Packaging '10-20' The next decade

What would be the challenges in the next decade for packaging and what is the likely course things are going to take. We have heard a lot on the environmental concerns and the impact it can potentially have on the world and each one of us.

One can see two key areas where the focus will need to be directed , one being the action and infact serious action to arrive at solutions on the environmental issues and secondly joining hands globally in a pioneering research. Can we find common grounds for research, wherein there is a lot more sharing and a lot more effort towards a common goal. If a substitute for a particular material is to be found, rather than having pockets of research, can we work together, as we all agree it is for the common goal, the planet Earth and for the humanity ultimately.

Today there is very little effort towards sharing and opening up, as there are competitive pressures and rightly so. We need to work out areas wherein we arrive at understandings wherein the outcome is shared for all those who could contribute. Sounds difficult and a pipe dream for competitors to do research and share for the common good, but think if we were not to do it now , when would we do, are we not losing time hand over fist !

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Packaging in the coming decade is to drop the boundaries, build bridges, join resources and work at common goals. Can we dedicate the coming decade to cross country, cross company, cross products and cross Brands Packaging development.

The first step will obviously have to be, to firm up the areas that need to be worked upon, then the necessary prioritization and off-course the serious commitment.

The question that we need to answer is that can we fight the issues around packaging and its disastrous impact independently, or should we fight independently. If the concerns are global and the implications universal, then the effort has also got to be united and the commitment singular. Think ! is it so difficult and impossible.

My design or yours !

When a Packaging design is successful, there are several who would like to claim it as theirs, there is always a debate, is it mine or is it yours ! While somewhere it is not very significant as to who actually owns the design but when it goes out into the market and to the consumers, the ownership issues become more and more significant. Many marketing wars are fought on the grounds of the trade-dress not being unique and hence it is imperative that the ownership is established .

The process of Copyrighting is a fairly simple exercise and one must go through this for all ones Packaging designs and artworks. In order to establish ownership and complete rights one needs to get the design assigned from the artist to the Brand owner and ensure that the Brand does not face any ownership battles at anytime in its life history.

The issue comes in when there are many who would like to claim it as theirs and want a stake in the success story. Here as well, the Packaging developers need to ensure that proper agreements are put into place so that if there are many agencies/ designers/ Brand consultants working on you Pack design, the contract ensures that the rights at any given time belongs to the Brand owners.

The other aspect of design ownership is the aspect of motivation , acknowledgement and a salute to those who have created the concept and the execution. The developers who have put in the passion and the sweat would feel cheated if the acknowledgements do not go to the rightful owners. Would they like to put in the same passion and energy next time when they work on your Brand, would they feel for the project the same way and add spirit to it. We need to remember that very often the achievement lies for many not in the remuneration but the public acknowledgement , not in the Promotions up the ladder but in the respect shown for the work.

The question is how to establish , who owns the design, as many would have worked on the design. Apparently the legal definition is the person who has finally put together the complete artwork, irrespective of where the inputs are coming from. While this seems to be most logical way to establish an ownership, but one wants to clearly disagree with this. Which is more important the Concept or its execution, thus who should be the design owner the Concept provider or the actual creator. Think ! do we have the answers, this question has worried many for time immemorial.

Down to the Bones

Every year the same target gets flashed around ' How do you cut the costs ' and ' Who can show maximum savings '. The challenge of cost savings is a like a double edged sword, as all the cost savings come with the additional rider of no loss in perceived value for the consumer.

Very often the Packaging team runs into a dead-end as their costs are down to the bones and any reduction perhaps may start impacting the overall feel.

In such a scenario one has to follow a two pronged strategy, firstly , examine an approach where there is a deliberate change in the visual feel for the consumer through a cheaper input material, in effect a some kind of design change which reduces costs and adds a fresh new feel for the Packaging. The second approach is the more daring one......accept the perceived value loss. Here one can work out the stages, the change which impacts the least on the perceived value loss perhaps could be examined the first for the implementation.

The fact remains that the consumers buy the Brand first and foremost for the product and some downgradation on the packaging which does not impact the product quality when bought, in use, or the shelf life, is unlikely to impact the consumer behaviour.

However the best strategy that one could follow is that to keep a look out for the developments which are likely to give a cost reduction and keep examining if these developments provide any synergy for your Brands. The best sources are offcourse the current vendors or their competitors. Some companies have this annual event wherein they invite all vendors for a display of their developments and innovations. This affair ensures a very open discussion around developments and the possibilities that they offer.

The problem is indeed a complicated one , if your costs are already down to the bone and hence a lot of creative problem solving needs to be looked into to arrive at possible solutions.

Read more Books !

It is amazing how over the years the value additions that have been happening on the Book covers have simply taken over several product categories. The Book covers have always been graphically trying to give a snap shot of what is the overall essence and the writers thought. However more recently the Vibrancy, the Embossing, Foil stamping and the UV ink treatments have been reaching mind boggling proportions.

