Dscoop and HP have prioritized brand protection at Dscoop Edge Fusion, which kicked off on May 17, 2021. A host of presentations have accompanied the newest product launches by the digital printing specialist.

In order to promote brand protection and security label printing, HP unveiled the HP Indigo 6K Secure Press, which is the company’s first secure digital press designed especially for the security printing market.

The new press is a one-pass, end-to-end security printing solution featuring multiple security layers in collaboration with Jura JSP. The press is available for certified security printers.

HP has also debuted HP Indigo Secure, a new suite of security and brand protection solutions that are intended to help security printers and print service providers protect their customers from counterfeiters and other product threats. HP Indigo Secure is a set of solutions that include hardware, software, media, and inks for security printing and brand protection, based on proprietary HP Indigo LEP technology and industry-leading partner solutions.

Both Dscoop and HP have gone to great lengths to promote brand security, which is arguably as relevant as it has ever been. The global pandemic has furthered the growth of e-commerce, which requires enhanced brand protection. The goal is to safeguard brands and consumers alike.

On the heels of the new press launch, Lior Krasnovsky, HP Indigo category manager, led a roundtable with Ryan Kiley, director of market development at ePac Flexible Packaging, and Moshiko Levhar, EMEA security and brand protection business manager at HP. The trio discussed the new ways in which label converters can help protect their packaging and increase in consumer confidence and trust in brands, both large and small.

“No brand is completely immune to counterfeiting,” said Krasnovsky. “It’s a digital world and a changing world, especially with the stronger entrance of e-commerce. Each and every major brand today needs to think about how they deal with counterfeiting.”

“A lot of the counterfeiting growth has been fueled by Covid-19 in 2020,” acknowledged Levhar. “There have been big disruptions in the supply chain, and that’s an opportunity for counterfeiters. It’s especially difficult for brands to control the supply chain when a lot of products go to the homes of the consumer as opposed to the retailer, when the retailer used to protect the consumer from counterfeiting.”

Security labeling is not a luxury brands can take for granted. According to Levhar, brand protection will represent a $3.6 billion industry in 2022, and converters are increasingly making these services available to their customers.

The threat is real too. In August of 2020, $500 million of counterfeit goods from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel were seized in one of largest busts to date. Meanwhile, Nike pulled its products from Amazon in an e-commerce pivot during the chaotic year.

Krasnvosky detailed the wide range of security solutions available, which range from overt and covert measures to forensic, as well as security inks and invisible inks. “You can even put different layers of brand protection in a single product,” he said.

To illustrate how HP Indigo’s digital printing presses have added value and ensured security, Kiley explained how ePac has structured its business model with a connected packaging portfolio.

“Our goal is to help small and medium businesses by offering them extraordinary packaging that previously wasn’t available to them,” noted Kiley. “When businesses grow, they buy local, sell local, and grow local, and the communities we serve all benefit. In the US, it’s not just about the brand it’s about the consumer. As a consumer, you want to verify the product you bought is of a certain quality, and you need a solution to do it no matter how large or small the brand happens to be.”

ePac has delivered secure packaging for a wide range of markets across the globe. “Health and beauty products in Asia is a highly-counterfeited portion of the market that we are uniquely positioned to serve,” added Kiley. “Counterfeiters do it because it’s worth it and they can. In health and beauty, we’re seeing a lot of brand protection product authentication activity.”

To provide its customers with secure solutions, ePac has fingerprinted every one of its HP Indigo presses around the world. This adds another layer of protection for brands.

“I can tell you if the label was printed in Sacramento or Jakarta, and that helps our brands protect their intellectual property,” stated Kiley.