By Gregory Pings
Approximately one out of five people who talked about Xerox on May 9 talked about our Iridesse™ Production Press. I’d call that a darn-good product launch.
The Hollywood-like reveal, before a standing-room only customer event in Webster, New York, allows Xerox to ante-up our conversations with print providers, designers and marketers. Iridesse is the first digital press that combines four-color printing (CMYK) with up to two specialty dry inks in one printing pass. The specialty inks include metallic gold or silver as well as clear dry ink. Iridesse gives print providers an immediate competitive edge in the growing print market, and no one else has a digital press like it.
WOW! ✨The Xerox Iridesse Production Press made a dramatic entrance at the #XeroxForum 2018 in Warsaw, Poland! 💖🎉 #IntroducingIridesse #BeyondCMYK @XeroxProduction @XeroxEvents pic.twitter.com/7IbWUqx17T
— Xerox (@Xerox) May 23, 2018
“Iridesse’s one-pass capability, for incorporating metallics and varnishes combined with run-time quality control technology is a differentiator for Xerox,” according to Ron Gilboa, group director, Production Technology, Keypoint Intelligence-InfoTrends who was quoted in a Xerox press release. “[Iridesse] can give print providers a competitive advantage.”
More than a high speed color digital press, Iridesse breaks new ground in an industry we lead; it pushes the limits of CMYK, automation, timelines and budgets. “Our Color Reignited” features all of our color presses, and it happens to be an apt description of the value and new opportunities that Iridesse delivers. Moreover, Iridesse’ brilliant “wow” factor takes customers beyond their imaginations. This word cloud shows some of the more popular words and phrases people tweeted and retweeted to describe Iridesse during an Iridesse unveiling event at the Xerox Forum in Warsaw, Poland.
I think it’s kind of cool that industry insiders actually said “wow” – a lot.
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Customer testimonial: Glen Robins, managing director of IPW1 in London, shows off some of the stunning prints he’s able to produce with Iridesse.
Meet Iridesse
Embrace your inner brilliance with the Xerox Iridesse Production Press. Turn ordinary applications into commodity-crushing opportunities. Dazzle, differentiate and deliver growth.
Iridesse Helps Turn Strategy into Action
Iridesse is part of our strategy to capture growth in production color, which is one of four high-growth segments that Xerox pursues. This launch extends our digital portfolio and lengthens our lead in xerographic imaging quality with technology. Competitors have yet to match it. In the meantime, Iridesse has something for every business:
Commercial Printers: New levels of automation. High definition toner, in addition to our metallic and clear toners bring in more diverse, higher-value jobs. Volume and profitability both go up.
In-Plant Printers: Cements their organizational value by keeping more jobs – and more dollars – within their walls.
Marketers: Makes highly embellished, personalized print a legitimate player in omni-channel campaigns.
Designers: Brings the craft of “wow” printing to digital, reviving design possibilities that timelines and budgets would normally kill off.
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Iridesse technology: Take a look at the technology behind Iridesse, including HD EA toner, precise image registration, and specialty embellishments.
Iridesse launch kicks-off sales
Aside from the fact that we unveiled a game-changing product that helps print providers move into a growing market, the launch event included presentations, a customer panel, product demos and an augmented reality application gallery. Add to that a May 22 reveal at The Xerox Forum in Warsaw, Poland, and you get quite a lot of buzz.
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Following the Xerox Forum, Xerox International Operations president Herve Tessler announced the first of 
several orders for Iridesse around the world. Early adopters have already made their purchases, persuaded by the outstanding print quality, incredible metallic effects that will improve an existing product line, opportunities in packaging and commercial printing, as well as the 5th and 6th specialty color stations on Iridesse.
Early reports: What they’re saying about Iridesse
Early reports from the trade press are positive. Here’s a sample.
The Imaging Channel — Digital Production Print Just Became Very Exciting: “Never one to avoid the bling,” Patricia Ames, senior analyst for BPO Media, said about the samples that Xerox mailed to attendees prior 
to the Webster launch event. “We were impressed with some of the art — the dry ink and metallic embellishments create some pretty luxurious results that seem well positioned to give print providers an edge in a competitive market.”
Matbaa Teknik Online Magazine — Shiny Prints Are Now Digital (Translated): “The Xerox Iridesse Production Press looks to us as an important development that offers significant advantages to produce even more valuable prints in the most demanding types of digital printing. Especially in a single pass, it went into recording as a convenience that goes beyond conventional printing with all the printing finishing.”
Printing Impressions — Xerox Launches Iridesse Digital Press: In an overview of the launch event in Webster, this article includes insights from customers, including Glen Robins, sales director of London-based IPW1. This print provider has beta tested the Iridesse for the past several months. “With Iridesse,” Glen said, “we can create remarkable and eye-catching ads, cards and posters with a simple setup and at high speeds. It’s a clear differentiator for us and it is what our customers are looking for. I’ve been in the print trade for 35 years now and I’ve never known a digital machine like it.”
Print Monthly.com — Xerox pledges to drive new business with Iridesse: Reviewing insights about the market and Iridesse’s new capabilities that Xerox executives provided at the Webster launch, the article notes 
Glen’s observation that the capability to add metallic and clear toner embellishments opens up opportunities to transform the print market. “For high end clients,” Glen noted, “output that used to be done with lithography, foiling or embossing can now be done in a single pass, in fast turnaround times and at a low cost [with this digital press.]”
Poligrafika — Xerox introduces Iridesse Production Press (translated): “Xerox Iridesse Production Press is the only digital production machine that prints in shades of metallic gold and silver using dry toner, in the form of CMYK, and also through transparent, dry ink during one pass.”
PrintWeek — Single-pass CMYK+ digital press revealed by Xerox: “Demand for printing beyond CMYK has exploded recently – forecasts indicate [the print embellishment market] will grow by 25 billion pages by 2020,” Ragni Mehta, Xerox Cut Sheet Business vice president and general manager was quoted. “We know that customers are willing to pay premiums of almost 90% for the added embellishments it can present.” Iridesse uses our High Definition Emulsion Aggregate toner. The toner’s optimal particle size produces prints with lower gloss, smooth tints and fine detail.
Graphische Revue — Iridescent special effects in digital printing (translated): “Xerox Iridesse’s ability to produce metallic inks and clear dry ink in an automated workflow, as well as real-time quality monitoring, is a differentiator for Xerox and can improve the competitiveness of print providers.”
Printing Impressions — Marketing ROI Is in Your Past: Return on investment (ROI) never stops being important, especially when you consider that all email, What’sApp and Twitter users combined send nearly 190 million messages every 60 seconds. This is one of the reasons why direct mail response rates outperform digital by nearly two times, and why print achieves 30 percent more recall than digital. Print engages more of our senses, and helps consumers achieve more emotional engagements with brands. “Xerox’s … new Iridesse production press allows printers to more beautifully and easily use metallic prints to further engage our visual senses and the emotions that result from exposure to shiny new objects,” Jeanette McMurtry, a psychology-based marketing expert wrote.
A full court press for Iridesse
In addition to the launch in Webster and the unveiling in Warsaw, Xerox will host regional and global customer events. Watch for one near you. Our customers will also see our advertising in major graphic communications print publications, as well as digital and social media marketing.
Bringing a pioneering product to market is what we do best. With Iridesse, Xerox has, yet again, reignited color and unleashed new opportunities for our customers.
