EskoWorld 2018 Examines Connected Packaging and Trends, Proposes Strategic Transition

SAN ANTONIO, TX—Consumer behavior is changing! Udo Panenka, Esko’s president, made the claim and outlined the impact on day one of EskoWorld 2018.

“Action is required on the part of brand owners, premedia houses and packaging suppliers. Fundamental and elementary moves, once implemented, will allow practitioners to seize today’s unique opportunities.” In sharing the assessment with more than 500 people in attendance at this year’s EskoWorld in San Antonio, TX, active engagement translated to their intent to learn more.

• Statistics reported by Panenka and his team of executives speak to the challenge:
• Packaging in sales volume is growing 1 percent to 2 percent annually
• Actual number of jobs produced is up 15 percent to 20 percent
• In 2017, Nielsen reported 60,000 new SKUs entered the market; 55 percent survived 26 weeks or less
• Sixty-two percent of packaging is refreshed every year
• Label changes/updates require an average of 198 days to enact
• It takes one to two weeks to get materials to the press for a one-hour pressrun
• Customers pay when you are producing—that’s 25 percent to 40 percent of the time

Price, availability and convenience are combing to drive consumption, according to the Esko president: “People are choosing brands based on well-being and security. They embrace a digital lifestyle. They buy online. Obviously, the way we interact with packaging is changing.” Returning to statistics, he noted, “Seventy-nine percent of people polled expect online and in-store packaging to match and 49 percent expect the online image to match what they get.” In his view, “Packaging can be the enabler to meeting expectations.”

Casting present-day practices as requiring modification, Panenka said, “Converters and premedia providers face short runs and shorter lead times. They struggle with incomplete information, long approval cycles and inefficient manual processes; plus their home grown management information systems don’t talk to each other. The complexity of running mixed processes—digital and conventional—is straining resources. Poor uptime of expensive hardware is proliferating throughout the market. This is a capital-intense business.”

Panenka decreed, “Innovation is still the answer! Consumers are looking for a great, engaging experience. They want more and better information and full consistency of product image—on and offline.” He admitted that small, start-up CPCs are “born digital” in 2018 and added, “Large CPCs, on the other hand, struggle to adapt.”

Panenka proceeded to set the challenge for brand leaders, saying they need to:

• Create compelling omnichannel campaigns
• Establish full consistency between two worlds—packaging and e-commerce
• Respond faster to changes in taste
• Capitalize on trends
• Decrease lead time within the value chain

Thereafter, he put the charge to premedia and print providers:

• Digitize more tasks
• Work in 3D
• Visualize the store
• Embrace asset portability
• Build closer connections with the consumer
• Remove distance between consumer, retail and brand
• Connect brand owners with premedia and converters
• Connect packaging with e-commerce
• Control content—shape, artwork, color
• Connect the technology ecosystem—software and hardware
• Become a driver of change
• Empower packaging as the central focal point of change

Functionality First

Esko’s team of brand management executives echoed Panenka’s call to connect, communicate and collaborate. Representing the complete product line—encompassing ArtiosCAD, ArtPro, Automation Engine, Cape Pack, Curve Pilot, DeskPack, Digital Flexo Suite, Flex Proof, i-cut, Media Bistro, PackProof, SmartMarks, Store Visualizer, Studio and Web Center—they stressed new functionality.

The mission, as expressed: “Connect and work smart—deploy digital intelligence. Manage change without incurring additional cost, increasing delivery days or impacting quality.” Specific strategies they suggested embracing included, “Generate print-ready assets faster and cheaper. Improve key performance indicators (KPIs) at every opportunity. Automate and abandon repetitive tasks. Simplify processes. Push out multiple variations quickly. Engage in consumer insight testing inside virtual reality. Standardize delivery. Stress ‘first-time right.’”

Learn by Example

Staging a fictitious product line extension involving two new flavors of sports drink, Esko executives were joined by a CPC, as well as a printer, to present a vision of the not-too-distant future.

John Morrow, former Colgate-Palmolive executive, stated, “Disrupters create winners and losers.” He cited Amazon and Alibaba as examples, then explained, “Walmart and Target are successfully merging brick and mortar with e-commerce.” Hinting at future developments, Morrow indicated, “Voice-operated commerce—‘Alexa and all her friends’—will be a bigger disrupter than e-commerce.”

He recommended that packaging development teams “Get out in front of the situation—not a new strategy, but more important than ever. Packaging must deliver intrinsic value, protect contents and communicate relevant information. Our mantra— ‘Make it Memorable!’”

Panelists assigned to different steps in the process, largely Esko brand managers, stressed key components to success—conceive, specify, design, approve, produce. They insisted packaging professionals work to “Connect the production shop floor to brand owner dash boards.”

Later in the proceedings, Jack Frank from WestRock’s Multi Packaging Solutions Group, agreed: “Lead time pressure is a real top business pain point.” He also observed, “Color accuracy is very important from the start throughout the process. There is no compromising shelf appeal, brand message or quality. We must drive continued growth, minimize customer risk and connect the supply chain dots—shop floor to front door, design to delivery.”

How? Subscribe to “data-driven production.” Its benefits, according to Frank, are, “Greater simplicity, higher efficiency and tighter controls.”