Gone are the days where packaging design is purely functional, used only to protect the contents of consumer package goods during shipment and storage. Brands are learning how powerful an effect packaging design can have on brand perception and sales
For the last few years, packaging industry professionals have been curious about the future of smart packaging. Whilst barcodes and quick-response (QR) codes were once considered the “next big thing” in packaging, the acceleration of technology is transforming smart packaging that needs to fit in with the modern-day consumer purchasing habits.
Smart packaging provides consumers with extra information, but also communicates with retailers and manufacturers, regulates temperature and oxygen/CO2 supply, protects against theft, and makes it possible to track a product’s journey during transit. However, this is only the beginning – ‘The Internet of Things’ (IOT) and Industry 4.0, otherwise known as the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, sees this digital transformation having so much more to offer the packaging sector.
This technology disruptor is changing and will continue to change the landscape of primary and secondary pack design and development, through substantial redistribution of marketing strategies toward the digital frontier, including budget allocations in the advertising and communication landscape to talk to the digital nomadic consumer of the future. This is particularly relevant in big brand premiumisation.
‘Driving this technology in packaging is a core area of expertise…The sheer volume of SKU’s or individual units sold per day through high volume brands, means that the potential one on one reach to consumers with tailored content and language of one brand image or label, will drastically change the landscape of advertising and packaging for the future. The smart packaging will be a logical step in the eventual digitisation of the retail market.”
