Coca-Cola gets personal with HP Indigo digital technology · HP Indigo delivers the digital...

Challenge

• EngagemembersofGenerationZwith‘ShareaCoke®’personalizedmarketingcampaignleveragingproductpackagingandsuitedtotoday’ssocialmedia-saturatedenvironment.

• PrinthundredsofmillionsofpersonalizedbottlelabelsforCoca-Cola®,Coca-ColaZero®andCoca-Cola®light,featuringthemostcommonfirstnamesforeachEuropeancountry,whilemeetingstringentquality,technicalanddeliveryrequirements.

• Combinedigitalandconventionalprintingwhiledeliveringcompletelyconsistentprintqualityandcolor,includingmatchingtheiconicCoca-Colacorporatered.

Solution

• Combinationofbothdigitalandanalogprinting,withintegratedsupportfromNetherlands-basedlabelconverterEshuistomaximizeproductivityandprintconsistencyacrossallprintsitesandpresses.

• Eshuisformedandmanagedamulti-countrynetworkof18labelconverters:eightdigitallabelconverters,includingEshuis,printingthevariabledata;and10conventionalprintersofstaticareas,plusprimingandfinishing.

• EightHPIndigoWS6000DigitalPressesandfourHPIndigoWS6600DigitalPresses,dedicatedtothe‘ShareaCoke’campaignran24hours5to7daysaweekacrossthreemonths.

• Specialink,pre-mixedbyHPIndigo,developedtomatchCoca-Colared.

Results

• Successful,on-timelaunchofpersonalizedpackagingforEuropean‘ShareaCoke’campaign,amplifiedbyanintegratedsocialmediaandbroadcastmediacampaign–thelargestCoca-Colacampaignintegratingpersonalizedphysicalpackagingwithelectronicmedia.

• Approximately800millionpersonalizedlabelswereprintedwiththetop150namesineachofmorethan32Europeancountries,in15languagesandfivedifferentalphabets,withtotalconsistencyacrosstheeightdigitalprintingsites.

• OutstandingcolormatchaccuracyoftheHP-developedredinkpromptedCoca-Colatouseitasthestandardfortheconventionallyprintedpartofthelabels.Coca-ColaisusingtheredthatHPdevelopedthroughoutEuropetostandardizeitsredcolorsonalltheconventionallabelsthatthecompanyprints.

• FinishedlabelswerecompatiblewithCoca-Colastandardprintedlabels’weightandsurfaceandwebtension.Thisallowedbottlingplantstocontinuerunningatregularspeedswhileintegratingthedigitallyprintedpersonalizedlabels.

At a glance

Industry: Labels&Packaging

Business names: TheCoca-ColaCompany,Europe

Headquarters: Brussels,Belgium

Websites: coca-cola.com

Business names: EshuisBV

Headquarters: Dalfsen,theNetherlands

Websites: eshuis.nl

Coca-Cola® gets personal with HP Indigo digital technology

GenerationZiscoretotheongoingsuccessofCoca-Cola,butengagingwiththismarketisbecomingincreasinglyharder.Withsomanyotherbrandsallclamoringfortheirattention,Coca-ColaEuropelookedforawaytotranscendmediachannelsandreallygetpersonalwithyoungpeople.

Fewerthingsaremorepersonalthanaperson’sname.So,Coca-ColadecidedtouseactualnamesonitsproductstoaddressmembersofGenerationZdirectlyandpersonallyinthe‘ShareaCoke’campaign.

“Gettingpersonalissomethingthathelpsustowintheheartsofteenagers,tostarttalkingtothemone-on-oneandnotgenerallyorglobally,”explainsMaritKroon,marketingmanager,Coca-ColaEurope.“WeinvitedteenstostartsharingbottlesofCoca-Colabyprintingnamesonbottlelabels.Youcouldbuyabottlewiththenameofyourbestfriend,andthiscreatedacutetriggerforyoutostartsharingabottleofCoke®withyourfriend.

“Itreallystartswiththekeyheroofthecampaign,whichisthebottleinthestore.Thenittravelstosocialmediaanddigitalmedia,whilegettingempowermentviaTVandotherstrongmediums,andfromthereitgoesbacktothestore,backtothebottle.”

From Down Under to all over Europe

TheoriginalideacamefromanAustralianpromotioninwhichcommonnameswereprinted(usingconventionaltechnology)onCoca-Colabottlelabels.But,translatingthecampaignthathadrunDownUndertothelargerandexponentiallymorecomplex,multi-lingualandmulti-alphabetEuropeanmarketbroughtwithithugechallenges,particularlyintheareasofprintinganddistribution.

