Kristin Adams, Kao Collins: Getting the Best of Both World

Kristin Adams, Kao Collins

Kristin Adams is Marketing Manager at Kao Collins. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kao Collins has a strong track record of innovation in inkjet inks and has played an integral role in the growth of inkjet in the US and worldwide. Since 1990, the company has introduced innovative ink solutions enabling customers and OEMs to reduce costs, increase productivity, and expand offerings into various markets such as graphics, commercial print, packaging, labelling, textiles, and consumer products. In this interview, we talk to Kristin about her experience, her view of inkjet, marketing and the issues, challenges and opportunities for new market growth.

Kristin, tell us a little about your background?

I have always been in marketing and I have been 16 years at Collins. When I joined there were only 20 People or so. This was my first position out of college where I studied Business and Administration.  I am now studying for a Masters Degree in Ethical Leadership. It is common for people in my position to go for an MBA but I’m not really a numbers person, I’m more creative and think this focus suits me. I’m of the opinion that there are already enough MBA’s in the world, no offense to anyone.

What is your role at Kao Collins?

I am the Marketing Manager. The role has evolved over the years and I’ve niched my own area within the business. Throughout my career, I have always been in business-to-business. Digital inkjet is all I know. It is a great market to be in with innovation and creativity.

So what has changed in your time at Kao Collins?

I started in 2004 when our business segments were only Kodak and HP, with a little solvent CIJ here and there. Piezo inkjet had not taken off yet. Our partnership with HP enabled us to sell our customized inks in brand new 45a cartridges and our partnership with Kodak was structured similarly with the addition of us toll manufacturing for them.

As I said, at that time Collins Inkjet employed around 20 People and these people were mainly focused on R&D and production; marketing was an afterthought. When I joined, we had a terrible website and our branding was a little primitive. As I saw opportunities for improvement, Lawrence (Gamblin, current President and previous owner of Collins Inkjet) was supportive and gave me the freedom to do things that I felt were necessary and this enabled me to make positive changes and develop the brand which has been rewarding and exciting.

What kind of characteristics do you think you have which are good for your role as a marketer? 

I’d like to think that I’m ½ creative and ½ strategic in my approaches and I try not to overthink or overcomplicate things.  I’ve spent weeks and months developing very thorough plans, developing laser focused persona’s, etc. but, for me, my outcome wasn’t different than had I taken a shorter more concise path, using my own guides to launch.  

I’m sure this will have people rolling their eyes, but I tend to make intuitive decisions; I appreciate analytical thinking, and I can do that when needed, but I  process those things in the background and drive with my gut feeling. I suppose this comes with being in the same position for so long, too; Things have become second nature. Also, I’m curious, so I want to find out more if something interests me on more than just a transactional level. 

I’m fortunate that chemists surround me all day. I have direct access to formulators and inkjet experts who happily let me pick their brains and ask a lot of questions. They’re great. It is easier to expand my marketing role when their expertise allows me to gain momentum specific to new business goals. 

Why did you decide to study an MA in Ethical Leadership? 

The ‘hard right and the easy wrong’ is at the core of how I choose to live my life personally and professionally and this degree seemed to marry the two together. My belief is that leaders should be leaders because they are best positioned to facilitate growth in others and because they wholeheartedly want to see people succeed. I believe a servant leadership approach is the key to a healthy functioning business with values, integrity and a positive culture. With rapidly evolving technology and accessibility 24/7, there are many opportunities for unethical leaders to have a sizeable impact on others’ lives.

I’m not naïve to the fact that operating from an inward-focused, lack mentality, can yield great results, we’ve all seen it play out, but it’s not healthy nor sustainable. We need to elevate leaders who are living large and on purpose so they can be an inspiration to others who want to rise up, too. If you do well, I do well, and we all do well together. There is enough good to go around for us all, I promise!

Have you worked for an ethical leader?

Yes, I think Lawrence Gamblin is a very ethical and honest leader. Lawrence is always upfront and clear with his opinions and intentions, which can be polarizing, but I always appreciate clarity. As an employee you are not left wondering why something ‘is’, and this is half the battle in my view. As members of a team in a business, you all have a disclosure on the strategy, what your goals are, how they relate to the goals of the company and why the business is working in a certain way. More importantly, I’ve seen Lawrence walk away from big projects with high calibre customers because he didn’t feel morally comfortable with the risk. Putting people before profit is the definition of an ethical leader in my opinion.

What would you like to see more of in the print industry? What is your view of the current crop of leaders in the market?

