Commercial printing and sustainability are not something that people would put together. In fact, too often commercial and industrial print are seen as NOT environmentally friendly. However, this is not the case at Konica Minolta. As a global corporation with a large footprint in manufacturing, we have taken great steps to ensure we have a minimal impact on our environment. This also extends to the output of our production print product lines, where volatile organic compounds (VOC) have been part of the challenge for print providers for decades. Konica Minolta is committed to sustainability and we are following our long-term environmental plan: EcoVision 2050, for which we recently changed the target year to achieve Carbon Minus status from 2050 to 2030. (more…)

It seems like an understatement to say that 2020 has been a transformative year. The global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced society to pause and closely examine our daily activities, reevaluating the ways we live and work. (more…)

A recent survey conducted by Citrix found that 78 percent of office workers believe full-time remote working will become more common after the COVID crisis has resolved. For the Marketing Communications team at Konica Minolta, we’re in month five of remote work, and as a group built on creativity, collaboration – and of course, communication – it was a jarring change to have this as our foreseeable future. (more…)

As 2020 looks set to hold the title for the year of uncertainty and economic distress, now more than ever, creatives are being challenged to push design boundaries that address not only aesthetics, but more importantly, maximize form and function. At the same time, continuing concern for the environment is becoming more and more prevalent, and so the need for smart packaging is becoming less of a trend and more the requirement. (more…)

When you hear the words ‘brand culture’, it’s not uncommon to conjure images of wacky campuses, team-building events and pictures of smiling teams. Over the last five years, particularly as Silicon Valley firms expanded like never before, there has been this unwritten rule that if you don’t have a physical representation of your brand, it’s not strong enough. But then COVID-19 hit, and that physical element was removed. So how do you manage brand culture when everyone is working remotely? (more…)

Wide-format digital printers have been around for some time now. Capabilities range from printing sign and display applications like banners, posters and point of purchase materials to technical applications such as charts, maps and engineering drawings. Over the years, manufacturers have continued to engineer advances in these digital printers to provide a greater assortment of widths, higher output quality, different ink technology and wider substrate capability such as printing to acrylic, metal, glass and textiles. (more…)

With the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions starting to relax in many countries and states, there is a renewed focus on getting ‘back to normal’. For many, this signifies a return to the office – but it’s not as simple as picking up old habits. Preparing for a safe and efficient way to bring employees back to the workplace is a complex topic, and there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there. So let’s take a look at what we should be expecting for the return to work…and what not to. (more…)

Human beings, by nature, are not solitary animals. Rather, they are among the most social creatures in existence, and have a very strong tendency to partner with others where there are common interests. People with a strong interest in music will attend concerts, and even if only for a few hours, will tend to align in behaviors, excitement and fun at the same points of the performance. This, too, is the human inclination that can bring thousands of people in a stadium to their feet during a sporting event in a perfectly synchronized “wave” of standing and sitting again. This is just how we humans are. (more…)

Last year, I wrote a blog exploring whether advertising is dead – the answer was a resounding no, but creating compelling and relevant content was key for optimising engagement. Fast-forward to 2020, and as the human race has had to adapt to a global pandemic, the question has once again resurfaced. And I’m now asking my team the question of whether we should be marketing our products and services to our customers. Knowing that many of our partners will be thinking along the same lines, I thought I’d revisit the topic in today’s context, and see how we can successfully engage audiences in this ‘next’ normal. (more…)

Recently I had the opportunity to speak to Bob Skelley from The Channel Company and Andy Slawetsky from Industry Analysts about the strategies my team has deployed to support the channel during the coronavirus outbreak, and how we will continue post-pandemic as they approach the reopening of their businesses. These conversations were a really great way to reflect on where we’ve been and how we can succeed in the future. (more…)