News

SPECIAL REPORT: Packaging Innovations preview

Packaging Innovations and Luxury Packaging London 2016, the capital’s
only packaging show and the UK’s only event for branded, inspirational and luxury products and ideas, returns to London’s Olympia, on September 14 and 15.

New concepts

Over 170 international suppliers have signed up, many of whom will be using the show to introduce their new products, services and solutions to the UK market. For instance, API will debut its new brand enhancement creative service and holographic foils.

Swedbrand will be presenting its next generation technology of bag-in-box wine, called Topflow. This new-patented technology enables the wine to be poured from the top of the bag.

According to Rawlings – Black is the New Amber – with its new type of glass bottle, Black Glass. Its high gloss finish not only increases shelf presence, but its UV light protection acts as a taste protector, extending the life of the bottle’s contents.

Drinks Symposium

The Drinks Symposium, hosted by Felicity Murray editor of TheDrinksReport.com and happening on day two of the show, will see three leading drinks brand experts take to the stage in order to share their knowledge and first-hand experience on how packaging can help to win the hearts and minds of the consumer.

Kicking things off will be Catherine Monahan, founder and CEO of Daemon & Genius, who will be presenting ‘Bricks vs. Clicks': Brand Experience > Brand Exposure’. Monahan who has worked for two of the UK's largest supermarkets, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, as well as one of the largest global distributors, Constellation Brands, will be talking about how brands that provide consumers with deep experiences of their product, and manage to generate an emotional experience of ownership, win at the point of purchase.

Monahan comments: “I've been in the retail and wine industry since 2000, and there are still a few things that continue to fascinate me. There is a fear to innovate on shelf within grocery, because of financial targets set for year on year performance and the risk associated with replacing known products/trusted brands with new/innovative products. This leaves innovation in the hands of the big boys and whilst yes, they do provide that to a degree, it often removes the entrepreneurship type of innovation coming in from start-ups, new brand builders and so on.

“There are tens of thousands of wineries in the world, all desperate to sell their wines, but unless they understand how to tell a great and unique story, with meaning, with cause-based marketing for the Millennials, with innovation of product giving consumers a reason to buy and to repeat purchase, then the future will not be easy for them. Many of them also don't realise that you can innovate through comms, social media, word of mouth, content marketing and creative packaging perspective, without breaking the bank. The quote ‘If it ain't broke, don’t fix it’, just doesn't cut anymore.”

Next up will be Steven Sturgeon, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and recipient of the International Wine & Spirits Competition's 'outstanding achievement to industry' award. Steven will be looking at ‘Packaging’s Role through the Lens of the Operations Director and CFO’. He will examine why their perspective is often at odds with the brand team, and explore ways to overcome these tensions, with tips on how to review concept designs to ensure the best chance of success.

The session will consider some of the sources of inspiration for the packaging: heritage, provenance, characters, myths, stories and product cues, and how these can be used to inform an inspiring design brief. The presentation will end with a number of ‘top tips’ and some ‘so what’s?’

Show features

New for 2016, The Dieline Conference, the first ever to appear outside the US, will deliver a series of sessions from both leading and emerging brands, as well as packaging suppliers and design agencies, to discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise when designing a brand.

The Starpack Awards, now in its 58th year, will be hosted for the first time at the event, plus The Beauty Forum, The Great Innovation Debate, and The Innovation Wall will all return. The show will also feature a free-to-attend seminar programme spanning the entire packaging market, delivered by an array of leading experts, including Coca-Cola, Harrods and Britvic.