GregoryBentley,Europeanpackaginginnovator,Coca-ColaServicesSA,explains:“Wewereveryinterestedinwhatthey’ddoneinAustralia.They’dreallypushedtheboundariesofwhatoursystemisabletodoandwhatwe’rewillingtodowithourbrand.Atthesametime,ourEuropeantechnicalteamrealizedthattherewouldbeentirelydifferenttechnicalchallengesinEurope.Soweimmediatelystartedinvestigatingthesupplychainroutesthatwemightbeabletouse.”

Enormous volume and challenges

WhiletheoriginalAustraliancampaignhadruninasinglecountryandlanguageandforasingleproduct,inEuropeithadtoruninmultiplemarketsandonthreeproducts:regularCoca-Cola,Coca-ColaZeroandCoca-Colalight.“Notonlydidwehavemorethan32Europeancountries,eachwithadifferentsetofthe150mostcommonnames,15languages,fivealphabets,andinexcessofsixbottlinggroups,wealsohadtodealwithmultiplelabeldesigns,includingred,twoversionsofsilverlabels,andblacklabelswithredtext,”recallsBentley.

“Thebiggestchallengewasfindingadigitalprintingplatformthatwouldallowustoproducepersonalizedlabelswiththevolume,quality,varietyandgeographicspreadthatwerequired.”

What’smore,thebottlingcompanieswouldonlyacceptlabelsperfectlytunedtotheirequipment,somatchingthestandardconventionallabelsintermsofweight,surfacetensionandotherspecificationswascrucial.AnotherpotentialgamestopperwasmatchingtheiconicredcolorofCoca-Cola.

“The‘ShareaCoke’campaignisallabouttalkingtotheheartsofteenagers,andpersonalizationistheverypowerfultoolfordoingso.PackagingiskeytomarketingandtheHPIndigopressmadethepackagingpartofthecampaignmuchmorepowerful.”–MaritKroon,marketingmanager,Coca-ColaEurope

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HP Indigo delivers the digital solution

DigitalprintingwithHPIndigotechnologyprovedcrucialtothecampaign.Withoutit,Coca-ColaEuropemaynothavebeenabletouseitsproductpackagingtoaddresssomanypeopleinsuchapersonalway.

“Whenwelookedatthetechnicalcriteriaanddeliverablesthatwehadasaprojectbrief,itbecameclearthattheHPIndigodigitaltechnologywastheanswer,”saysBentley.“Theinkweight,colormatching,printqualityandconsistency,andtheinstalledbaseoftheHPIndigopressinEuropemadeittheonlyoptionforthisvolume.”

EshuisBV,aleadingDutchlabelconverterwithextensiveexpertiseinprojectmanagementand10years’experienceindigitalprintingwithHPtechnology,wascalledintomanageeverythingaroundtheprintingofthelabelsforthecampaign.Italsohandledpartofthedigitalprinting,usingitsowntwoHPIndigoWS6000DigitalPresses.

Eshuisplayedanimportantroleinexploringanddefiningtherighttechnicalsolutionsincombiningconventionalanddigitaltechnology.EshuisandCoca-Colaperformedmanytrials,labelsweretestedatsomebottlersitesandallpossibleoptionswereresearched.FinallythebestpropositionwastoonlyprinttwohitsofcolorRedorBlacktoachievethehighestdigitaloutput.Thedigitalprintingprocesswasthereforedefinedasabypassprocessoftheconventionalprintingprocess.Thefinishingandslittingintoendreelsforthebottlerisdonebytheconventionalprinters,sotheusualbottlerinthesupplychaindidnotchange.

Leveraging the best of two worlds – digital and analog

“Thehighvolumescouldnotbedeliveredinthetimeavailablewithdigitalalone,”saysPeterOverbeek,CEO,Eshuis.“WeneededtocombineconventionalprintingandHPIndigodigitalprintingsothatdigitalcouldbeusedforthevariabledata.”

UsingdigitalandanalogprintingonthesamelabelwasafirstforCoca-ColaEurope.But,withEshuismanagingtheentireprintingprocessacrossallsuppliers,thecombinationcametogethersmoothlyandwithoutstandingresults.

EshuisassembledaEurope-widenetworkofeightHPIndigolabelconvertersand10conventionallabelconverters.AsprojectmanagerandalsoaprinterofmillionsoftheCoca-Colalabels,Eshuiswasresponsibleforprovidingready-madeprintfilestoallthedigitalprinters.Itdevelopedapowerfulwebtoolspecificallyfortheproject,whichenabledefficientprojectmanagementacrosstheentirenetwork.

