CASLON WHITE PAPER

CASLON 

WHITE 

PAPER 

MAKING SENSE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES IN 

DIGITAL PRINTING AND INNOVATION IN 

PACKAGING 

January 2013

Making Sense of the Opportunities in Digital Printing and Innovation in Packaging 

ABOUT THIS PAPER 

This white paper is intended for companies involved in the packaging value chain. It 

provides a broad view of the key business issues driving adoption of digital printing and 

innovation in packaging, and steps that are needed to capitalize on this emerging 

opportunity. 

Cover image: 123RF Stock Photo 

© 2013 W. Caslon & Company. All rights reserved Page 1


ROLE OF THE BRAND MANAGER 

Simply stated it all begins with the brand manager. For large consumer product 

companies (CPC’s) the term brand manager may sometimes be used generically and 

apply to staff members in marketing or business development. Regardless of the title, this 

role calls the shots and ultimately drives packaging design and manufacturing decisions. 

Brand managers carry responsibility for brand performance and are dealing with 

numerous issues related to packaging, most significantly: 

Packaging solutions that provide first to market advantage 

Creative ways to differentiate the brand and products with packaging 

Environmental impact 

Creating higher shelf appeal while grabbing consumers’ attention 

Ultimately increasing sales and profits 

BUSINESS DRIVERS: 

While the role of the brand manager is to drive sales and more profits it is important to 

understand the business drivers that are impacting his/her efforts. To summarize the 

business drivers in play, and the impact they have across the value chain, consider the 

following: 

Business Drivers Impact 

Brand managers drive SKU proliferation 

• Private label, club, dollar store growth 

• Product introductions 

• Test marketing 

Micro-marketing increasing 

• Local product sourcing 

• Product regionalization / personalization 

• Promotions 

Brand development and loyalty 

• National brands vs. private labels 

• New market entrants 

• Enhance brand experience 

Sustainability is extremely important 

• Reduce carbon footprint 

• Reduce obsolescence 

• Government compliance 

Economics of digital vs. traditional technology 

• Capital expense and utilization 

• Turn-around time 

• Cost of inventory 

• More runs, shorter in length 

• Traditional technology not suitable 

• Scalable platforms needed 

• SLA’s tightening 

• Short runs 

• Market specific messaging 

• Need to measure brand effectiveness 

• Links to social media and PURL’s 

• Exacerbated SKU proliferation 

• Targeted, personalized, location sensitive 

promotions 

• Packaging as an interactive medium 

• Biodegradable materials 

• Scorecards 

• Light-weighting 

• Evolving substrates and inks 

• Long setup times and waste 

• Asset utilization 

• Stock obsolescence 

• Time to market 

• Opens new markets 



Across these business drivers we see opportunities for innovative packaging technologies 

to have an important effect. Technologies that promote interaction with individual users 

and digital printing can impact both the revenue and cost sides of the equation. In this 

paper we are going to focus on the role of digital printing in helping the brand manager 

increase sales and/or profits. 

ROLE OF DIGITAL PRINTING 

Digital printing can help brand managers decrease the cost of short run packaging for 

SKU’s. It has been proven that segmenting products to match consumer demands more 

closely can increase sales. This trend, often referred to as SKU Proliferation, has a 

downside. The cost of the supply chain rises, especially as run lengths decrease. Digital 

printing, with no make-ready costs, can reduce the cost of short run packaging thereby 

allowing brand managers to reap the benefits of finer product segmentation. 

SeaYu® Enterprises had a great product — an all natural, 

highly-effective, all-purpose odor eliminator perfect for the 

pet, home and automotive markets. Initial customer 

research told them that a single, multi-purpose product 

would be well received by the retailer and consumer. In 

reality, however, buyer behavior from the larger chain 

stores — all the way down to the smaller specialty stores — 

and consumers told them a different story. Rather than a 

general purpose product, buyers preferred to buy products 

that addressed specific odor problems over an all purpose 

product. 

SeaYu created 15 unique odor elimination and cleaner products, each targeted to a specific 

audience and specific uses — such as a dog owner with a skunked dog or a cat owner with a 

litter box odor problem. 

Packaging for so many products made conventional offset (with 

printing plates for each label) cost prohibitive, as well as limiting 

SeaYu’s ability to react quickly to customer feedback. 

The answer to this marketing/production problem was digital 

printing. The end result for SeaYu was packaging that met their 

high quality standards and the needs of their retailers and 

consumers. 



Digital printing can also improve speed to market with rapid prototyping. Combined with 

3D visualization, the process of collaboration in design and prototyping can be rapidly 

accelerated. 

