packaging-radar.com

Well, yeah, but people have been putting fragrances in packaging for at least fifteen years, ever since soap went into flow-wrap. (Martin)

Going beyond the visual is the latest way to make a product stand out on the store shelf, according to packaging professionals at this year’s PCD Congress.

A number of products were showcased at the perfume and cosmetics packaging show that appealed to multiple senses of the consumer, not just sight.

Fragrance emitting logos on tubes, inks that change colour with a rise in temperature and a soft touch plastic combined with peach fragrance, were all presented as the latest technique to make products stand out.

via Multi-sensory packaging wins consumers’ attention.

Amcor announced today that it has completed its $1.95 billion acquisition of the Alcan Packaging businesses, including the former Alcan Packaging Global Pharmaceuticals, Food Europe, Food Asia and Global Tobacco divisions. The purchase consideration represents a profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization PBITDA multiple of 5.1 times based on earnings for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009, of $383 million excluding Medical Flexible operations in the U.S..

via Amcor completes Alcan acquisition – Newsworthy – Flexible Packaging.

Great news for Amberley, who have been pushing new ideas, particularly in digital labels, for some time. I have to say though that there are too many companies who are happy to let their suppliers control their image by sending out press releases on their behalf – HP is a great company, but WHY didn’t Amberley produce this one themselves? Are they shy? (Martin)

HP today announced that Amberley Labels, of Blandford, Dorset, has achieved three important milestones in its development as a leading digital label converter: winning a FINAT Award, the nomination for entry in the World Label Awards Association and the installation of an HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press.Amberley won the ‘Marketing and End-use applications’ category in the 2009 FINAT Awards, for a ‘no label look’ label produced for luxury brand Fortnum & Mason Still Blenheim Palace Natural Mineral Water. The award was presented at a ceremony in Brussels during Labelexpo Europe. The label was produced using Amberley’s HP Indigo press ws4050. Following this success the label has also been selected for entry in the World Label Awards Association WLAA.

via Hat Trick for Amberley Labels: FINAT Award, WLLA Nomination and Installation of HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press — Packaging and Converting ESSENTIALS.

Exactly right. Good man (Martin)

Website, The Daily Green, wails on wasteful food packaging, no mention of single households demographics or convenience. It always breaks my heart to read the latest diatribe on wrap rage or landfills. Very little mention in the consumer press about sustainability efforts or packaging being called on to fight world hunger .No, it’s much easier to be semi-informed and take pot shots at packaging. The latest came yesterday from website The Daily Green, which bills itself as “the consumer’s guide to the green revolution.”

via Packaging’s curse—bad press blues | Greener Package.

This could be, finally, a genuine way of cutting through a lot of the, er, rubbish that is talked about packaging and sustainability, though it still runs the risk of starting from a point of ‘packaging bad’ (Martin)

The world’s most powerful brands and packaging manufacturers are to pilot a new common language of definitions to measure the sustainability of packaging.

Global brand owners and retailers including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart and Kraft met in Toronto last week to approve the definitions, which could be a first step in putting an end to long-running arguments on packaging's environmental, social and economic impact.

via World’s biggest brands unite on pack sustainability language | packagingnews.co.uk.

Bit of a preview of the upcoming Ecopack show at the NEC. This has been running for a while, but this year some of the big boys like Innovia, SIG and FFP are exhibiting. Let’s face it, a few small and innovative companies weaving packaging from animal hair is one thing, but it needs buy-in from big manufacturers and big purchasers to really achieve lift-off, and for the first time I’m really getting a sense that this is happening. I just hope that changes are made for good environmental reasons rather than to generate headlines (Kraft, I hope you’re listening – just replacing glass with plastic doesn’t immediately make you environmentally friendly, no matter whether you’ve reduced packaging weight by 70 million kilos or not!) – Martin

easyFairs Ecopack preview: Green options buck recessionary bluesGail Hunt, Packaging News, 28 January 2010As Ecopack prepares to open its doors, Gail Hunt asks if the ongoing recession has managed to knock the environment off the current business agendaDespite the recession, the drive towards greener brands is gaining new momentum, according to new research by easyFairs, the organiser of the Ecopack and Packaging Innovations shows at the NEC, which take place from 24-25 February.

via easyFairs Ecopack preview: Green options buck recessionary blues | packagingnews.co.uk.

A great article by Richard Cooper of IOM3, feauring yours truly, Chris Penfold and JoAnn Hines, the Packaging Diva (Martin)

Social networking sites can boost your packaging know how and aid company promotion, but it helps to understand the platforms first. Richard Cooper, IOM³ Webmaster, speaks to prominent users.

‘Hundreds of people an hour are discussing packaging on social networks,’ says Martin Hardwidge, owner of MHA Marketing Communications, a Nottingham-based PR and marketing agency specialising in communications for the packaging industry. The reason for this popularity, he says, is two-fold.

http://www.iom3.org/feature/why-use-social-networking.

What do a bird in wintertime, a honeycomb and double glazing have in common? Instead of being some elaborate riddle, the answer is instead very simple. They are all ways to describe the cold chain storage technique on the market by Coldpack, which has recently had its UK launch.

Known as the Airliner, the packaging contains a honeycomb structure in its inflatable walls that acts like double glazing by mimicking the act of birds fluffing their wings in wintertime to keep warm.

via Keeping Cool from Conception to Customer – - Packaging Gateway.

And again – compliance ain’t hard, but it needs to be considered. I wonder whether packaging manufacturers ought to be doing more to advise their customers. After all, they live in the industry, while the poor product manufacturer is focused on his own business. For example, GHD, the hair straightener people, were fined £9000. They may legitimately have thought that the packaging for their product was in fact part of the product. Sometimes the only place to test this is in court, and it will become easier once the new definitions are in place in Europe, but in the meantime, I wouldn’t want to be the salesman facing his customer the weeka fter he’d been hauled up before the beak (Martin)

The legal and financial risks of failing to comply with packaging regulations was again underlined yesterday, when a major shoe retailer became the latest high profile firm to be hit with a fine for breaching waste rules.Brantano – a footwear retailer with 147 stores in the UK – has been ordered to pay over £30,000 after it pleaded guilty to 15 charges related to not registering with the Environment Agency and not meeting its packaging waste requirements under the Producer Responsibility Obligations Packaging Waste Regulations 1997, 2005 and 2007.

via Shoe firm steps right into packaging fine – 13 Jan 2010 – BusinessGreen.com.

The hard-to-open packaging on Barbie dolls and other gifts underneath the Christmas tree has left many consumers ripping. Yes, these plastic fortresses deter shoplifters and help reduce the wastefulness of bulky cardboard boxes, manufacturers say, but at what cost?

In this weekend’s Complaint Box, Dylan Quinn wrote, “The packaging of electronics and other small items has reached the point of outrage. A person practically needs the Jaws of Life to open anything. Normal scissors aren’t sharp enough to cut through the packaging, and attacking the plastic with a knife could have disastrous consequences.”

We received well over 100 comments on the subject, very few of which defended the usefulness of plastic shells or the twist ties pinning down Barbie’s neck and ankles. But a few did, including one from a 40-year veteran of the packaging industry.

via Attacking, and Defending, Hard-to-Open Packaging – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com.