Marketers are preparing for another tough year in 2021. We are entering into the year uncertain about whether the Covid-driven shifts we’ve seen in consumer buying behaviour and media consumption are permanent, what the medium to long term economic impact of the pandemic will be and where to invest our smaller marketing budgets in order to drive better business outcomes for our brands. Luisa Mazinter, a communications professional and brand marketer of over 26 years will share her insights into the competing pressures Marketers are facing and the tough choices they are having to make in these unprecedented times.

Marco Boer is a recognized analyst, speaker, and person we always welcome on INKISH for his great insight. At this year's eProductivity Software/EFI Connect 2022, Marco Boer spoke with EFI CEO Jeff Jacobson about trends, and we got the opportunity to continue the chat on camera. Enjoy.

For good reasons, Label Apeel is one of the UK's most recognized label converters. Whiskey, Gin, and Luxury product labels are what the company is specialized in, and they are super good at. Awards, lifelong customers, and close collaboration with their suppliers. The ABG 'Bertha' is one of more ABG machines at Label Apeel, yet a very purpose-made machine that gives Label Apeel excellent opportunities to win award after award and, of course, satisfy demanding customers. This is our first film with James Quirk as reporter/editor and Jack Fisher as filmer - GREAT job, gents! LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-kellock-708346a7/

Genscom is a young and ambitious communications agency that focuses on personalized publications. With their online B2C and B2B platforms (www.happiedays.com, granniedays.be and krantjesmaken.be...), they offer companies and private individuals both the technology and the support needed for the creation, personalization, print, and the distribution of their own newspapers and publications, both online and offline. Genscom specializes in personalization and also offers a free mobile app called “Lettr” (www.lettr.eu). It allows you to create, visualize, print, and distribute a newspaper on the go, together with friends, family, or colleagues. Genscom offers low print runs, starting from just a single copy, and worldwide shipment services.

At the HP #PrintAhead Open House in Alpharetta, we met with Co-founder and Director of Sales and Marketing Mark Geeves to learn what Color-Logic does. More than 100 devices are now supported by the tools that Color-Logic has developed for designers, and the only thing you need to make stunning effects using metallic foils is a printer able to print white. I am amazed about the tools that help designers and printers get more out of current investments.

Houssine Chekkar is known by many. A very nice and open-minded man with a history from HP. He is proud of his past as much as of his current job, founder, owner, and CEO of Masaka. Masaka represents DURST and KAMA in North Africa, with both brands having a huge opportunity. Houssine Chekkar explains to Editor Morten B. Reitoft that it always starts with trust - building relations, understanding the needs, delivering the product or service, and business is established. We met Chekkar during our visit to Casablanca, where we met one of his many customers - and, of course, got a chance to talk to him about the potential in this part of the world!

Horizon is well known by most in the printing industry. The Japanese producer of binding equipment will attend and present some of their binding solutions at www.argosinspirationdays.com

Horizon International has a beautiful booth with loads of technology. Our filmer, Jack Fisher, captured some scenes from the booth - enjoy!

Horizon is the biggest exhibitor at IGAS for a good reason. At the show, Horizon, together with partners like Canon, Konica-Minolta, RGMT, Screen, Ricoh, Miyakoshi, and Fujifilm, presents 21 end-to-end solutions. Technology that showcases not only binding but also workflow integration, integration of robots and AGVs - and, to be honest, a wealth of technology that underscores Horizon's commitment to its customers. We are, of course, as media, not endorsing any particular vendor or solution. However, Horizon sponsored our trip to Tokyo - and still gave us total freedom to film not only Horizon products but cover the entire IGAS show. We appreciate this, and as a courtesy, we would like you to enjoy this postcard from Tokyo showing you a few moments from Horizon. The editing is done by INKISH filmer/editor Ziga Kovac - great work!

Standard Finishing represents Horizon in the US, demonstrating a range of new products. In this film, Bob Flinn presents a robot-arm solution that makes it possible to operate the company's binding equipment almost without people being involved. Amazing to see it in action, and Bob Flinn also tells us about the HUGE interest from many of the attendees!

Learn how the Internet of Things, finishing automation, and Horizon’s cloud-based iCE LiNK digital workflow can help optimize productivity and efficiency, and leverage Smart Factory concepts. This approach can help printers efficiently scale their business as volume grows, without having to add labor and hard-to-find manpower. Understanding finishing capabilities and successfully using them as part of an overall, streamlined workflow, from print to finish, will help minimize touch points, waste, and labor costs, and maximize productivity and profitability.

Editor Morten B. Reitoft and Yoshihiro Oe met for the first time at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2019 and have since got to know each other in meetings exchanging views on the cultural differences between Japan and Europe. In this interview, Yoshihiro Oe explains how understanding cultural differences (in general) helps Horizon develop binding equipment to understand the needs in the different markets. With high salaries in Europe and the lack of labor shortage, automation supports BOTH concerning labor shortages and reduces costs for the company's customers. A great interview - dig in! *We apologize for the technical errors in the sound :-(

Henry Greff from Avery Dennison explains some of the more unique types of products they support. Not only are there sustainable labels, but there are also green adhesives. The chain of custody is described as critical for the line of Vegan products, including the adhesives that are offered.