Supply chain managers can reduce inventory costs and obsolescence by moving to a 

packaging on demand mode. This is only feasible with digital printing. While the cost of 

printing per unit might be higher, in this mode the overall cost of packaging is lower. 

THE SITUATION: A Fortune 500 Manufacturer produces industrial buffing and cleaning pads 

that require 1500 different label SKUs based on a variety of sizes, brands and applications. 

The manufacturer faced difficulty when it came to managing the printing and storage of this 

high-volume label program. 

• The customer had to consistently store numerous pallets of preprinted label stock in 

their warehouse 

• The customer needed to purchase a new color printer 

• The customer would need to hire one or two full-time employees to operate the new 

printer 

THE SOLUTION: Using variable printing capabilities the customer’s 1500 label SKUs are now 

printed on-demand. The customer can order their labels on a weekly or monthly basis, and 

orders can be shipped in five days or less. This workflow greatly reduces the need for 

inventory. 

THE BOTTOM LINE: The customer has eliminated the need for one full-time employee resulting 

in a cost savings of $50,000 annually. 

• The customer has significantly reduced the risk of waste from obsolescence by 

avoiding the purchase of preprinted labels equal to $75,000 

• This has also allowed them to expand their throughput capacity 

• The customer has eliminated their need to purchase the equipment to print their SKUs 

valued at $50,000 



Digital printing is greener than flexo or offset 

printing. Waste in make-ready and waste from 

obsolescence is dramatically reduced. Sustainability 

is one of the single biggest factors brand managers 

are concerned with. Vehicles such as Walmart’s 

scorecard often measure packaging’s impact on the 

environment. Carbon footprint is impacted by 

manufacturing/printing processes, substrates, inks, 

weight, and shipping distance. So while appearance 

and functionality are important, sustainability carries 

equal weight and is only increasing in importance. 

96.2% REDUCTION with Digital 

~7,000 Linear Feet 

EXAMPLE: 

200 SKUS 

Flexography Make Ready Waste 

~180,000 Linear Feet 

(@ 900 Linear Feet per SKU) 

~42,400 Square Inches 

of Photopolymer 

3” x 4” Label 

CMYK 

Brand security, anti-counterfeiting, and the ability to track 

and trace have also risen on the scale of importance. Using 

micro-text or specialty inks/toners, digital printing offers a 

variety of methods to protect from counterfeiters. 

Solutions for food packaging offer increased ability to track 

origination and distribution to ensure quality and safety. 

Pharmaceuticals need to manage controlled substances. And, retail channels need 

solutions to assist with product theft without intruding on the consumers shopping 

experience. 

Micro marketing or regional marketing 

promotions are becoming more important for 

brand managers and retailers. The ability to 

supply unique promotions for one retailer versus 

another is gaining momentum. National brands 

are increasingly using promotions to compete 

with private labels. To execute these types of 

programs requires fast design and approval 

cycles and fast execution. Digital printing makes 

this possible. 

© 2013 W. Caslon & Company. All rights reserved Page 5 

Digital 

Source HP


And the ultimate in customer communications is personalized packaging, where the 

customer designs or personalizes the product. While not high volume applications, they 

are high value add for the brand image. Personalized packaging has also been effectively 

integrated into cross media marketing campaigns, producing improved response rates. 

ROLE OF ACTIVE AND ELECTRONIC-ENABLED PACKAGING: 

Interactive packaging refers to packaging that can 

interact with its contents. Advancements in material that 

interacts with the packaged environment can detect and 

alert retailers/consumers to aged contents (fresh food), 

and in some cases prolong freshness. Electronicenabled 

packaging refers to the package’s ability to 

provide an enhanced brand experience via an on-ramp 

to the Internet. The key is explosive growth in smart 

phone use, and its application to retail. Retailers can now provide consumers with time 

and location sensitive, personalized promotional information. Consumers can check 

prices, product information, and receive promotional coupons real time. To facilitate the 

web experience Quick Response (QR) codes, and new more eloquent solutions such as 

Snap TagTM and Near Field Communication are required. The result is a connection 

between the brand, consumer, and retailer. Consumers can now have a social media 

connection via packaging, view video clips, and experience augmented reality. 

According to The Freedonia Group US demand for active packaging will climb by 8% 

annually through 2015, and electronic enabled by 20% over the same time frame. 

