In This Issue

Survey: Increasing complexity will require efficient creative collaboration The packaging supply chain is increasing in complexity at a time when outsourcing of creative services is accelerating.

Package Gallery

Brewer toasts high-quality images on cans

By Jim George

Images that seem to jump off packages are a strong ally for marketers who want to show the quality of their product. When marketers understand the nuances of printing, they can achieve stunning visuals that make a package irresistible for consumers.

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One new printing technique that generates these high-definition images on beverage cans is high-quality printing, and redesigned cans for Brasseries Kronenbourg French brewery's Kronenbourg beer demonstrate how the technology works.

The brand's 11-oz and 16.9-oz cans feature a high-definition golden Kronenbourg logo with vivid images and defined shapes set against a red or purple background. The printing seemingly brings images of water droplets to life around the logo.

"Our strategy is focused on putting quality and know-how back in the heart of our brand proposition," explains Raphaël Prévot, Kronenbourg Brand Group Manager. "Therefore, it was mandatory for us to use our primary packs to communicate this at the retail shelf."

Kronenbourg's stunning images are achieved using high-quality printing technology from Crown Bevcan Europe and Middle East, a unit of Crown Holdings. The company's printing technology uses proprietary separation techniques and special, high-resolution printing plates to improve dot-spacing. This capability significantly improves the printing sharpness on fine-detail images such as faces, fruit, and fine text on beverage cans.

"Beverage cans are a well-liked packaging format among the French people. Therefore, we used the can to emphasize the improved design," Prévot says.

Survey: Increasing complexity will require efficient creative collaboration

The packaging supply chain is increasing in complexity at a time when outsourcing of creative services is accelerating. For brand owners that want to win in this environment, effective collaboration across functions and with external team members will be essential.

Those are the chief conclusions of a new survey in Europe about packaging design trends conducted among brand owners in early 2009 by EskoArtwork, Adobe, and the International Packaging Institute (IPI) Respondents were from across Europe, and 62% of them work in companies with 500 or more employees globally.

The majority of responding brand owners said they are outsourcing graphic and structural package design, prepress, and reproduction work. They added that they expect to outsource these functions to the same extent or more during the next few years. Forty percent of respondents reported they don't operate an internal design department.

"As the packaging supply chain grows increasingly complex and as global competition and regulatory oversight continue to grow, the ability for brand owners to efficiently collaborate with outsourced partners will gain in importance," said Dr. Ingo Büren, Director of Science and Technology and Academic Director at IPI, Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland. "Yet over half of respondents have never been involved in online design collaboration. This is one area in which we expect to see significant change in the near term. About a third of respondents believe online collaboration will become a widely used industry standard."

Other key findings in the survey are that:

• 54% of respondents reported their private-label business accounted for up to 25% of revenues.
• Respondents strongly believed that packaging's ability to make a product stand out on the shelf is paramount. Equally strongly held is a belief that packaging will increase in importance in its role in the marketing mix.
• 12% "definitely" and 44% "probably" expect a significant increase in the use of digital prototyping.
• Only 15% said that providing sustainable packaging solutions was critical to or already addressed in their businesses today. Key drivers for sustainable packaging identified by respondents included consumers (70%), regulations and legislation (64%), and retail requirements (57%). Some 84% thought that "environmental and sociological constraints" would require "significant change" (63%) or "new ways required" (21%).
• 50% thought that package design would adapt to opportunities on the Internet as online shopping becomes more prevalent.
• 71% agreed that "data consistency across products will have to be managed more effectively," and 65% agreed that "data ownership will need to be clarified more than it is at present." This includes structured management of artwork and other digital assets, although the majority of the survey respondents have neither of these capabilities in place today.
• Respondents gave a score of 7.8 out of 10 to the assertion that "right-sized or optimized packaging sizes" will increase in importance during the next few years.