Keynote speaker Jon Goldstone
The adoption by brands of digital print was the focus point for discussion at the recent Digital Print for Brand Success conference in London.
Almost 100 delegates came to the IET Savoy Place on 12 October to learn about the opportunities in packaging and hear first-hand accounts from the expert speakers, which included brands, retailers, designers and printers.
Keynote speaker Jon Goldstone, global managing partner at the brandgym, described the market today, saying that the way back into profit for big FMCG brands that have lost market share, is to take their clues from smaller challenger brands. He also spoke about the big disruption taking place in retail and the way consumers shop, calling the situation ‘the perfect storm’. Mr Goldstone commented, ‘I thoroughly enjoyed presenting at the Digital Print for Brand Success Conference. It was an extremely knowledgeable and welcoming crowd, and I feel that I learned just as much as I was able to share.’
Real life examples of great campaigns that have used digital print to reach consumers in new and innovative ways were discussed by ThePackHub’s Paul Jenkins, who described the event as ‘a great opportunity to keep up to speed with the latest digital print for packaging thought-leadership.’
Richard Jones, executive creative director, Landor Associates, talked about packaging as an expression of the brand and how it creates an emotional bond as a best case scenario. He discussed the use of technology for smart packaging showing examples of successful implementations and some that have fared less well. He warned, ‘We must consider if we are making the brand experience better or whether we are just using technology because we can.’
An educational talk on food packaging and migration issues came from Joanna Griffiths, packaging technical manager at BRC Global Standards. She explained that it was the lack of guidance on migration that prompted The British Retail Consortium to develop its own publication. Her advice for good practice was to ‘get everyone in the room at the start of product development’ to avoid problems down the line.
The programme also included presentations from a number of leading printers and two lively panel debates that saw plenty of questions from the floor.
(L-R) Jason Gilmartin (ASDA), Guy Douglass (Parker WIlliams), Brian Stow (Mars UK), Paul Jenkins (ThePackHub) and John Nicholson (HAVI) discussed the real value of digital print for packaging.
A full report will be published in the next issue of Digital Labels & Packaging out early November.
