In the magnificent setting of Franciacorta, one of the most awaited events in the world of digital printing returned: Challenge Your Agency 4.0, the fourth edition of the contest conceived by HP Industrial, which each year brings printers, creative agencies, and brands into dialogue through a challenge that rewards creativity applied to HP Indigo technologies
Welcomed by the infectious energy of Martina Corradi, HP Industrial Printing Marketing Manager, together with Alessandro Bestetti, HP Regional Business Manager for Italy, and the HP team, in the stunning venue of the Guido Berlucchi & C. Spa winery, after a visit to the cellars that was evocative and engaging, we attended the awards ceremony of an edition that once again proved to be a concentration of talent and collaboration.
The vision of a project that grows every year
The contest, launched in 2021 as an initiative dedicated to the label world, has grown year after year through new challenges, new audiences, and new cross-contaminations. With each edition, an additional variable, a new invitation to bring skills, technologies, and people into dialogue. The result is a journey that continues to evolve, culminating in its richest and most participatory edition yet, with 16 companies competing.
“We started with just a few participants, but every edition has brought something more: more participation, more courage, more willingness to experiment. The goal has always been the same: to give our customers a space to step up and show their talent, in a context that enhances creativity and the quality of their work”, Martina Corradi tells us.
This year, the collaboration with Leadagious®, a benefit corporation created to help people lead themselves and others in a conscious, effective, and contagious way, added an additional layer of depth by choosing a theme that is simple and complex, especially when translated into a visual, tactile, printed artifact: The Conversation Collection, a collection of objects designed to activate authentic, constructive, and generative conversations.
In a world where truly engaging in dialogue seems increasingly difficult, The Conversation Collection became a concrete invitation to use technology to create connections: to listen, ask questions, and speak in new ways.
Creativity as a process
Lorenza Pellegri and Fabio Paracchini of Leadagious® explained the philosophy behind this edition: creativity not as an outcome, but as a journey.
“When we think about creativity, we almost always think about results: products, ideas that worked, what we managed to achieve. For us, instead, creativity happens beforehand. It lives in the questions, in doubts, in the process… in the space of possibility. And so what we simply wish for you is that you enjoyed opening up and expanding this space of possibility”.
And it is precisely this space, open, alive, shared, that Challenge Your Agency cultivates every year. A place where HP Indigo technology becomes an expressive palette: invisible inks, sandwich printing, variable data, generative mosaics, techniques at the service of stories and people. Because “to create beautiful things you certainly need technology. But first and foremost, you need people. And it is thanks to the people at HP and to everyone who took part that today we were able to evaluate truly worthy projects”, Lorenza concludes.
The awards ceremony celebrated exactly this spirit. From dinner kits to board games, from conversational calendars to “talking” packaging, retail solutions and professional projects for the financial or pharmaceutical sectors. Projects different in style, intention, and language, yet united by the desire to use print to bring people closer together.
The winners of Challenge Your Agency 4.0
The winning projects were chosen by a jury composed of Lorenza Pellegri and Fabio Paracchini of Leadagious®, along with Michela Pibiri of PrintLovers and Laura Moretti, graphic designer. It was far from an easy task, and the jury admitted they were embarrassed to have to select just a few. However, these are the ones that stood out for coherence, depth, care, and vision.
Web-fed category – Conversation mug
Printer: NeriLabels – Agency: Ars
Motivation: “a project that is only apparently simple, but which actually exploited many technological potentialities, including variable data, sandwich printing, and invisible ink. These, combined with creativity and very interesting iconographic research, allowed us to create an interactive experience that led us to uncover the roots of the project, giving us a taste of discovery, and which represented an interesting communication trigger. Furthermore, the project is very versatile, so it could also be used on other conversational objects in the future”.
SHEET-FED CATEGORY — CheatChat
Printers: Grafical – Agency: Growthers
Motivation: “for successfully combining all the elements that define the design of a complex artifact, whose contents are expressed in every formal expression, from the title, to the color choice, to the gestures, which requires an act of sharing in order to break it down and reassemble it”.
MIX & MATCH CATEGORY — Teamgious
Printers: ACM & Grafical – Agency: Ad-Vision
Motivation: “for providing an impeccable solution to the brief. From the naming to the visual codes, from the copy to the microcopy. Because the attention given to Leadagious’ brand identity and tone of voice in this project was extremely thorough. And because it’s clear they really wanted to win, but that didn’t stop them from having fun. And in the end, that’s the most important thing”.
HONORARY AWARD — Dillo al mio cane®
Printers: Andersen Print Agency: Andersen Premedia
Motivation: “for giving amazing shape to an equally amazing idea: transforming park enclosures into true arenas for constructive conversations. Tell my dog® is a project that combines creativity, intuition, and the ability to understand the urban context, demonstrating how print can become a bridge between people even in the simplest places of everyday life”.
SPECIAL MENTION — Talk to me
Printers: Auroflex & Lazzati – Agency: Label Design
Motivation: “for a highly sophisticated use of technology, such as variable data and different technologies, paper converting and labels, with significant philosophical work behind it”.
AWARD CHOSEN BY PUBLIC— Coffersation
Printers: Arti Grafiche Turati – Agency: Libera Design Milano
An event that reminds us what printing can truly do
In a sector that is rapidly evolving amidst automation, AI, and technological innovation, all of which are obviously indispensable, Challenge Your Agency 4.0 has brought attention to something we often risk taking for granted: the human power of print.
Print as a language, as an experience. Print as a pretext for speaking, listening, and imagining together.
The brand perspective: personalization, value, and new possibilities
The evening also offered a glimpse into the brands’ perspective, thanks to the presentation by Abel Sanchez-Hermosilla Martinez, Head of Brands & Sustainability Innovation EMEA at HP. His contribution highlighted how digital printing is not just a creative tool, but a strategic lever for innovating the supply chain, marketing, and sustainability. The era of “one-size-fits-all” is definitively over: personalization, in its most advanced forms, from variable data to unique editions, is now a value accelerator for brands, agencies, and printers. Case studies like Nutella, Suchard, and co-creation projects with consumers demonstrate that digital printing can simultaneously be experience, performance, and relationship, transforming every package into a touchpoint, a message, a conversation.
