CEWE at photokina 2018: Innovative technologies for personalized photo products

– Presentation of many product innovations

– Smart Solutions for the easy creation of photo products

– Customer charter for digitization with responsibility

Cologne/Oldenburg, 27 September 2018. As Europe’s leading photo service provider and partner for online printing, CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (SDAX, ISIN: DE 0005403901) wants to remain a technological pioneer and advance new opportunities of digitization for this purpose. At photokina through this Saturday, CEWE is exhibiting several project studies utilizing new technologies for creating photo products.

From September 26th to 29th in Cologne, at a stand covering 1,300 square meters, CEWE will be displaying its entire product portfolio and several innovations. CEO Dr. Christian Friege says, “The boom in smartphone photography, which is gaining traction all the time, has also led to a revival for photo printing. People do not want to store precious moments on some storage medium or in some cloud. They want something they can hold in their hands. That is why CEWE offers both premium quality photo products and up-to-date software applications so that you can select from photos and design custom products. At photokina, we are showcasing a range of innovations in the form of new products or products still being developed, allowing us to call ourselves the leader in innovation.”

Presentation of many product innovations at photokina 2018

The main focus at the CEWE stand remains the CEWE PHOTOBOOK. CEWE, which is listed at the German stock market (SDAX), was presented with the prestigious TIPA World Award at photokina for its cover highlight innovations. Gold or silver highlights – or even elegant gloss highlights – are available for lettering or design elements like clipart images. All-over surface highlighting is a completely new option. One might use it to give the cover a wood grain tactile feel, for example.

‘Hexxas’ hexagonal photo tiles open up new possibilities for wall decoration. They can be attached to the wall in any way you want using a magnetic attachment method. The selected photos can be freely combined and designed either as a collage or as multi-section images. “The hexxas are an invention from our employees,” says Friege. “We don’t have a research and development department. We simply encourage all colleagues to share their ideas with the company.”
At photokina, CEWE hopes to attract interest from visitors through the allure of the printed image. The CEWE PHOTOBOOK is being presented as a customer favourite in all formats, paper types and highlight styles. Keeping the holiday shopping season in mind, Advent calendars with individually printed photos, can be ordered today. “The joy in working with photos is the central pillar for us – there are no Christmas gifts more personal than custom photo products from CEWE”, Friege says.

CEWE PHOTOBOOK on command, and other ‘smart solutions’

At photokina, CEWE is presenting ‘smart solutions’ for customers. “CEWE PHOTOBOOK on command” uses various technologies such as face recognition, language control and artificial intelligence. You can simply say a command out loud like “Please create a CEWE PHOTOBOOK for me from my last holiday in Holland,” and the technology will give you an impressive recommendation for a design in just seconds. The suggested design will contain the best photos that are the most relevant to your holiday. You will also be given suggestions for the design, format and number of pages based on the occasion. CEWE PHOTOBOOK on command is a still in its early stages of development. The components mentioned above are, however, currently being integrated piece by piece into the CEWE MYPHOTOS photo management software. Face recognition technology powered by HP Pixel Intelligence and automatic event detection, both of which are available to customers as options from today, will be on display at photokina. Similarly, the new wizard in the CEWE ordering software, which provides intelligent photo selection in addition to other features, has already been released.
Friege says, “I am certain that dramatically simplifying the processes of selecting images and creating a CEWE PHOTOBOOK will open up many new customer groups to us. This simplification will be of interest to those who previously thought that they didn’t have enough time to create a book. Having said that, there are many people who enjoy putting together our photo products and see it as a fun hobby. I want to remind them that they’ll always have the option to take full control at any point if they feel like improving the recommendations or even creating a CEWE PHOTOBOOK completely on their own from scratch.”

CEWE Customer Charter

New technologies such as artificial intelligence and general digitization are the subject of controversial discussions in politics and the public sphere. Regarding this, Friege states, “We stand for reflected progress. CEWE pursues a responsible and customer-oriented use of digital technologies. Because of this, we have laid down our fundamental stance in a customer charter.” The core issues of the charter are data protection, transparency, full control by the customer, freedom of decision for the user and a commitment to supporting research and teaching related to these issues in Europe. You can find the entire charter at https://company.cewe.de.

About CEWE:

The innovative photo and online print service company, with twelve highly-technical production operations and a staff of around 3,600 employees in 24 European countries, is both market and technological leader. In 2017 CEWE delivered around 2.2 billion prints, 6.0 million CEWE PHOTO BOOK copies and numerous photo gift articles to more than 20,000 retail partners to generate consolidated turnover of 599.4 million euros. The company is continuously generating new impulses in the photographic industry with innovations for people who enjoy taking photos. CEWE is a leading company when it comes to climate protection. CEWE brand products are all produced in a climate-natural process. In the “commercial online printing” business segment, printed material for businesses is marketed through the sales platforms of CEWE-PRINT.de, SAXOPRINT, viaprinto and LASERLINE. Founded by Senator h. c. Heinz Neumüller in 1961, CEWE has been listed on the stock exchange since 1993 and is an SDAX member.