Epson and Usain Bolt renew partnership to promote cartridge-free printing across Europe

Epson and Usain Bolt renew partnership to promote cartridge-free printing across Europe

New through the line 12-month campaign extends to more products in more markets 

Epson and Usain Bolt, will continue their mission to bring cartridge-free printing to households and small businesses across Europe for another 12 months, as the global technology leader renews its partnership with the greatest sprinter of all time. Following the success of last year’s campaign, Usain, the world’s fastest man, will once again feature as the face of Epson’s EcoTank in a new through-the-line campaign to promote its cost saving printer and ReadyPrint ink subscription service. The new campaign will also extend to more of Epson’s world class products including home cinema projectors, large format professional printers, business scanners and label printers.

More than 75 million people across Europe have already seen Usain star alongside Epson’s EcoTank in last year’s activity. The campaign, which included TV Advertising, outdoor, online, POS, social media and PR has helped ensure Epson retains its position as the leading provider of ink tank printers in the world. In fact, over 70 million EcoTank printers have now been sold worldwide since their launch in 2010 and 8 out of 10 in tank printers in Europe are manufactured by Epson

The new campaign, which goes live later this month across Europe and Africa, will see eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain, feature in more light-hearted content across POS, online, social and outdoor. He will also feature in a new TV campaign from early 2023 in certain countries. Usain will demonstrate in his own unique way that with EcoTank printers, you can literally just “Fill and Chill” for up to three years of cartridge-free no-hassle printing ¹and save up to 90% on printing costs ³. The printers remove the fuss of cartridges and come with high yield ink bottles instead. One set of ink bottles is the equivalent of up to 79 cartridges worth of ink enabling busy households and small offices to enjoy printing at ultra-low-cost per page. The campaign will also highlight how Epson’s ink delivery subscription service, ReadyPrint, can save customers up to 90% on printing costs ², with ink delivered directly to your door before you run out.

Commenting on the partnership, Maria Eagling, marketing director of Epson Europe said: “People may not find printers as interesting as other consumer technology products, but Usain is really helping to bring our low-cost printing solutions to life in fun, memorable and engaging ways. The feedback we’ve had from our customers, and the great results we’ve seen from the activity so far confirms that Usain really is the perfect partner for us, as more and more people realise that there is more to printing than cartridges. We can’t wait to share the new content we’ve created and I’m confident that everyone is going to enjoy watching it.”

Usain Bolt said: “I’ve really enjoyed my first 12 months working with Epson. This year’s campaign was filmed in just 4 days in London, and although it was a lot of hard work, I’ve been up to all sorts including flying on a magic carpet, appearing from under sofas, doing Yoga, cooking, juggling and even bottle flipping! All will be revealed but I can honestly say printing has never been such fun.”

To stay up to date with the new campaign, follow us on Instagram @EpsonEurope or see the latest content on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/EpsonEurope

1) Based on print volume of 100 pages per month and the lowest yield produced from the first set of inks.
2) ReadyPrint EcoTank – save up to 90% on printing costs
Epson ReadyPrint Unlimited calculation includes bundled ink bottles (included with printer) and relevant device activation fee together with a subscription cost of printing the max. pages within relevant plan over a period of 5 years, compared to the average cost to buy one printer (plus bundled cartridges) and print the same number of pages (A4 prints of ISO/IEC 24711) with the genuine consumables used in the 50 best-selling consumer printers (according to GfK Inkjet Printing Devices and Inkjet Printing Cartridges Point of Sale panel market data for Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy Apr-19 – Mar 2020). Cost per page calculated with reference to the average printing costs for these top 50 models, calculated by dividing the relevant cartridge sales revenue and total yield by unit sales (according to GfK Inkjet Printing Cartridges Point of Sale panel market data for Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy Apr-19 – Mar 2020).
3) Average cost per page saving and average number of inkjet cartridges required to print the same number of pages as EcoTank “102” and “104”ink bottles. Comparison between average yield (A4 prints of ISO/IEC 24711) of EcoTank “102” and “104” bottles and the genuine consumables used within the 50 best-selling inkjet cartridge printers (according to GfK Inkjet Printing Devices and Inkjet Printing Cartridges Point of Sale panel market data for Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy Apr-19 – Mar 2020).