From Concept to Production: How EskoWorld Attendees Shaped a Pouch in Under 48 Hours

This was my second EskoWorld, and without question, the best one yet.

Not because of the parties. Not because of New Orleans (although that did help a bit).

What made this year's event special was seeing something happen that most people in the packaging industry would have dismissed as impossible.

But we'll get back to that in a moment.

First, one of the major highlights of the week was the launch of the XPS Spark.

The Spark is a compact LED exposure unit for flexo plates. No warm-up times. No bulbs that slowly degrade. Less maintenance. Less energy consumption. Just consistent exposure from the first plate to the last. For smaller shops and converters that have been looking at LED exposure from the sidelines, this feels like the moment it becomes a lot more accessible.

It's one of those products that isn't flashy but solves real-world problems. And those are often the products that end up making the biggest impact.

But there was more.

Something called The Big Easy, a project developed by Dries Vandenbussche, Esko’s senior director of global partner strategic development.

‘There's No Way They're Going to Pull This Off’

It started during the opening plenary session.

Johannes Loeffler, Esko’s chief customer experience officer, and Chris Janczar, Esko’s product offering manager, walked onto the stage and proposed what felt like an absurd challenge.

The audience would create a pouch from scratch.

Not a concept.

Not a rendering.

Not a case study prepared months in advance.

A real pouch.

One that would be designed, branded, marketed, produced, and physically delivered before the event ended on Friday.

I looked around the room and thought what many others were probably thinking: “There's no way they're going to pull this off.”

Because anyone who has ever worked on a packaging launch knows what is involved.

The packaging itself is only a small part of the story.

You need artwork.

You need approvals.

You need product imagery.

You need digital shelf assets.

You need marketing materials.

You need retailer content.

You need production.

You need logistics.

You need about a hundred things that somehow always take longer than expected.

And because this was packaging, not fantasy, everything also had to comply with the regulations of the markets we were targeting. Regulatory checks. Recyclability assessments. Carbon footprint calculations. Food safety documentation. The kind of work that rarely makes the headlines but can stop a product launch in its tracks if you get it wrong.

You need about a hundred things that somehow always take longer than expected.

And they were going to do all of it in less than 48 hours.

Every Day, Another Update

One of the smartest things about The Big Easy was that it wasn't hidden behind the curtain.

Every day, attendees received updates.

The design evolved.

The branding took shape.

The packaging moved through production.

Digital assets appeared.

The online store was updated.

Product visuals were created.

A shelf display was built.

And during the plenary sessions, the audience didn't just watch. They participated.

Attendees were invited on stage to help shape the product itself, making key decisions along the way. They voted on elements such as the color palette, the style of the pouch, and other aspects of the packaging, influencing the direction of the brand in real time.

The entire launch ecosystem started coming together in front of our eyes.

And little by little, what felt impossible on Wednesday started feeling inevitable by Friday.

What became increasingly clear was that this wasn't an Esko project.

It was an industry project.

A demonstration of what happens when software vendors, equipment manufacturers, converters, prepress specialists, and packaging experts all work together toward a common goal.

The pouch itself was printed by ePac in Austin, Texas.

Partners across the industry contributed expertise, technology, production capabilities, and countless hours of work.

The deeper the project went, the more impressive it became.

Friday, 11 a.m.

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for.

Friday morning.

11 a.m.

The pouch arrived.

And there it was.

Not a prototype.

Not a mockup.

An actual product that had gone from an idea in a conference ballroom to a physical package in just two days.

Honestly, that alone would have been enough.

But then came one final surprise.

A video popped up on the big stage.

The video revealed that a second version had been produced using the CDI Quartz, Esko's flagship flexo plate imaging system designed to deliver the highest print quality. The plates were produced at flexographic press manufacturer Comexi in Spain.

The packaging had been adapted for the French market.

But localization was only part of the story. Every version had to comply with regional regulations, including regulatory checks, recyclability requirements, carbon footprint calculations, and food safety reporting. Before anything moved forward, it was also quality approved, with both color accuracy and content validation verified.

In other words, while most of us were still trying to process the first launch, they had already localized the product, ensured it met the regulatory and quality requirements of the French market, and produced another market-ready version.

At that point, all you could really do was laugh and applaud.

And if this is the level of ambition the Esko team is bringing to New Orleans, I genuinely cannot wait to see what they come up with next year in Louisville, Kentucky.