SUPPLY CHAIN 

These drivers, and others, ripple through the supply chain creating problems to be dealt 

with and opportunities for solution providers. To understand this ripple effect, and where 

the opportunities lie, it’s essential to understand who the key players in packaging are 



and how they are impacted. The value chain consists of companies in the following 

groups: 

CPC brand owners 

Retailers 

Packaging converters 

Contract packagers 

Commercial printers 

Graphic services providers (GSP’s) 

Technology providers 

Brand owners need retailers to ensure market coverage and distribution, and retailers 

need brands to fulfill consumer needs. The competition over shelf space and premium 

product placement is fierce. Local and regional brands, promotions, and customer loyalty 

programs are ever increasing in this ultracompetitive, global, post-recession economy. In 

effort to capitalize on technology-enabled micro marketing, brand managers drive SKU 

proliferation. 

Brand owners also work with marketing agencies to creatively address, or create, market 

demand. Brand owners, retailers, and marketing agencies all may influence the 

manufacturing process for packaging, and need awareness of the capabilities provided by 

digital printing and packaging innovation. 

Packaging converters take raw materials, convert it into packaging, print on it, and sell it. 

Converters are manufacturers first, and printers second, but require print to add value to 

the finished product. Converters are categorized by the substrates they work with: 

Flexibles 

Folding carton 

Corrugated cardboard 

Labels 

Metallic/decorative 

Converters provide packaging for large CPC’s, and have a manufacturing infrastructure 

ideally suited to long, static runs. Growth in packaging generally follows GDP, with some 

product groups outperforming others as would be expected. However, while converters 

may be producing (printing) the same volume, they are handling more jobs and shorter 

runs, wreaking havoc with their traditional business model. As digital printing evolves to 

meet the needs of converters, they will have to ability to better serve large CPC’s, and 

develop new business opportunities with the value created by digital processes. 



Contract packagers are used by brand managers to add flexibility and reduce cost. They 

take finished products from manufacturers, create or acquire the printed package, pack it, 

and ship it. Contract packagers are particularly useful for private labels, and during test 

marketing and end of life cycles of large brands. Also, start-ups and small companies 

need packaging partners to assist with all phases from creation through shipping. 

Contract packagers are another group of companies in the value chain that stand to 

benefit from digital printing, as they are generally, but not exclusively, focused on shorter 

runs. 

Commercial printers stand to benefit greatly from SKU proliferation, as smaller orders 

with quick turnaround time requirements increase. Commercial printers, while today not 

overwhelmingly represented in the packaging supply chain, should see this as an 

opportunity. Already printers have made in-roads into label production, dimensional 

mailers used in marketing campaigns, test marketing, and local brands seeking packaging 

partners. Commercial printers also have the option of outsourcing die cutting, folding, 

and gluing operations. New digital products, and software integration, will lower the cost 

of entry, enabling many more commercial printers to play in packaging. 

Graphic service providers (GSP’s) are a cottage industry that used to focus on package 

design. Today, publishing software has enabled this function to be handled in-house or 

be outsourced to PR agencies that focus on brand development. Industry consolidation 

has reduced the number of GSP’s, with the largest increasing market share through 

acquisition. GSP’s in general are seeking new services such as digital printing and overall 

project management. 

Technology providers include printer and finishing equipment manufacturers, and 

software developers. For decades package printing has been done on offset and flexo 

presses due their suitability for long runs and high graphic image quality. However, 

advancements in digital printing offer a new value proposition to deal with many of the 

business issues facing the industry today. Quality is no longer an issue, substrate 

versatility is improving, speeds are increasing, and links to design prototyping software 

and die cutting equipment are evolving rapidly. With brand managers driving shorter 

runs and brand differentiation, the short-run, personalization capabilities of digital 

printing make it an ideal technology for packaging. This is not to say digital will replace 

offset and flexo anytime soon, but as a complementary technology it provides converters 

and printers an alternative to deal with a changing business climate. 



VERTICAL MARKETS: 

As if the packaging ecosystem were not complex enough, to effectively market to it there 

also needs to be an awareness of what the packaging is being used for, in other words 

what vertical markets dictate which requirements. Converters are often organized around 

industry verticals, with business lines dedicated to food, household and personal care 

products, beverage, paper goods, pharmaceuticals, etc. The dynamics of each of these 

markets needs to be understood. Factors such as economic growth, government 

regulation, sustainability, and anti-counterfeiting all impact packaging at some level. 

HOW CASLON CAN HELP: 

Caslon works with companies all across the supply chain to help them take advantage of 

the new opportunities enabled by digital printing and innovative packaging technologies. 

Through our experience, and relationship with Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication 

Institute and Packaging Dept., Caslon offers insights that are broad and leading edge. 

Caslon consulting is market focused, and is based on voice of the customer experiences 

up and down the value chain. Visit our web site to learn more (http://www.caslon.net/The- 

Innovative-Packaging-Services-Practice.html) or contact us at carlj@caslon.net

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