Packed out with success

29 October 2013



This year’s Packaging Innovations London show closed on 2 October with record-breaking exhibitor and visitor numbers for the fourth year running.


Packaging Innovations London 2013 attracted international exhibitors from all corners of the globe and 3,560 visitors - an increase of 18% on last year's record attendance. According to organiser easyFairs, exhibitors were delighted with the show and 75% of them have already rebooked stands for 2014. The expanded Luxury Packaging show was particularly successful; with the floorplan expanding for the next year, many of the exhibitors have already doubled their stand space.

Growing each year both in size and in importance within the industry, Packaging Innovations London and its co-located shows offers a forum for packaging, marketing, branding and design professionals to find innovations "to inspire them and make their packaging stand out and delight customers whilst continuing to perform on a functional level". Among the companies visiting this year's event were Waitrose, Fabergé, Diageo, Disney, Coca-Cola, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Glaxo Smith Kline, Estée Lauder, Harrods, Ted Baker, Mars, Unilever and Space NK.

First-time visitor Eugen L Ritter, marketing manager at Noris Food & Packaging, enthused: "I came in from Germany and it has certainly been worth the visit. Every stand had at least one eye-catcher. The combination of new and old technology being demonstrated was amazing. This is the show of special products, and we don't have such a show in Germany."

Among the exhibitors, Colin Griffiths, president at Golden Valley Pallet Wrap Specialists, said: "The show has a strong luxury focus which attracts the blue chip companies. On day one we already had 75 high quality leads, so we'll certainly be back next year."

Also exhibiting at the sell-out event was Rudy Martinez, head of concept design at ASG Spark!, who remarked: "It has been a great show; we showcased three of our innovations and have received not only quality leads, but also quantity."

The London event, held at the Business Design Centre, Islington, on 1-2 October 2013, focused on four key areas - Packaging Innovations, Luxury Packaging, the Brand & Design Village, and Contract Pack. Eighty per cent of the 170 exhibitors used the event to launch or show new products and services. Two examples were J&J Pont Packaging's launch of Pont Pack, a slimline packaging solution, and Mirri and Smurfit Kappa jointly launched MirriNor, a premium board demonstrating the "stunning metallic effects" that can be achieved through packaging.

The show also featured a packed learnShops programme, with speakers from Neal's Yard Remedies, Miracle-Gro, Marks & Spencer, Kimberly Clark, Bombay Sapphire and many other leading brands. Appropriately, the topic on the first day was 'Great consumer experiences build brands'. Nick Dormon, managing director and founder of Echo Brand Design, discussed the critical role of packaging and product design. He remarked: "The digital age has brought convenience, but consumers also want a relationship and intimacy with the brands they buy. Packaging plays a crucial role in that process."

There was also plenty of show floor 'theatre' in the form of The BIG Packaging Debate, where a panel of packaging professionals, including Innocent Drinks, Marks & Spencer, Design Activity and the Faraday Centre for Retail Excellence, discussed the topic 'Online sales will kill packaging design'.

The debate was chaired by Kevin Vyse from the Institute of Packaging Professionals UK, who concluded: "People are better digitally connected than ever before. Online sales are nothing new, and it's clear from this debate that the move online won't kill design, but until someone steps up and says this is how it should be done, this debate will continue."

Out of the Lions' Lair
SIG Combibloc
was crowned Packaging King after winning the Lions' Lair competition at this year's Packaging Innovations show. The company was one of four brave exhibitors that pitched their most pioneering products to a panel of packaging experts - the 'Lions'. SIG Combibloc was the second competitor to enter the Lair, pitching its new Combidome - "the first ever bottle made of cardboard".

The innovative Combidome was judged to combine the best features of a carton pack with the best features of a bottle - guaranteeing exceptional differentiation for any beverage. Thanks to its shape, stability and smooth pouring action, it seemed easy to handle, like a bottle, while at the same time offering all the proven and unrivalled benefits of a carton in terms of product protection, environmental and economic considerations.

The other three Lions Lair competitors were were DAPY Paris with its Pulsar display box for Dom Pérignon; Design Activity pitching Launch Pad, a new service providing branding and packaging design expertise within an accessible pricing structure; and EasyPack'sSpiral Pro patented technology to deliver high volumes of void-fill paper packaging in seconds.

Alison Church, event director at Packaging Innovations, summed up the success of the London event: "We couldn't be more delighted; and the feedback from visitors and exhibitors has been incredible. It is great to be a part of such a vibrant show and, of course, industry. The response to the show, and in particular the Luxury Packaging element, has been phenomenal, making it very much the place where all those involved in branding, design, product marketing and inspirational packaging meet each year; which has resulted in very happy exhibitors, with 75% rebooking onsite for the 2014 show. We'll be back next year, with plans to expand the floor plan, show features, and speaker line-up."

Packaging Innovations London, incorporating Luxury Packaging, will return on 30 September-1 October 2014, again at the Business Design Centre, Islington. The 2014 Packaging Innovations event will take place on 26- 27 February 2014 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, incorporating: Packaging Innovations, Ecopack, Contract Pack, Packtech, Print Innovations, Labelling Innovations and Converting Innovations. Other Packaging Innovations will also be staged in Hamburg (22-23 January 2014), and Warsaw (9-10 April 2014.

How packaging redesign rejuvenated Andrex
During the learnShops programme, Jon White, former European marketing director at Kimberly Clark, and Dan Monteith, group client service director at Elmwood, outlined the role packaging played in rejuvenating the iconic Andrex brand - the UK's number one non-food FMCG brand.

The year-long packaging redesign process included drawing on the latest sentic thinking from Bradford University to ensure the packaging "pushed the right consumer buttons. The resulting redesign - which involved using curves to denote softness and angles to reinforce the product's strength, plus making the famous Andrex puppy work much harder on the pack - helped deliver an 11.5% volume growth, plus a 32% improvement in brand bonding and a slew of brand extensions.

Scannable pack offers more info
One of the many innovations from exhibitors at the event was Italian printer StampaSud's new SmartLab StampaTech service that gives users access to further information about a product by scanning its packaging with a smartphone or tablet. To use the service, consumers need to download an accompanying mobile application that supports the technology being used. They can scan most parts of the packaging to be redirected to a platform that houses the information, ranging from marketing materials to product origins and freshness indications.

Antony Calo, commercial director at StampaSud, explained: "A consumer sees nothing on the packaging, and the information available to them could be anything; it's unlimited and determined by the company issuing the product. The process is very simple and uses a technology that can be accessed by anybody. It supports both iOS and Android and is very straightforward; we can't disclose too much information regarding the technology used, but it's a mix of digital and special print technologies."

GPS tracking also enables the company's database to monitor a product from when it is dispatched until it is received by the end-user - and allows manufacturers to find out information such as where in the world a consumer is scanning a product, and when and how many people have scanned it.

StampaTech is free to branders, agencies and manufacturers until the end of 2013.





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