Challenge

• Launch new Yooji brand of organic frozen baby food in a market dominated by established brands and large scale distribution.

• Maximize product visibility and consumer appeal with eye-catching packaging with convenient re-sealing mechanism to enhance portion control.

• Exploit variable data printing to engage customers in online social media activity.

• Safe and hygienic packaging created on demand to minimize stock, waste and reduce the impact of packaging on the environment.

Solution

• UNI-Digiflex stand-up pouch package produced on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press for short run, multiple product SKUs.

• Fully-automated, inline bag-making machine to automatically complete package, including re-closing seal mechanism.

• Variable data printing capabilities extend marketing and traceability activities.

Results

• HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press produced a 5,000 m2 packaging total between 20 products compared to a minimum 3,000 m2 per design using conventional package printing.

• Maximized investment return and minimized risk with 20 varieties of Yooji products versus five, giving sales six times higher than pre-launch projections.

• Created eye-catching shelf-presence and enhanced consumer appeal and brand confidence with greater product choice, and spending less of the budget.

• Variable data printing offers greater customer engagement with tips, comments and recipes posted by customers on Facebook printed on product packaging.

Yooji brand launches varieties of new baby food in UNI-Digiflex stand-up UNI packaging on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press

At a glance

Industry: Labels & Packaging

Business name: UNI Packaging

Headquarters: Averdoingt, France

Website: uni-packaging.com

Business name: Yooji

Headquarters: Agen, France

Website: yooji.fr

Global brands and large-scale distribution control 90 percent of sales in the French food market, so although it may be worth an attractive €350 million a year, for a small start-up based in Agen, France the barriers to entry still appear prohibitive. On a tight budget, Yooji initially planned to launch five varieties of its organic frozen baby food brand rather than a comprehensive range of its premium products. With minimum production runs typically of 3,000 m2 per design for conventional rotary printing presses, packaging costs represented a significant obstacle to launching more varieties.

“Yooji is an innovative baby food brand in a market where our consumers want product quality, a broad selection of menus to choose from, and complete confidence in the brand,” explains Philippe Briffault, co-founder and managing director of Yooji. “The cost of conventional packaging production is high so to launch the five varieties originally planned, we considered producing a single run of generic, white stand-up and then applying a different adhesive label for each of the five varieties. It didn’t match our aspirations, it was still expensive and we would have packaging stock to last years,” explains Philippe Briffault. UNI Packaging offered Yooji a solution that delivers exceptional quality, short run capability and variable data printing for personalization, promotional content and traceability. UNI-Digiflex packaging produced on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press allowed Yooji to launch 20 varieties of their organic baby food on a smaller budget than the one planned for the five-product launch using conventional packaging.

The attractive stand-up pouches containing 12 or 24 units of small portions (20g), are designed to stand upright and with a re-closable seal to maintain the protection and quality of the product, while facilitating bag opening and portion control.

UNI Packaging is a family company with eight facilities across Europe and West Africa. Founded over 30 years ago as a conventional packaging company by Henri Caresmel, UNI Packaging products and production processes have earned over 32 innovation awards in the last six years alone. With production in excess of 300 million square meters per year, and projecting to double turnover by 2020, UNI Packaging adopted the HP Indigo Digital Press in 2012 after a three-year evaluation process. Today the company is guided by Christophe, Cathy, Franck and Nathalie Caresmel.

Attractive on-shelf presence enhances consumer appeal

“High quality printed packaging, brand credibility and production flexibility – UNI Packaging offered us the perfect solution. We could –provide our customers the product choice they want and build our brand – it seemed like a miracle,” exclaims Philippe Briffault. Twenty attractive designs on Yooji product packaging serve to create an eye-catching, on-shelf presence offering greater brand visibility and adding marketing value to in store spaces.

“We were able to offer Yooji 5,000 m2 of attractive, high-quality packaging for 20 products,” explains Franck Caresmel, CEO at UNI Packaging.

The stronger brand presence, thanks to the professional packaging and high number of product SKUs, has given Yooji greater visibility and credibility throughout the retail food sector, allowing Yooji to gain access to major supermarket and hypermarket spaces. “Large distribution outlets are reluctant to set you up as a supplier for one or two SKUs, from an unproven producer. When they see our packaging and our 20 product SKUs they agree to meet to discuss the amount of valuable shelf space they can offer,” says Philippe Briffault. At launch Yooji was available in 40 stores throughout France. By the end of 2014 Yooji plans to reach 150 retail food outlets.

