FDBusiness.com

Packaging Innovations London closed its doors Wednesday 2 October at 4pm, reporting record visitor and exhibitor numbers for the fourth year running, a trend that has continued since its launch in 2010. The show attracted world-class speakers, international exhibitors from all corners of the globe and 3,560 visitors, smashing last year’s record attendance with an increase of 18%.

With visiting companies including the likes of Waitrose, Fabergé, Diageo, Disney, Coca-Cola, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Glaxo Smith Kline, Estée Lauder, Harrods, Ted Baker, Mars, Unilever and Space NK, exhibitors were delighted with the buzz and serious purchasers at the show, 75% of them already having rebooked their stand for 2014. Particularly successful was the expanded Luxury Packaging show, with inspiring prestige packaging on display; many of the exhibitors have already doubled their stand space, with the floorplan expanding for the next year.

Growing each year both in size, but more importantly in importance within the industry, Packaging Innovations London and its co-located shows has filled a vital need 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.

Eugen L. Ritter, Marketing Manager at Noris Food & Packaging visiting the show, enthused: “This is the first time we have attended the show. 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.”

The show focused on four key areas – Packaging Innovations, Luxury Packaging, Brand & Design Village, and Contract Pack. 80% of the 170 exhibitors used the event to launch or show new products and services. J&J Pont Packaging launched Pont Pack a slimline packaging solution. Mirri and Smurfit Kappa teamed up, and launched a premium board – MirriNor, demonstrating the stunning metallic effects that can be achieve through packaging.

Colin Griffiths, President at Golden Valley Pallet Wrap Specialists, exhibiting at the show, said: “The show has a strong luxury focus which attracts the blue chip companies. On day one of the show we already had 75 high quality leads, so we’ll certainly be back next year.”

Also exhibiting at the show was Rudy Martinez, Head of Concept Design at ASG Spark!, who remarked: “It’s been so successful I don’t have any business cards left. It has been a great show; we showcased three of our innovations and have received not only quality leads, but also quantity.”

The sell-out show, which took place 1 & 2 October 2013, featured a packed learnShops programme, with speakers from Neal’s Yard Remedies, Miracle-Gro, Marks & Spencer, Kimberly Clark, Bombay Sapphire and many other leading and interesting brands.

Appropriately the topic on the first day was ‘Great consumer experiences build brands’. Nick Dormon, Managing Director & Founder at 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.”

Jon White, ex 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 sells a massive 29 rolls per second, enough to wrap round the world twice each day! White remarked: “Despite still strong figures the brand was stalling. One look at the packaging told me we had work to do. Day-in-day-out our biggest shop window is the aisle – but the packaging wasn’t working in it; it looked like we had run out of ideas, I knew we had to invest in it.”

The year-long packaging redesign process included drawing on 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.

“Our packaging ended up so important that it ‘heroed’ in our TV advertising,” concluded White.

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’.

Chairing the debate was 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.” 

The show also featured its first ever Beauty Symposium, which was immensely well received and run in association with The Red Tree Consultancy. Stirling Murray, CEO & Founder of The Red Tree, remarked: “With its strong emphasis on design and luxury, the show provided the perfect place to host our second Beauty Symposium. Having speakers such as Helen Miller, former Commercial Director for Beauty at Boots UK, and Judy Deuchar, ex VP of merchandising and planning at QVC UK, meant we could give delegates some real packaging and retail insights for driving their beauty businesses forward.  They could then go out into the show, talk to suppliers and who could help them apply that learning. 

 “If you are running or launching a beauty brand I wouldn’t miss this show – it has insight and innovation all under one roof.”

Alison Church, Event Director at Packaging Innovations, commented: “We couldn’t be more delighted; every area of the show was heaving throughout both days, 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 will be return to the Business Design Centre, on 30 September and 1 October 2014.

The next Packaging Innovations event will take place at the NEC, Birmingham, on 26 and 27 February 2014.

Companies interested in exhibiting at either show can find out more about booking a stand by calling the Packaging Innovations sales team on +44 (0)20 8843 8800 or emailing PackagingUK@easyFairs.com.

Further information on visiting the Birmingham event can be found at www.easyFairs.com/PIUK; the London website has all show details at www.easyFairs.com/PI-London.