Creativity flows in Norway

Adpoint has bought not just one Canon Colorado, but three. With unique solutions that blend printed products with digital signage, Adpoint has become a company where the numbers keep going up. And that journey has only just begun, if you ask founder Pawel Karalus. “The goal for 2024 is further growth,” he says.

Pictured from left: Jarle Mikkelsen Canon Norway, Christian Holten, KAM at Adpoint, and General Manager Pawel Karalus.

Originally from Poland, Pawel Karalus came to Norway for the first time in 2003 and worked in the construction industry. The following year, he got a job as a poster fitter at Clear Channel and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming operations manager for the whole of Norway. In May 2018, he was offered the position of Distribution Manager and initially accepted, but then regretted his decision to start his own business offering outdoor advertising services.

He started Adpoint in Lommedalen, just west of Oslo, Norway. In the early years, turnover doubled every year. Last year, it reached around NOK 18.5 million and the business now has around 17 employees. The target for 2024 is a turnover of between NOK 22 and 25 million.

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Started its own printing company

Adpoint makes everything from billboards to digital signs, as well as building, operating and maintaining shelters. Initially, the focus was exclusively on digital, while the printed services were purchased.

“I asked myself, why not do it myself? Having our own print shop means, among other things, that we have better control over quality and can also offer urgent deliveries as fast as within two hours in the Oslo area. The printing industry has become one of the most important pillars on which we stand today.”

It started just over two years ago with an HP Latex. After Adpoint won a major contract to produce large format advertising solutions, they invested in four Epson printers. In December 2022, a partnership with Canon was initiated and since then, one Arizona and three Canon Colorado 1650s have been installed in production. This means that virtually the entire machine park has been replaced.
Among other things, the Canon Colorado 1650 features FLXfinish+ technology, which makes it possible to print with both matte and glossy surfaces in the same print without an additional coating channel. Canon’s UV gel inks can print on a variety of media, including flexible materials. The model has UV LED curing and a resolution of 1800 dpi.

“Adpoint is one of our biggest customers in Colorado,” says Jarle Mikkelsen, Account Manager at Canon Norway. He is impressed with what Adpoint can achieve: “They are very skilled at technical solutions and at incorporating elements of digital signage with printed material into something completely unique.”

The Adpoint team have nothing but good things to say about their Colorado machines: “They just keep going and going.”

Trouble-free

Pawel and colleague Christian Holter, Key Account Manager, hint that a Colorado M-series is on the wish list so that the collaboration can continue. They also say that they are very happy with the existing Colorado machines. “They are trouble-free and there is almost no maintenance. They can run and run around the clock if needed. The quality of the print is also important, especially that we can print both matte and glossy. In addition, there is fast service and support. We feel we can rely on the machines and Canon as a supplier,” says Pawel.

A cutting table from Fotoba complements the Summa table that Adpoint already had. The Fotoba handles everything that goes into the three Colorado printers, and the Summa table is used for milling and all the smaller cutting jobs that are printed in the three Colorado 1650s. This ensures that there are no bottlenecks in the finishing process.

A Fotoba cutting table model XLD170WP will handle everything produced in the Colorado machines.

Advertising that attracts attention

Adpoint installs, operates and maintains large quantities of digital signs such as menu screens for gas stations and restaurant chains. In the last two years, a total of 1,000 digital signs were delivered around Norway.

But it’s through the more spectacular jobs that Adpoint has really made a name for itself. For example, a four-meter-high milk carton placed in the middle of central Oslo and a gold-edged sign for the Netflix production Bridgerton.

Pawel Karalus has developed his own solution with a dispenser that dispenses, for example, stickers when you press a button. It can be programmed and adapted to several other products. “When it comes to signs, I look for a lot of inspiration around the world. The Chinese are good at coming up with new things, for example.”

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A complete supplier

It’s clear that Pawel is an entrepreneur through and through, and that he’s always looking ahead to develop the company. He has recently taken a step back from day-to-day production to focus on development. A new area of activity is interiors and art, largely thanks to the increase in capacity with the three Colorado machines.

“We do everything from printing wallpaper to foiling doors and windows. It’s a new customer group for us, but it has already yielded good results, mainly because we can offer everything from printing to installation. With the machinery we have, we’re very flexible,” says Christian Holter.

When asked what has made Adpoint so successful, Pawel Karalus says this: “We do things that other companies in Norway can’t deliver. We build everything from scratch, from A to Z, and are a complete supplier. We manufacture, deliver and install – finished! That’s what our customers want.

Pawel Karalus has developed his own solution that can output stickers, for example.

Find out more about the Canon Arizona and Colorado printer series here.

This article was published before by Sign&Print. The content has been translated from its original language.

Published 11th Apr 2024