Canon, a premier provider of end-to-end, digital production print solutions and services, recognised drupa 2024 as its most successful to date in terms of customer engagement, investment and visitor interest. As a result, Canon significantly exceeded the number of sales leads it had hoped for and achieved sales revenue that far outstripped projections for the event. There was also great interest in and inspiration from Canon’s vision of print’s power to move.
This was seen, for example, in the constant interaction of visitors with the hands-on print application showcases and the over 6 000 visitors exploring the multi-sensory, immersive experience in The Core that featured World Unseen, an inclusive photography initiative brought to life by extraordinary, elevated prints. PPM editor Nici Solomon was moved to tears. It highlighted how tactile finishes on images can be used to extend inclusivity and help the visually impaired to ‘see’ them. The OEM’s video of a wildlife photographer presenting his photograph of the last remaining male northern white rhinoceros and one of his protectors to a blind conservationist to experience in the dark through touch was complemented by the same print for visitors watching the video. The print, which was created on Arizona 1300 and 2300 flatbed series printers, will enable many more people to access previously unseen worlds.
Launching its campaign ‘The Power To Move’ at drupa 2024, Canon sought to demonstrate the power of print to move people emotionally to achieve positive change and to move businesses forward through the deployment of Canon’s transformative technologies, expertise and support. Through curated workflows, Canon showcased its latest enabling technologies with partners, demonstrating real-life customer solutions and inspiring visitors. As expected for an established global leader in digital production print, sales of both Canon’s web-fed and sheetfed presses for commercial print and promotional communications were very strong, in particular, those of the ProStream 2133 web-fed inkjet press and varioPRINT iX3200 sheetfed inkjet press. The increasing trend of investment in inkjet presses also meant that Canon’s newly announced varioPRINT iX1700 and the B2-format varioPRESS iV7 drew substantial interest, despite these presses not being commercially available until next year.
Indicating that toner remains the digital printing technology of choice for many print service providers, customer investment in Canon imagePRESS V series colour and varioPRINT mono toner devices also beat projected numbers. Also recognising the growth opportunities offered by wide-format printing, including in interior décor, wallpaper, packaging and fine art, Canon showed its full portfolio, with sales of the Arizona, Colorado and imagePROGRAF far surpassing expectations, as did sales of the new generation of colorWAVE and plotWAVE printers for CAD applications.
