Canon demonstrates power to move with its most successful drupa to date

Canon, which positions itself as a leading global provider of end-to-end digital production print solutions and services, today recognises drupa 2024 as its most successful to date in terms of customer engagement, investment and visitor interest. Despite visitor numbers being down on the last show in 2016, current and potential customers flocked to the Canon stand to find out how the latest printing solutions and support services from Canon and its technology partners could help to transform their businesses in a sustainable way.

As a result, Canon significantly exceeded the number of sales leads it had hoped for and achieved sales revenue that far outstripped projections for the event. There was also great interest in and inspiration from Canon’s vision of print’s power to move. This was seen, for example, in the constant interaction of visitors with the hands-on print application showcases and the over 6 000 visitors exploring the multi-sensory, immersive experience in The Core that featured World Unseen, an inclusive photography initiative brought to life by extraordinary, elevated prints.

Launching its campaign ‘The Power To Move’ at drupa 2024, Canon sought to demonstrate the power of print to move people emotionally to achieve positive change and to move businesses forward through the deployment of Canon’s transformative technologies, expertise and support. Through curated workflows, Canon showcased its latest enabling technologies with partners, demonstrating real-life customer solutions and inspiring visitors. As expected for an established global leader in digital production print, sales of both Canon’s web-fed and sheetfed presses for commercial print and promotional communications were very strong, in particular, those of the ProStream 2133 web-fed inkjet press and varioPRINT iX3200 sheetfed inkjet press. The increasing trend of investment in inkjet presses also meant that Canon’s newly announced varioPRINT iX1700 and the B2-format varioPRESS iV7 drew substantial interest, despite these presses not being commercially available until next year.

Indicating that toner remains the digital printing technology of choice for many print service providers, customer investment in Canon imagePRESSV series colour and varioPRINT mono toner devices also beat projected numbers. Recognising also the growth opportunities offered by wide-format printing, including in interior décor, wallpaper, packaging and fine art, Canon showed its full portfolio, with sales of the Arizona, Colorado and imagePROGRAF far surpassing expectations, as did sales of the new generation of colorWAVE and plotWAVE printers for CAD applications.

Across the stand, visitors were able to see many of Canon’s key collaboration activities. The elevated prints – printed on the Canon Arizona – from the World Unseen project, proved to be very popular and the exhibits will now embark on an EMEA tour, allowing visitors to enjoy the experience across the region during the rest of 2024.

The Printworks area showcased Creative Futures winner Bower Collective, a UK provider of natural household and personal care products in re-usable packaging, illustrating how, when experts from the industry collaborate to develop campaigns, the result is a highly targeted, high-value and successful campaign that meets the complex needs of modern B2C businesses to acquire, nurture and retain business using omni-channel campaigns.

Also on show was the Publishing 2030 Accelerator, focused on bringing about meaningful progress on sustainability in publishing globally and born out of the Future Book Forum, a Canon-led industry community initiative. Printworks also highlighted Canon’s support for a number of charitable partnerships, from the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter to UK charity Topic Heroes. Together with its finishing partners throughout the 11 days of the show, Canon was able to print and donate around 10 000 books to different organisations around the world, and around 10 000 postcards, posters and brochures were donated to German non-governmental organisations. Then, in a unique demonstration of how print can be used to meet the modern marketing challenges of retailers, Canon worked with German furniture retailer, POCO, to show how programmatic print allows them to reach their target customers and attract them in-store. It also highlighted how print supports the buying journey, from way-finding and POS to functional product information, and brings that in-store experience to life through printed products such as wallpaper, window and floor graphics, table tops and furniture liners. Demonstrating its support for diversity within the industry, Canon also hosted a successful ‘Girls Who Print’ networking event on its stand.

Tunca Rodoplu, B2B Sales and Marketing Director at Canon South Africa, said: “drupa is an important industry event for Canon, and it was great to return to the show after nearly a decade. Not only did the 2024 event allow us to showcase our market-leading portfolio of technologies, both those available currently and those coming soon, but it also allowed us to connect with the wider print community and, for those wishing to accelerate their digital print journey, share a glimpse into the exciting possibilities that lie ahead.

By showcasing real-life cases and through collaborations with forward-thinking businesses and numerous technology partners, Canon demonstrated print’s power to captivate and to drive change in a number of ways. Together with our customers and partners, we will continue to innovate and shape the future of our industry with innovative business models and new technologies and services – from on-demand production concepts, automated and scalable solutions to diverse applications and high-volume personalisation for ultra effective, multi-channel consumer experiences.

“Yet again, drupa showed itself to be an important meeting point and a wonderful showcase of the versatility of print. We saw visitors from all over the globe coming to the Canon stand to harness the value our technology and business innovation can deliver – and how it enables people and businesses to grow and prosper. For Canon, drupa 2024 exceeded our expectations. We are thankful for the trust so many new customers and partners set in our services and technology for their business, and we are excited about discussing new opportunities with the many new connections made. Through ongoing investment and powerful innovation, we’ll continue to provide and expand the expertise we offer across the digital printing spectrum.”

To find out more about Canon at drupa, please see: DRUPA 2024: THE POWER TO MOVE - Canon Europe (canon-europe.com)