The London-based firm’s ‘Small but Mighty’ campaign, which launched last week, emphasises that size does not determine strength. Perfect Colours will invite companies in the sector to test-drive the L310 for two weeks to experience the machine first-hand.

“Getting a company to do a live demonstration is an idea that I’ve had for a long time. The reason I wanted to do it is because while the L310 is selling well, to sell more of this product it really needs to appeal to the small business guys,” said sales director Jon Telling.

“So I wanted to find a mechanism to try and appeal to them because they’re mostly Roland and Mimaki type companies that haven’t been great buyers of latex. So I thought that if I could find a great small business that would be willing to do the trial and publicise that, people could see that these machines can work for small businesses as well.”

The campaign compares the Latex L310 with animals that exhibit strong abilities. Telling said that the L310's throughput makes it industrious like the ant, its output is durable and versatile like the rhinoceros beetle and it can enable smaller businesses to win sizeable jobs, like the eagle.

Hertfordshire-based vehicle wrapping specialist Bigger Stickers is the first firm to take part in the trial and director James Deacon will document his experience with the Latex L310 on his blog, Walking On The Wild Side.

“Bigger Stickers started its trial last week and James has given us loads of feedback already on jobs that he’s run – how it works and how the RIP and the software was to use,” said Telling.

The 1.2m HP Latex L310, which costs £10,000 and is supplied with the SAI FlexiPrint RIP, has a maximum output speed of 48sqm/hr, or 1,200dpi in two-pass billboard mode. It uses HP’s 831 latex ink and runs off two standard three-pin plugs, going from power-up to production readiness in two minutes.

“The scheme is in its early stages but we’ve already had a few leads and I’m expecting to sell quite a few machines,” said Telling.