Page 12 - Packaging News Magazine May-June 2019

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT
www.packagingnews.com.au May-June 2019
PACKAGING NEEDS TO GET SMART
Active and intelligent packaging is a veritable Swiss army knife for packagers seeking to add value to their products, delegates heard at the conference.
According to Andrew Manly, communications director at the Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA), it is important for packaging manufacturers to understand the use they can get from smart packaging.
“At AIPIA, we’ve been spending the past five or six years explaining the technology; now we have to tell people what it can do for them,” he said.
Key drivers for active and intelligent packaging include consumer engagement; food security and safety; condition monitoring; reducing waste and extending supply chains; anti-counterfeiting and tampering; new legislation; compliance; smartphone use; new materials and technol- ogy; and cost reduction and scalability.
Manly touched on each of these drivers during the course of his presentation, highlighting a variety of examples and case studies as to how active and intelli- gent packaging is being used, including augmented and virtual reality marketing
campaigns; smart water bottle caps that tell consumers when to drink for most effective hydration; and secure labelling for pharmaceuticals, for which he stressed the need to keep ahead of legislation.
“It’s better for the industry to lead the charge than to let the legislators lead the charge. Better to look at it ourselves and come up with solutions now than be told by the legislators later on,” he said.
Blockchain technology was one solution he proposed for product security and trace- ability, highlighting a flavoured water brand using it to give customers more information.
“Retailers are latching onto the fact that the customers want provenance. This tech- nology can take you all the way back to the stream where the water was produced, if you want,” he said. “In five to ten years everyone in the retail sector will be using it to secure their supply chains.”
Three key takeaways:
• Packagers need to understand how to use active and intelligent packaging to add value to their products for clients.
• Industry needs to stay ahead of legisla- tion for product security and traceability. • Blockchain can help with secure and
transparent products.
DISCOVERING AN AR TREASURY TROVE
Treasury Wine Estates has used augment- ed-reality technology to deliver new and exciting experiences to customers, thus boosting its own brands.
Ben Culligan, marketing director ANZ at Treasury Wine Estates, took guests through the winemaker’s AR marketing strategy. According to Culligan, with more than 24,000 wine brands worldwide and 10 in the average customer’s repertoire, consum- ers of “new world” wines especially are constantly after something new.
“Wine as a category is about discovering. People want to try something new and dif- ferent – if you’re turning up to someone’s house you don’t want to bring the same bottle every time. That poses challenges for brand owners,” he said.
To solve this problem, Treasury “stopped thinking like a wine company and started thinking like a tech company”, using new technologies to attract customers, Culligan said.
Treasury’s 19 Crimes brand used AR ex- periences delivered through its Living Wine Labels app to make the wine labels “come to life” and tell the stories of the convicts featured on each one.
“You take your mobile phone, and you scan the label in-store or at home to unlock a brand experience compelling enough to share with friends,” he said.
The campaign was a smash hit, with a 400 per cent ROI on 19 Crimes, and Treasury expanded it across a range of other brands in its portfolio.
“This is only the start – we now need to work out what comes next, constantly thinking how consumer interactions with technology can help drive our brands,” said Culligan.
Three key takeaways:
• AR technology can deliver a unique brand experience to engage customers.
• Consumers will be eager to share these
experiences with their friends, thus
driving further purchases.
• In the future, AR solutions should be
cloud-based rather than app-based, mak- ing them more universally accessible.
2019 OFF TO A ROCKY ECONOMIC START
The first half of 2019 is going to be tough for the Australian economy – but it’s not all bad news, according to one expert.
Economic guru Stephen Koukoulas took guests through the state of the economy and what lies ahead. According to Koukoulas, Australia is strongly linked to economic trends around the world.
“What happens in the global economy is absolutely vital to us. When the world economy has a hard landing, we get caught in the backwash of that,” he said. “The world economy is going to be OK. It’s not