In this film, Holly Steedman from IST Intech shows us how to control LED-UV lamps. Controlling the lamps will save energy and extend the lamp's expected life span. Still, combining the above with having lamps controlled to the PDF printed may even open up entirely new opportunities. It's super interesting to learn, and as Steedman explains, the technology is already available in many of the lamps supplied by IST but not utilized in the controller software that can have been developed by other people—smart!

Wayne talks to Holly about new developments within the IST group and the new introduction of Smart Cure and the use of AI to reduce energy costs.

At PRINTING United, we got to catch up with Holly Steedman from IST Intech. IST Intech is owned by IST Metz, known for its UV solutions for many different types of printing presses, and IST Intech is a UK-based company that focuses on integration partners. So IST Intech is more about a special solution that can be used, not only in the printing industry but in any industry, utilizing LED-UV. IST Intech also entirely focuses on digital print solutions. In this interview, we learn how IST Intech and the Business & Technology Development Director get more and more customers in the American market. Holly Steedman is always interesting to listen to, and you will also often see her speaking at various conferences - so stay tuned!

Enfocus is known for its marketing approach that is playful, yet practical. For Printing United 2024, they leveraged Switch and a Baseball theme to show how you can automate personalization. Piet DePauw tells us all about it!

At the IST UV-Days 2025 event, we also met new European players, and in this interview, Editor Morten B. Reitoft talks to Hironori Yanagase from T&K Toka. T&K in the name stands for Technology and Kindness. Hironori Yanagase explains that their inks are a bit more expensive than others, but that they can sell because of a higher quality, higher densities, and better curing capabilities is among the KPI's Yanagase shares with us.

No question that the printing industry continues to be under pressure. Prices are still dropping and the supply/demand is still not in balance, so to print and deliver even low margin jobs simply require automation. At the recent Workflow Summit 2018, we spoke to Head Of Strategic Alliances Stephan Reiter from OneVision about the challenges and the promises. Enjoy!

To step into a printing company where the lobby looks more like a fancy café or restaurant is just raising the expectations, and the audience was for sure given food for the brain during the few hours open-house event. Highcon is the host, and INKISH was commissioned to cover the event, however, the coverage to turn out to interviews, and nice visuals. After a short introduction to the event by Vice President and General Manager Matt Bennets from Highcon Americas, the stage was hand over to Mike Ferrari. Ferrari is a well-established name in the industry as being a great speaker and motivator, and of course, the purpose was to give the audience an insight in why digital finishing is becoming more and more interesting. One of the high lights was that pricing of, i.e. packaging has to be seen from a different perspective than the production cost itself - or what brands pay today. The price has to be way more about what value it brings to a product. Short-run, personalization, and even completely new types of packaging are just a few of the promises. Then it was time for a demo. The work-floor had only two machines - a Landa S10, and a Highcon Beam - but those two machines are the ones that give Virtual Packaging a tremendous success. Highcon presented how fast the setup time was, the production of the DART (creasing), and then, of course, the production of different types of products. But why not just watch, and listen - after all a bit easier!

Highcon is one of the many Israeli companies in the printing industry that keeps re-inventing not only the print industry but the very change in how we see the market. In this film, we talk to Executive Vice President Eitan Varon and Product Manager Limor Elias about the market in general and of course laser-die-cutting and Highcon in particular. Enjoy.

While filming a promotion project for Highcon with Cartonnage du Château in Belfort, France, we got the chance to talk to Managing Director Marc Royer. The company is specialized in folding carton boxes in the higher end. Production consists of a brand new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106X, Bobst foilers and die-cutters, gluers, and of course the Highcon Euclid II. It was great being in Belfort for two days following production from A-Z - and soon you will also be able to see the entire process in a short documentary we have done for Highcon!

· Quality, Speed and range of substrates has increased dramatically · Reliability and consistency is excellent & running costs have come down · Is now the time to start to migrate from conventional presses? · What are the challenges and hurdles? Where are the biggest opportunities?

See this amazing story about the German printing company Schaetzl Druck & Medien from Donauwörth. The company is today managed by Ulrich Schätzl who is the second generation of the family-owned printing company. Schätzl Druck & Medien used to be a conventional litho printer but decided years ago to become a printing company focusing 100% on digital production. Ulrich Schätzl refers to this as bringing more and a higher value to the customers. WIth investments in HP Indigo's and Scodix Digital Enhancement, binding equipment especially suitable for extremely short runs and of course a comprehensive workflow the strategy works. In this film, Ulrich Schätzl speaks about the value that digital enhancement with the company's Scodix is giving both them as a company but even more important their many clients. Great film. Watch it, Like it, Share it :-)