Esko announces that it recently concluded another successful
EskoWorld user group meeting. The event, held June 15-18 at the Walt Disney
World Swan & Dolphin hotels in Orlando, FL, was host to more than 700
users, industry partners, product specialists and support staff, who exchanged
ideas along with product and application knowledge. Sessions offered insight
into the breadth of the Esko experience, including flexo platemaking, packaging
prepress, color management, structural and 3D design, brand management, digital
label and large format print and digital finishing.
The curriculum of more than 90 sessions included special
guest speaker contributions from the Disney Learning Institute, Wallace Church
Agency in New York City and selected customer presentations.
“EskoWorld had an expanded audience this year by appealing
to more companies, but also by encouraging companies to send more participants.
They see the value in this event,” comments Carsten Knudsen, Esko President and
CEO. “EskoWorld continues to offer an opportunity for our customers to converse
with each other and interact with Esko product management. We are very careful
not to make this event a sales show, but rather a user event—a learning
experience where people can develop a better understanding of the business we
are all in. We have always focused on printers, converters and tradeshops, but
this year we made a specific effort to expand the program to include useful
tracks for brand owners. We had a large group of brand owners at EskoWorld for
the first time, focusing on their workflow and approval cycle challenges they
face every day.”
Key presentations
focus on customized package design and importance of branding
“Esko has significantly changed our company from where we
were a few years ago to today. This was my fourth EskoWorld. EskoWorld always
offers a great opportunity to network with people, who give me great ideas to
bring home to my company,” notes Amanda Webster, Pre-Press Production
Supervisor at the Bowling Green, OH based Century Label. “I felt that a
significant focus was made to bridge the communication gap between the brand
owners and print providers in the supply chain. Some of the relevant
technologies were Esko’s 3D solutions, and the ability to use PantoneLIVE to
match brand owners’ color expectations with print capabilities. I also had a
chance to see the new Automation Engine 14 and learn what changes were being
made in the software structure – and I highly appreciated the opportunity to
provide input during the roadmap sessions. Esko listens to its customers and
seriously reviews concerns that are translated into fixes and software
updates.”
EskoWorld hosted two very powerful presentations from
Wallace Church and Disney. They both covered important topics facing all
partners of the supply chain: How to engage consumers on a personalized basis,
and how to maintain brand loyalty.
Rob Wallace, Chief Brand Advocate at Wallace Church, a
Manhattan and San Francisco-based brand identity strategy and package design
consultancy, offered the Keynote 'Hyper Customization - Engaging Consumers with
Personalized Package Design'. It explained how new advances in digital printing
make it viable for marketers to engage consumers on a truly individual basis.
Church offered a next generation vision for how brand messaging can be hyper
customized.
Another highlight was presented by The Disney Institute,
‘Disney’s Approach to Brand Loyalty’, providing their perspective about
managing the Disney brand.
EskoWorld also provided a number of sessions from brand
owners that provided their unique perspectives about how they view the
packaging supply chain.
Exceptional
networking event with Esko industry partners
EskoWorld’s Partner Zone allowed Esko supply chain partners
to explain how their products enhanced the use of - and work seamlessly with - Esko
tools. Companies included CHILI Publish, Color-Logic, Dupont, EFI, Enfocus,
Global Vision, HP, MacDermid, Meta Communications, Southern Lithoplate, The
Quick Brown Fox GmbH, Western Computer, and X-Rite Pantone.
Focused demo lab area
Esko also staged a demo lab where users could speak with
solution experts or sample the latest software. The labs also housed two
Kongsberg tables including the new Kongsberg C Series—the largest fully
functioning table in the industry.
“I attended EskoWorld to review a lot of new technology,”
explains Tim Gustafson, Press/Prepress Manager, Professional Image, Tulsa
Oklahoma. “I specifically wanted to see the new RIP in Suite 14 that uses an
Adobe kernel rather than an Esko Kernel. I also liked many of the color
management sessions—for example, the class about PantoneLIVE. Matt Furr offered
a very good presentation about his Clemson master’s thesis research with
7-color extended gamut printing. I’ve returned to our company with a good idea
how to use Max GCR to color manage easier and to synch profiles to run GRACoL
and connect them together. It was definitely worthwhile to attend EskoWorld.”
The next EskoWorld event is planned for June 2015 in
Scottsdale, Arizona.
