Chewing gum brand in Japan embraces digital printing with 2m+ unique packs

The campaign, to mark the product’s 20th anniversary, is designed to engage with millennials and features artwork from 20 groups of Japanese in their 20s who were invited to create their image of the future for the limited edition packages.

Toppan Printing of Japan printed the packaging on an HP Indigo 20000 digital press, with the unique variations created by HP SmartStream Mosaic variable design technology. The HP Indigo 20000 was selected because of its ability to meet the strict brand requirements of Lotte to print high quality and high volume on film.

The HP SmartStream Mosaic algorithm automatically generates unique graphics from seed patterns, producing one-of-a-kind prints suitable for a wide range of digital printing applications. Using 20 patterns created from the 20 design groups, the packages were transformed into more than two million unique items.

‘In order for us to take the next step, we decided to create uniquely designed packages expressing the vision of the future from the top 20 influential Japanese groups aged in their 20s,’ said Takashi Fukuda, manager at Xylitol brand team, marketing, Lotte. ‘By creating a vision of the future together with today’s young generation and a unique experience for our customers, we are able to engage and connect the number one gum brand in a new and inspiring way.’