The company invited customers and perspective customers to Israel last week for its Worldwide VIP Event focusing on the labels and packaging market. The company showcased its presses including the HP Indigo 2000 and 3000 digital presses.
Speaking to journalists and analysts, Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager for the HP Indigo digital press division, said that the company was developing relationships with major brands as well as label and packaging convertors.
"It's still early days but this is where we want to go," he said. "Over time packaging will grow as it did with label. It's about getting deeper into the brands and they are engaging their suppliers. We are going upstream to brand owners like Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Nestlé. Our goal is to create preference for Indigo, not for digital [in general]."
Bar-Shany highlighted the recent project it did with Coca-Cola. The Share a Coke campaign incorporated 150 of the country's top names on bottles. The variable element of the labels was printed on HP Indigo presses.
"The Coca-Cola campaign was a leap of faith to an extent," he added. "We have done a lot of work with Procter & Gamble on labels and now with folding cartons. They have spent weeks testing colour. We have to work with the brands as they are quite specific in what they want."
Bar-Shany also revealed why HP would not be exhibiting at next year's print exhibition Ipex, which runs at Excel in London. "This was a tough decision as we have a lot of emotional attachment to the show. But we have decided to shift resources to smaller events."
