printing. 

Panel Discussion  

The Panel Discussion to end the day highlighted an issue in the digital print space. Which is that there are not enough young people actively joining the digital print industry. This is something we are proud to be actively targeting at Springfield Solutions by working with the BPIF to inspire young talent with both apprenticeships and awards programs. 

Digital Print for Packaging Europe – Day Two 

Day two consisted of a lot of sustainability talk – and rightly so. 

Christophe Dujardin – Kurz  

Christophe from Kurz spoke about their sustainable embellishment solution, and their commitment to the ‘4 R’s’. These are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover. 

It is greatly important that we all have conversations about sustainability in packaging, as the actions of businesses and individuals will have a huge impact on the future of the environment and our collective journey to Net Zero. 

Paolo Grasso & Myself, Matt Dass 

Day Two’s agenda included my talk with Paolo Grasso, Sales Director at ACTEGA Metal Print to discuss our experiences with the innovative, sustainable metallisation technology, ECOLEAF.  

Paolo discussed the environmental impacts of foils in the label printing industry, and how ECOLEAF will provide sustainable advantages for the future. 

I discussed how we have been on a journey to be able to provide our customers premium-looking packaging in a cost-effective, sustainable and agile way using the power of digital. 

Mark Lewiecki – Adobe 

Mark joined us on video call from Toronto! One thing that stood out to me from Mark’s presentation was ‘every packaging job starts with a designer’. The job of the designer is incredibly important, and without a good packaging design process – any packaging will fail!  

Mark also mentioned designing products for the Metaverse. This is something we are excited about at Springfield, as we have created our own Metaverse space, complete with virtual packaging! 

Another point that Mark made is that ‘Digital print is growing at 11% versus analogue which is 5%’. This proves that the future is Digital. 

Closing remarks 

Something that stuck out to me during Digital Print for Packaging Europe was the closing remarks from Sean Smyth – ‘Sustainability is here, what are we doing about it?’ 

Sustainability is something we are taking very seriously at Springfield. Embedding it into our business decisions and continuing to educate ourselves on the actions we must take. 

To wrap up my overview of this great event, my top 3 learnings were: 

• The power of digital doesn’t need explaining anymore, it needs quantifying as a cost-effective, more profitable & sustainable business case. 
• Brands can increase margins through digital activation. 

• More digital print skills will be required as designers continue to move away from print to digital media production. 

To find out more about our innovative digital packaging solutions, click here!