Packaging wins prizes

The new competition launched by consumer goods company Nestlé through its various confectionery brands shows how modern printed packaging has become an active part of the purchasing experience.

 

The “We Will Find You” campaign is to be found on Kit Kat, Kit Kat Chunky, Yorkie and Aero chocolate bars, and offers consumers the chance to win £10,000 (€12,000) if they are lucky enough to buy a GPS-enabled pack.

 

Six chocolate bar wrappers have been embedded with a GPS chip, and when the pack is opened the chip will activate and alert Nestlé, who is then promising to find the owner within 24 hours and present them with their prize.

 

View the current UK television commercial below to see how Nestlé is marketing the competition to consumers.

 

 

There will be those that say such a competition highlights how our everyday lives could be coming under increased surveillance (the “Big Brother” argument), and that purchasing patterns and other habits are being monitored and catalogued for the benefit of retailers and brands, but for me “We Will Find You” shows another facet to the increasingly exciting world of printed packaging.

 

During a conversation at the recent Packaging Innovations 2012 show in London, one contact described the way that flexibles and cartons have moved from being a tool to package a product, then to promote it, and are now expected to “perform”.

 

This is very much the case, whether it be the “Tic Tac Fan-Rassel” (see below), as victorious in the recent Pro Carton/ECMA Carton Award 2012, MeadWestvaco’s Shellpak Renew medication adherence packaging or the GPS-enabled flexible packaging on offer from Nestlé.

 

The Nestlé example also features another “performance” aspect, as each wrapper is printed with a unique code that can be entered online or from an internet-enabled mobile device for a second chance to win a cash prize.

 

There’s no doubt that packaging will play an increasingly important role in all of our lives, whether dictated by function (as in the case of ensuring medication adherence) or form (Nestlé’s “We Will Find You” wrappers), and the performance aspect will be something consumers will see more and more of on the shelves.

 

This excites me, as it should printers and converters. Such products underline the vibrancy and excitement evident in the packaging market, whether carton or flexible, and the fortunate role printers and converters have in the supply of new and exciting printed packaging to end users and brands is something that should not be forgotten or undervalued.