Variable design software delivers holiday edition for Danone flavored water

The wraparound bottle labels were produced by Folienprint Rako, an All4Labels Group company, in the first HP SmartStream Collage packaging production in Europe.  The Sparkles labels were printed on an HP Indigo 20000 digital press.

The bottles feature playful, winter-themed designs by Danish artist Emil Kozak. The 1.25 liter drinks, now available at retailers in Denmark, combine design elements such as snowflakes, reindeer and candy canes to create 100,000 unique labels for two berry flavors of Aqua d’Or Sparkles water.

HP SmartStream Collage uses algorithms to create random combinations of specified design elements, thereby creating one-of-a-kind artwork for packaging, commercial and specialty printing. The variable design creates movement in the appearance of the bottles across the shelves.  

Line Giessing Jørgensen, brand manager at Danone, said: ‘Aqua d’Or is spreading some holiday magic with playful designs on its flavored water bottles for celebrations using the new HP Collage design capability with HP digital printing. This new software technology provides brands with the opportunity to amplify the seasonality of their products in creative ways.’

HP SmartStream Collage is the next generation of HP Indigo hyper-customization software, introduced to the market with HP SmartStream Mosaic. It is a new capability of HP SmartStream Designer, a plug-in for Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. Danone used Mosaic and Kozak’s designs for its summer mineral water bottle campaign. The brand decided to try SmartStream Collage at Folienprint Rako to create a new twist in variable design printing on its Sparkles flavored water product line, which uses plastic from 50 percent recycled materials.

Michel Koch, head of pre-press digital at All4Labels, said: ‘Brands can now bring a new experience using variable design element printing, including for seasonal products and flavors, and attract attention to their products. The HP SmartStream Collage design software for HP Indigo digital printing offers big new packaging marketing potential.’