The 2013 European DScoop EMEA2 conference took place in Rome in early November where labels and packaging were to the fore among the 700 HP high-end users.
The ‘Share a Coke with . . .’ campaign was the biggest news, as a billion labels firmly puts the view that digital is purely for short runs to bed, and raises the profile of digital among brands and retailers.
The Digital Solutions Cooperative, or DScoop, is more than just a user group, providing many valuable resources for customers. It is the degree of collaboration that is enlightening. ‘Collaborative competition is the mechanism,’ said marketing director, Stephanie Kusibab. ‘We call it collabetition.’ There was certainly much deep discussion among the attendees – with the UK label community well represented. The organisers provided a broad range of educational sessions, covering many topics, for operations and management; sales and marketing and many interesting case studies of novel applications.
Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, HP Indigo, closed the conference. One of his comments referred to the future of packaging. ‘The industry is ready for change, although it may not know it,’ he said. HP is a major driver of these changes, with new technology coming on-stream and a community of innovative users sharing experiences to push the sector forward.
