The recent Packaging Innovations show featured a new section dubbed ‘Print Innovations’. So, was the future for packaging deemed to be digital?
Packaging Innovations, organised by EasyFairs, is a twice yearly show (Birmingham and London) co-located with three other packaging events – Packtech, Ecopack and Contact Pack. The latest iteration was held at the NEC in Birmingham and played host to a completely new area focused on print solutions aimed at achieving quick turnaround on-shelf brand differentiation and accelerating time to market.
The influence on the future of labels and packaging printing was quick to see with suppliers such as HP, Xeikon, Kodak, Roland DG, Agfa, Impression Technology Europe, and KTEC all on hand. However, this show is not full of hot machinery churning out endless reams, rather it is more intelligent and sophisticated allowing suppliers to talk to designers, creatives, brand owners and packaging buyers about how print can be a vital part of the marketing mix and what it can do to add shelf, and customer, appeal.
A great deal of the show is given over to information sharing with a series of ‘learnShops’ which deliver debate panels, leading speakers, ‘how to’ sessions and thought provoking content, which is headed by the Great Packaging Debate – this year focused on sustainability and the environment.
The digital angle
One of the debate panels was organised by Digital Labels & Packaging publisher Whitmar Publications, with the subject ‘How digital print can add shelf appeal to packaging’. The debating panel consisted of David Croft, segment manager packaging EAMER at Kodak, Ian Sullivan, CEO at cross media specialist Consorcio, and Paul Marsh, general manager, Complete Synergie.
This debate raised some challenging questions and some even more interesting answers, but Mr Croft explained, ‘We can talk for hours about the print technology, but what is most important is what you can do with it.’
He continued, ‘Perhaps we should look at what shelf appeal needs, because digital can offer so many different things. It will certainly target markets better and allows brands to communicate with their customers in a different way.’
Mr Sullivan continued, ‘What we are finding with campaigns is that consumers are much more savvy, much more wise, and they have a better customer engagement with products.
Digital can help to realise better customer engagement and interaction. It is modular and can easily and cost effectively change different concepts of a campaign throughout the shelf life, and it will help to build relationships with customers.’
‘Understanding what the customer needs is key though,’ added Mr Marsh. ‘We wouldn’t necessarily offer digital to every customer. They must understand how it benefits them, and we would work in partnership with them to ensure that they achieve what they set out to do.’
The panel were asked about the environmental impacts of digital, particularly if this technology could help with packaging waste.
‘With digital there is almost zero obsolescence,’ continued Mr Marsh. ‘This is highly positive for brand owners looking to minimise their environmental impacts.’
Mr Croft agreed, ‘Digital is more focused as it is much more targeted towards the customer so that waste is lessened.’
Getting the message out
Mr Croft asked if he could put out a call to brand owners. He said, ‘Although the total volume of print may go down in the future, if what is printed is targeted, it will be much more effective. This is strengthened by using variable data content.
‘The point about variable data is that we know it is not being used to its full potential. We estimate that less than 20% of digital output includes variable data. Targeted marketing is not happening on a wide scale, so it is important that marketers and brand owners are encouraged to use it and integrate it into campaigns.’
Return on investment was also highlighted, with Mr Sullivan saying, ‘How do you actually measure return on investment? There are more marketing channels now than there have ever been.
‘With social media, return on investment is easy. I get my data, my analytics. I can see who is engaging and through what channel. I can see what brands they like.
‘Personalised mail, with a call to action, is great because you can see who is coming back and interested. This needs to happen with packaging as well. Personalised packaging helps marketers to see which channel has the best return on investment.
‘I agree that marketers are not picking up on the opportunities of personalisation and variable data, but I do think that as they start to see its worth, maybe in the next three to four years, there will be a massive demand.’
‘The technology to do this is available now,’ added Mr Marsh, ‘it just needs to be utilised. It is up to the print provider to work with customers and their supply chain to ensure that we can deliver on the concept that the client wants to create.’
Changing the way we think
‘Digital print is allowing packaging to change,’ commented Mr Croft. ‘Digital is the way forward. It is cost effective and if you add in the marketing return it is very powerful. Technology is also progressing so digital speed is getting closer and closer to competitive technologies, allowing longer runs.
‘We have to say to packaging buyers and marketers ‘don’t think in the future the way you think now’.’
Mr Sullivan exploded the myths about the costs of creating campaigns that contain QR codes, artificial reality, unique apps and NFC (near field communication - where phones communicate with each other simply by being in close proximity meaning that you can carry out contactless communications/transactions and data exchange. NFC can also be used for contactless payment, similar to those currently used in credit and debit cards).
Mr Sullivan explained that using these ‘futuristic’ systems with digital print on packaging are not expensive and when you add in the ROI, become even less so. If digital print is returning five to ten times more than standard printing it is no longer about cost of production.
‘The biggest challenge I get when I sit in front of an organisation is them saying ‘I just don’t get it. I don’t understand high level personalisation. I don’t understand the world of social media. I am not really sure why we have QR codes,’ said Mr Sullivan. ‘The reality is, they don’t need to understand it, but it is happening. The world is going to change. There are more than 800 million people on Facebook, more than 150 million on LinkedIn. That is not going to disappear. The world is not going to go back to how it was four or five years ago, so you have to embrace the changes.
‘There is a different generation coming up and they want to have highly personalised interaction with brands. That is their demand, that is their generation, that is what they are already getting from different types of media and packaging needs to start conforming to this new way of doing things.
‘They may be teenagers or in their early 20s now, but in ten years they will be the decision makers. This is the world they have grown up in and the world they understand. These demands for a different form of packaging will only increase and digital print can be a great part of this.’
The next EasyFairs packaging exhibition takes place in London from 4 to 5 October 2012. Packaging Innovations London takes place at the Business Design Centre in Islington.