I would like to see more diversity and inclusion in this industry. To be honest, Print is a traditional industry, represented much of the same way it was 50 years ago, by middle-aged Caucasian men, predominant in leadership roles. There is so much untapped power in diversity! Each one of us has a unique set of experiences and perspectives- it is within these differences that we can all learn from each other, grow, and collaboratively push forward.  The discussion has moved on with digital print. It is no longer just a science and technology conversation – we are having discussions upstream in the value chain with consumer brands that have creative roles from a diverse range of sectors and have with a wider macro outlook. But this leads me to ask the question, how can we appeal to, and successfully serve a diverse customer base, if we ourselves are not diverse? We can do better and I’m confident that we will.

What are the marketing challenges for Kao Collins?

One of the key challenges is the variety of different segments that we now work in. I am jealous of businesses that can focus on one market only! The challenge for me is being consistent and on-brand and telling that in a way people can understand and digest easily. Kao Collins formulates and manufactures innovative inkjet inks for high-speed printing, single-pass printing, and wide-format printing using a variety of technologies. We are stretching the limits of what inkjet can print on, like ceramics, textiles and the first water-based ink for flexible film packaging. Our chemists are also working with customers to expand our offerings in emerging areas like EB curable inks and security ink.

So we have a greater scope nowadays with our ownership by Kao, but whereas Collins is a well-known name, Kao is (in print) not so well known. We now have a different story and branding strategy. The challenge is that you don’t want to lose everything that made Collins special in the first place but we now have the scale and stability of a large corporation while retaining our innovative culture.  This is true as Kao is a superb mix of scale and innovation and we are now focusing on achieving the best of both worlds. I am transitioning the narrative from ‘we are owned by Kao’ to ‘We are Kao’. You can expect to see much more on this at Drupa.

How important are events to your marketing strategy?

They are really important. I can tell you how great an ink is all day long, but until you see it first-hand, it’s not impactful. In November 2019, we ran the first Kao Innovation Day, in Barcelona, to engage and inspire people. Alongside our partners, the event highlighted some of our revolutionary digital printing solutions that add exceptional printing value to inkjet printing while reducing costly downtime.

Kao Chimigraf hosted the event and we hosted representatives from 22 companies based in 6 different countries. The event showcased the Kao Collins X-BAR, a high-quality, high-volume, high-speed, single-pass print module. Also, Kao Chimigraf also showed two multi-printhead systems manufactured by Colordyne Technologies, one using aqueous pigment and the other using UV/LED inkjet inks from Kao Collins, the European partner for both companies.

So water-based inks for inkjet are an important element?

Yes, aqueous pigment inks work with a wide range of applications, including packaging and they must comply with safety regulations that require low migration properties.

Here is a link to a video from the event to give you an idea and it shows highlights of the day-long event at Kao Chimigraf’s new printing demonstration center at the Barberà del Vallès facilities.

What were the key messages from Kao Collins and Chimigraf at the event?

As well as the aqueous ink we showed the X-BAR and multi-printhead retrofit solutions which are produced to retrofit existing printing equipment with our partners Colordyne. The X-BAR, Colordyne equipment, and inks featured at the event demonstrated that industrial inkjet printing rivals traditional printing while offering unique customization and personalization.

Our partnership with Colordyne demonstrates our commitment to delivering the best solutions to our customers and guests left the event knowing that Kao’s innovative inks and retrofitting printers realistically achieve greater performance for printing companies, deliver more value for customers, and eliminate the need for capital investments in all-new printers.

This kind of message and access to our new developments can only really be achieved with a good event. You just cannot do it any other way! Face to face contact, time and interaction mean you get quality connection both ways, and this is good for customer and supplier and although all the aspects of the marketing mix are important, time with your customers is critical and events enable this.

What is in store for Kao Collins in 2020?

I’ve just returned from Japan where I dove into the amazing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) work being done by Kao and how the initiatives directly support the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainability is at the forefront of everyone’s minds these days, but Kao prioritized innovation for sustainability many years ago. Today, Kao’s ESG principles and strategy is at the core of everything they do. You can read a lot more about it here  At Drupa 2020, you can see exactly how Chemistry Creates Change. I’m very energized for this year.

Is the market in a positive place in your view?

Yes. Inkjet technology has improved across the board from heads, hardware, software, and ink, so now the sky is the limit. When the bar is continually being raised it forces everyone to be more innovative which in turn expands capabilities and grows the market as a whole. It’s exciting.

To what extent is sustainability important in your view?

It is not important - it is imperative. We all have to focus on it, now. I could talk about this for days, but instead, I’d like to direct everyone to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and think about we are supporting them. “ The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030.”

(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300).

To enquire about Kao Collins contact Kristin.