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The big issues up for discussion at London Packaging Week 2024
What does luxury look like? Can premium products be sustainable? How to tell the fads from the future? London Packaging Week has the answers.
To “think outside the box” is one of the most overused idioms in the packaging industry, but in 2024 it is an apt challenge for drinks brands. Packaging has several perennial concerns – design, materials, cost and so on – but it is increasingly adding new considerations to the list. Issues such as sustainability, experiential technologies and brand authenticity have emerged as determiners for packaging success.
London Packaging Week serves an invaluable guide to those challenges as it returns to the ExCel Centre on 11-12 September. The show will welcome more than 170 suppliers of a wide range of packaging materials.
The free-entry tickets allow the likes of Carlsberg, Diageo, Harrods and Tesco to network and meet packaging suppliers at the forefront of the industry. After all, design, materials and cost are easier to evaluate with a product in front of you.
However, the two-day programme is also designed to address the most pressing and particular questions facing the sector. The week’s four constituent events allow attendees to address their industry’s specific needs: PLD for premium drinks, Packaging Première for the luxury sector, PCD for cosmetics and Food & Consumer Pack for food and FMCG.
Between meeting suppliers, a full programme of talks and debates will present expert input on the sector’s emerging challenges and opportunities. With panel discussions, case studies and debates, the series will offer in-depth analysis at the leading edge of the industry.
So what are the biggest questions in drinks packaging? db explores the issues that are driving the conversation in contemporary packaging for drinks.
What does premium packaging look like in 2024?
The days when the definition of premium was a gift box and the colour gold are long gone. With technological advances and ever more exacting consumers, it pays to express brand identity through premium packaging.
The exhibitors themselves illustrate the variety of options available to drinks manufacturers. Glass bottles, understandably, are well represented, but they are highly varied. Alongside standard sizes are examples of bespoke designs that communicate brands through the bottle itself.
One talk in particular will illustrate the potential of bespoke bottles: the team behind Mermaid Gin’s redesign will explain their move from industry-standard packaging to one of the most recognisable bottles on the shelf.
However, there are many more materials in the spotlight. Laura Riches, founder of Laylo, will explore the potential for bag-in-box to win over even wine snobs, while the team at Eviosys will explain the potential of metal as an innovative material. There will also be exhibitors with bespoke uses of premium materials: rich grained woods, sculptural ceramic vessels and innovative papers that can create 3D effects.
Is sustainability worth the effort?
Sustainability has, for a while now, dominated conversations around packaging. Across all industries, consumers pay more attention than ever to the recyclability and circularity of packaging materials. In the drinks trade specifically, the environmental impact of producing and transporting containers is under the microscope.
There will be plenty of companies showcasing their sustainable materials at the fair. That includes, for instance, fully recyclable glass, plastic and cardboard, as well as new products containing a high percentage of recycled materials. The selection spans a variety of approaches. Sustainably sourced wood, an ancient model of circularity, will be presented alongside cutting-edge plastic alternatives made from plant fibres.
However, the show is presenting both the benefits and challenges of a sustainable transition. Several of the panel events will examine it within the context of managing a competitive business.
A wide-ranging panel discussion will explore the rewards of sustainable certification with a nod to its challenges, while a case study from GUNNA Drinks will show how one brand moved away from plastic.
There will be no need, however, to shy away from the big questions. Often, it can seem that premiumisation and sustainability are at odds, and so a panel discussion has taken the thorny question as its title: Is it possible to achieve a premium feel with a high recyclability factor?
Futures or fads: which innovations will drive the sector forward?
Constant technological advancements ever-changing consumer expectations mean packaging is a sector that thrives on innovation. Yet for every great leap forward there is a flash in the pan. London Packaging Week 2024 is therefore offering in-depth assessments of cutting-edge trends and exploring how companies can best utilise them.
Some of those trends are new possibilities that have been discovered through new technologies. For instance, Diageo’s talk on connected packaging will explore how augmented reality can transform customer engagement, as well as discussing the practical implications of its wider rollout. Another session from DCA Design International will examine multi-sensory packaging. Technological advancements are enabling increasingly intricate packaging: the session will ask whether brands should adopt multi-sensory design as the norm.
Other innovations are less reliant on technology, but are responding to contemporary consumer expectations. A session by The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. on immersive storytelling will highlight the importance of connecting with a consumer. Meanwhile a panel on inclusivity will discuss how to foster an environment that welcomes diversity and how that environment can drive innovation.
Beyond the theoretical, London Packaging Week will show innovation in action with the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards. The final 50 contenders will be on display, offering inspiration and examples of packaging in practice to the fair’s visitors.
There will also be a panel in which the jury will discuss entrants, offering valuable insights to companies looking to innovate their packaging. The awards ceremony, as the final event of the fair, will offer a fitting close to a week driven by big questions and the innovative responses being found for them.
London Packaging Week 2024 runs 11-12 September at ExCeL. Sign up for your free pass here.
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