TheHPIndigodigitalprintingtechnologyusedfortheCoca-Colaprojectisbasedon20yearsofdigitalprintingexperienceandevolvingdevelopment.Usedbymanyoftheworld’stopbrandsfortheirmarketingcampaigns,labelsandpackaging,aswellasfortransactionalandcommercialprinting,HPIndigodigitalprintingtechnologyiswidelyrecognizedforitshigh-quality,coloraccuracyandmediaversatility.Aswithmanycampaignsfordifferenttypesofbrands,theseattributesmadeHPIndigotechnologyidealforCoca-Cola’srequirements.

“IthadtobetheHPIndigopress.Theinkweight,colormatching,printqualityandconsistency,andtheinstalledbaseoftheHPIndigopressinEuropemadeittheonlyoptionforthisvolume.”–GregoryBentley,Europeanpackaginginnovator,Coca-ColaServicesSA

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©2013Hewlett-PackardDevelopmentCompany,L.P.Theinformationcontainedhereinissubjecttochangewithoutnotice.TheonlywarrantiesforHPproductsandservicesaresetforthintheexpresswarrantystatementsaccompanyingsuchproductsandservices.Nothinghereinshouldbeconstruedasconstitutinganadditionalwarranty.HPshallnotbeliablefortechnicaloreditorialerrorsoromissionscontainedherein.

Coca-ColatrademarksareregisteredorunregisteredtrademarksofTheCoca-ColaCompanyorothersintheUnitedStatesandothercountries.

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“Wearecompletelyhappywiththewayourlabelsturnedout.Thequalityandthelookareabsolutelygreat.Thisprojecthasincreasedthestandardsagainstwhichwemeasurethequalityofallourlabelsonthemarket.”–MaritKroon,marketingmanager,Coca-ColaEurope

Color and brand reinforcement

AkeyelementinthesuccessoftheprojectwastheabilityoftheHPIndigopressestomatchCoca-Cola’siconicredcolor.HPprovidedthedigitallabelconverterswithpre-mixedCoca-Colaredink,ensuringtheywouldallbeprintingtheexactsamecolor.Bentleysays:“Thiswasacriticalmilestoneintheproject.WithouttheCoca-Colaredink,wewouldn’tbewherewearetodaylaunchingthisproject.”

Thepre-mixedredHPIndigoinkwassosuccessfulthatCoca-Colaisnowusingittostandardizetheredcoloronallconventionallyprintedlabels.MaritKroonnotes:“Wearecompletelyhappywiththewayourlabelsturnedout.Thequalityandthelookareabsolutelygreat.Thisprojecthasincreasedthestandardsagainstwhichwemeasurethequalityofallourlabelsonthemarket.”

Bentleyadds:“NowweareusingtheredthattheHPIndigoteamdevelopedthroughoutEuropetostandardizeourredcolorsonalloftheconventionallabelsthatweprint.Sowhenthisproject’sfinished,wewillstillbereapingthebenefitsofitfromthat.”

One campaign; many groundbreaking achievements

Onmanyotherlevels,andevenbeforeitsofficialmarketlaunch,the‘ShareaCoke’campaignprovedtobeagroundbreaker.

The‘ShareaCoke’promotionbecamethelargesteverpersonalizedmarketingcampaigncombiningCoca-Colaproductpackagingwithelectronicandsocialmediainasingle,integratedcampaign.

ThiscampaignnotonlybrokenewgroundintheannalsofCoca-Colamarketing,italsocreatedanewmodelforintegratedmarketinginwhichphysicalproductadvertisingiscombinedwithonlinemedia.

Onthecolorlevel,BentleyisnowlookingatwaysthatdigitalprintingcanenhancetheuseofcolorbyCoca-Cola:“Full-colordigitaltechnologyisreallythenextstepforusandwe’reseeingnowhowwecanembracethatchange.”

Likewise,the‘ShareaCoke’campaignhasilluminatednewdirectionsfortheroleofdigitalprinting.Bentleyexplains:“Withthisproject,weshowedthatdigitalprintingcanbeusedinlarge-volumemarketingcampaigns.And,withHPIndigo,itcanbedonewithsuperbhighquality.Onceyouconsiderthemanywaysthatdigitalandanalogcanbecombined,well,thepossibilitiesjustgoupandup.”