“With HP Indigo Digital Presses we have opened up a whole new market not only by attracting new customers, but also by allowing us to offer new products to our existing ones.” – Franck Caresmel, CEO, UNI Packaging

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Sales multiplied six times with multiple SKUs

“Our sales success has been six times higher than the pre-launch projections we had for our original launch of five products. The additional SKUs not only attract additional sales, but the greater choice brings increased product credibility and confidence in the brand, and that helps grow sales too,” Philippe Briffault says.

“Greater customer choice brought Yooji success on a smaller budget and Yooji decreased the investment risk by spreading it over a launch with many more product varieties,” Franck Caresmel says. The ability to launch a broader variety of products not only offers customers greater choice, but also gives them greater confidence in Yooji’s brand. Yooji recognizes that consumers are ready to try new products but can be extremely discerning, especially when choosing a baby food product that is competing with more established brands in a crowded supermarket.

Multiple products launched on one tenth of the budget

“Yooji spent 10 times less on UNI-Digiflex packaging than they would have spent on conventionally-produced packaging. They would have had to print 15,000 m2 of packaging for the five products they originally planned to launch,” explains Franck Caresmel. “They couldn’t have afforded to launch a comprehensive range of products with packaging produced on a conventional press as the start-up costs are high and demand thousands of meters per design to make it profitable,” Franck Caresmel says.

“Customers can order the exact quantity of packaging they need. Before they had to produce a minimum of 3,000 m2 per package design and stock it until it ran out or throw it out when it became obsolete. That’s a waste of resources. They are saving money by printing what they need, when they need it, and they are lowering the impact on the environment with waste reduction through lower stock.”

Yooji feels that the flexibility of UNI-Digiflex packaging production complements their business strategy of producing multiple varieties of recipes to reflect the seasons and adapted to react to customer choice and trends, reinforcing the concept of freshness and innovation.

“We can receive designs on a Friday and deliver the job the following Monday. There are no clichés or cylinders that can take weeks to prepare for conventional presses,” Franck Caresmel says, highlighting the flexibility the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press offers.

UNI Packaging’s end-to-end UNI-Digiflex packaging production line on the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press, including the press’s HP Inline Priming unit, first produces the front and back of Yooji’s packaging and then the base, automatically creating the package on an inline bag-making machine, complete with the APLIX® easy-lock re-closable sealing system.

“High quality printed packaging, brand credibility and production flexibility – UNI Packaging offered us the perfect solution. We could offer our customers the product choice they want and build our brand – it seemed like a miracle.” – Philippe Briffault, co-founder and managing director, Yooji

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© 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-2229ENW, April 2014

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“With variable data we are opening up a whole new market that didn’t even exist before. You can place different content on each package if you want, whether it’s a barcode, a link, a personalized message, or simply a promotional text or price for a campaign.” – Franck Caresmel, CEO, UNI Packaging

Engaging customers through packaging and social media

“We are listening to what our customers have to say, and answering them. We are creating a closer relationship with them. At launch, we didn’t have a budget for adverts or campaigns. All our marketing was on the packaging and at in-store demonstrations. We gained a lot of publicity, and awards, within the marketing community from our variable data printing initiatives on our packages. We currently have a few thousand

‘likes’ on Facebook,” explains Philippe Briffault.

Yooji exploited the variable data printing capacity of the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press to print a Facebook page link on the original packaging, and then print customer messages left on their Facebook page. Customers leave tips, comments and share their cooking recipes, which are then printed on repeat order packages.

“With the HP Indigo press we have opened up a whole new market not only by attracting new customers, but also by allowing us to offer new products to our existing ones. It’s been a long time since new and exciting packaging products have come on the market,” Franck Caresmel says, explaining one of the key reasons why UNI Packaging, after three years of trialling different technologies, chose the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press. Franck Caresmel adds, “The processes and workflow HP develops performs consistently, giving us greater peace of mind than other technologies we have examined.

“With variable data we are opening up a whole new market that didn’t even exist before. You can place different content on each package if you want, whether it’s a barcode, a link, a personalized message, or simply a promotional text or price for a campaign,” Franck Caresmel explains.

Digital production by Digiflex™ doubles every four months

“In the first year we were printing two to three hours a day. By the beginning of 2013 we were printing a complete shift. By June 2013 we were on three shifts. We expect growth to accelerate even more in coming months as we are on track to obtain quality approvals from larger customers. With HP Indigo digital press technology we are opening a lot of doors to new, larger customers. Last year our overall output volumes grew by 12 percent, in large part thanks to our digital packaging line. We aim to double our turnover by 2020,” Franck Caresmel says.

“HP is our main business partner today. At HP I have always dealt with great professionals that have really paid attention to my needs. We are currently considering the purchase of a second, wider HP Indigo digital press production line. This is just the start,” Franck Caresmel concludes.