Just like any consumer product the Book cover has to virtually scream from the Shelf, 'Pick me up' and for that the producers are trying out all the possibilities.

The improvements in the grades of paper and the availability of lot many options have opened up the opportunities even further in terms of the overall look and feel of the Graphics and the visual appeal.

So very clearly if one were to read more books, one would be getting a lot more ideas that could be borrowed onto packaging.

The one issue that clearly comes in our way is the cost, while a book with a high unit price could take on a lot of costs, a packaging may be constrained by the budgets and linked to the overall cost of the complete product. So keep reading........

Ultraviolet Inks - has the future arrived

The coming in of the Ultraviolet inks and the possibilities it has opened for printing is simply amazing and in fact never ending. Just when you thought that you have understood the new system, a further new development comes up. Be it raised/ embossed effect inks, glitter inks, tectile effect inks, there is an answer to every kind of creative expression.

With the new generation machines in Offset, Gravure and Flexo having inline UV decks, it has made things even simpler for getting inline printing and thus faster solution. Consequently costs have seen a downtrend and the technology getting much more amenable for a lot more Brands.

What started as more of a Chinese phenomenon has now taken over the world and like how. The glossy packaging that one would see in China and wonder how it was being done slowly and gradually has evolved to dizzying heights.

While the UV inks and the printing processes evolved and started becoming available more easily, the post press operations needed to be worked upon. The answers were sought to the Odour problems and the food grade ability of such inks and one has come a long way. However there are still questions remaining unanswered, how do we avoid finger marks on the glossy surface, how do we do over-wrapping without having misty formation in-between layers etc.

As is obvious, the results of the UV differ from printing process to process and one has to make a conscious choice based upon the cost, required output, volumes etc. The process of Silk Screen which has developed to a very large extent in China ,offers dramatic results and huge possibilities for the creative exploration.

Given the almost forever developing technology one wonders if the future has arrived and what more is waiting to be explored.

Put a full stop to Counterfeit

How much one may want to, but putting a total stop to Counterfeiting perhaps is becoming increasingly impossible. There are numerous ways to curtail this perennial problem and Packaging can play a remarkable role in this problem. Today there is a possibility to build in Visible ( Overt ) and Not so visible ( Covert ) features in the packaging which can control this problem to quite an extent. The visible features are built in through inks, surface treatments, holograms etc. The not so visible features are built in through the use of specialized substrates, usage of infrared light to enhance certain elements, watermarks, microembossing, intaglio printing etc.

The issue lies in what features to use and what to avoid. One theory is that an anti- Counterfeit feature is relevant, only if it is visible to the consumer, in the sense that the absence or the presence of a certain feature should help the consumer assess the authenticity of a Brand/ product. In this case one may perhaps have to communicate in some manner to the consumer about such a feature.

The counterfeit features which the consumers cannot see, perhaps are more for the Brand owners to judge as to which product is authentic. Thus technically a counterfeiter can go on copying and selling as there is no way the consumers are likely to know the original or the copied.

There are features with various levels of difficulty in copying, but may also have cost associations, a feature extremely difficult to copy may also be extremely costly to implement.

Packaging has been on the forefront in this area and a significant amount of development has been done and is being done currently. The key value addition that packaging developers could do is to build in these features in the development process itself.

The fact remains, that the counterfeiters do catch up slowly and gradually, thus for the packaging developers this is a moving target and a continuous challenge.

Absolute Transparency

Glass as a material for Packaging has been and would continue to retain its popularity and significance. There is something in that absolute transparency that makes it suitable for certain product categories and the consumers just swear by it.

There are some key advantages that Glass as a material has to offer. Complete transparency and the ability to see the product, the controlled sparkle and the delicate feel, are some of the Consumer related advantages. The others being, the ability to recycle numerous times, the ability to give innumerable creative shapes, colours, textures and embossing effects and above all a very high level of product shelf life.

One can say that Glass is perhaps one of the finest materials that one could use for packaging and for some categories like fragrances and wines it is almost indispensable.

There is perhaps one quality that Glass offers which is related to the consumer behaviour directly. Consumers want to see what they pay for, it gives them a sense of satisfaction that they are inputting their money into the right product. Whether the product has a colour or is colourless seeing it is very satisfying. It is this particular consumer emotional benefit that glass provides which perhaps makes it so popular.

For packaging developers glass offers the opportunity to get a shape which is in sink with the Brand personality and thus for the creative experts it offers a lot of possibilities.

Besides the obvious disadvantage of breakage, glass is heavy and needs expensive investments in moulding etc. Sourcing glass is easy and the technology today is significantly advanced , primarily supplied as sheets in various thickness / caliper grades.

A lot of brands have tried to use alternative materials to glass but more often than not has limited applications. A suitably option which has sustainable propositions e.g recyclable and biodegradability are yet to be discovered.

And off course above all is the absolute transparency!