Be it POP displays, in-store graphics, OOH advertising, they all depend on print for an appealing brand representation. However, a crucial ingredient like print is perceived to be a commodity and utilised with this limited perspective. HP, a leader in the print solutions industry, decided to address this deviation and initiated the ‘Continuing Print Education Series’. With this event, HP intends to emphasise and bring forth print as a solution.
Sharing the core objective of the event, Puneet Chadha, Director Graphic & Imaging Manager, HP says “The main objective of the event was to bring out real issues faced by brands, retailers, designers and discuss on a common platform as well as promote the green revolution in print to the buyers.” The event, which happened on 20th November’2009 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, witnessed a crowd of 75 delegates, a blend of prominent brands, retailers, print solution providers, graphic designers and technology enablers. The event had brand experts, designers and consultants talk about how prints can work the best while proving to be beneficial to the users and the environment. Speakers delved on topics that included the process of buying print, expectations from the print industry, disappointments and the effects of bad prints. In-depth knowledge was imparted on planning and designing in-store graphics and on bridging the gap between design and execution of graphics.
The session was kick-started by Ashish Deshpande, Founder Director and Principal Designer, Elephant Design Pvt. Ltd., with a designer’s perspective. He laid certain ground rules for designing brand experiences in spaces as good brands are conversation pieces. He pointed out that any brand proposition needs articulation and to make its essence felt, heard and experienced. Any brand, whether it’s a product or service, also had a spatial presence. Supporting his dos and don’ts with live instances, he sent a clear message across to the audience. Presenting the customer’s/retailers perspective on in-store graphics, Vishal Kapoor, Head – Experience Design, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., brought forth some very practical challenges hat they face when it comes to design and activation in-store. He urged the designers to avoid calling designing of in-store graphics ‘art’ and thus asked them to work more from the customer’s point of view – ‘think marketing and not aesthetics’ was his point. Playing a neutral role in the conversation was Santosh PG from Pixhelp, a consultant to the graphic arts business, who diagnosed the gaps that appear from design to execution of graphics. Presenting them in an interesting way, he morphed the issues as diseases and put forth the effects of the issues as symptoms and causes as the efforts that are absent from each party. He went on to prescribe solutions to make it a complete treatment session that sure lead to a cure of many doubts.
Adding science to the sessions was Ravi Dugal, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Mediawide Labs Pvt. Ltd., who introduced the ‘Managed services for In-store signage’ software that helps brands and retailers manage their in-store signage projects end-to-end. Harnessing a creative and free flowing edge was Puneet Chadha, Director Graphic & Imaging Manager, HP who urged the audience to ‘Think Differently’. In a scenario where 85 percent of advertisements go unnoticed, he reinforced the need to build relevance, customisation and a WOW factor to create an element of fun and positively influences the emotions of the consumer. Supporting his request to think ‘new and out of the box’, he gave some classic examples of advertisements from various mediums. Some leading Print Solution Providers also showcased their solutions at the event, thus making the entire event a one-stop-shop that offers everything from insights to solutions.
“It was indeed a great evening and a very good opportunity to understand the insights from a few gurus of the digital print arena on how printing and its ancillary activities actually affect the overall branding activity and how much onus was on the PSP’s. We were even fortunate to showcase some of our UV printed samples during the conference and the same were highly appreciated by the brand managers,” says Ashwin Maheshwari, Director, Avenue Graphics. HP aims to facilitate businesses with their digital print technologies through such platforms.
“The platform provided by HP helped to bridge the gap between brand marketers and solution providers. The very idea of getting the means and end on a single line helped to understand the need of the market to enhance quality, durability, cost and timeliness of the product. We must have such events at least twice in a year,” suggests Sailesh Purohit, Director, Chinmudra Communications.
The event was successful in bringing together the print community and thus it was a very useful networking platform for participants .