Digital print used for personalisation of beer bottles by Japanese brewery, Sapporo
To differentiate its brands and increase sales, one of Japan’s premier brewing companies, Sapporo, has developed a marketing campaign to encourage those who do not usually drink beer to connect with the beverage on a personal level.
Established in 1876, Sapporo Beer is one of Japan’s premier brewing companies. Via a web storefront known as the Waku Waku Brewery Project, the company has been offering consumers personalised beer bottles, including the flavour of beer, the colour of the bottle and label design with photographs and personal messages. However, the brewer faced a major challenge in delivering these high quality customised labels in small quantities at low cost.
‘We were faced with the issue of having a print run of as few as six labels. At that time, we could hardly find printers with that capability so it was a major concern,’ said Yuta Suzuki, digital marketing manager.
It was in this search for a printer that could facilitate the proposed marketing plan that led the company to Kyodo. Since 1968, Kyodo has provided converting services to the Japanese market and more recently, it established Kyodo Creation, a digital print house that specialises in labels and shrink-wrapped film.
‘We started up Kyodo Creation, specialising in digital printing, as part of the Kyodo Production Group,’ explained Masanori Tateishi, president. ‘The group’s primary market is the beverage industry and we create packaging samples for vending machines along with sales promotions.’
Mr Suzuki said, ‘Kyodo introduced us to the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press and we thought this could work. When we actually carried out a check on the quality of the printing, it was exceptionally high.’
From personalisation to versioning
It was in 2011 that the company invested in a HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press in order to create better quality prints faster. The press enabled it to provide a web-to-print service, making the print process more customisable and flexible. Without this the Waku Waku Brewery Project would not have been feasible.
‘We are in the digital print business and have seen many digital presses. We chose the HP Indigo WS6000 because it is of the highest quality,’ added Mr Tateishi. ‘With the introduction of the HP Indigo WS6000, we are now able to fully meet the expectations customers have for quality and speed, which will open up marketing opportunities for us.’
This project is just one example of how the press has opened up new and exciting avenues of growth for Kyodo Creation.
‘The Waku Waku Brewery Project offered consumers the opportunity to create their own original labels via the web by uploading their own photographs, messages and stamps. The data would then be sent to us with just one click of the order button,’ explained sales manager, Toshinori Sato.
‘Although production levels may be one of the challenges we have to deal with, the press is comparable to conventional printers in terms of productivity and speed so it will enable us to respond efficiently to future demand.’
Sapporo was delighted with the flexibility offered by the press and has created numerous themed products to fully exploit its capabilities. ‘Using the variable data printing technology of the press for a product with 12 bottles in a box, allows us to actually produce bottles with 12 different labels,’ added Mr Suzuki.
‘In fact, we have a product called ‘Sakura of Tohoku – 12 Scenic Views’. These feature well-known places for Sakura cherry blossom viewing in Tohoku; 12 different labels representing 12 different places in the spring. We are thinking of producing more and more of these kinds of products.
‘The Waku Waku Brewery products are ideal as gifts. In fact, they are given very often as presents for birthdays, weddings, baby showers and more. According to the performance results last year, we received double the orders we had planned for. With regards to this year, we are currently challenging ourselves to intensifying the pace through various strategies. These are the plans that will drive our sales,’ concluded Mr Suzuki.
Well-known places for Sakura cherry blossom viewing in Tohoku printed digitally on beer labels
Broader market opportunities
Kyodo is now looking to extend its business beyond the beverage industry and target more consumer-orientated markets.
‘With the introduction of the HP Indigo WS6000, we have been able to take on many new challenges, including the creation of our own web-to-print application. We are also starting to see expansion into the consumer market, which we have not been able to target before,’ explained Mr Tateishi.
‘One of the reasons we introduced web-to-print was to seamlessly integrate the analogue world and the digital world to offer new products and services. We believe that the innovation of web-to-print caters to the needs and likes of each individual customer,’ commented Kei Ishibashi, technical manager. ‘The capabilities of the press has allowed the introduction of web-to-print and the current operation of the print system.’
And Mr Tateishi concluded, ‘Today we are only catering to the beverage industry. In the future, we will grow our offering and expand to other areas’.
