Brand Innovation Day hailed success

The first Brand Innovation Day at a Labelexpo event, which took place at Labelexpo India 2018, has been hailed a success, with plans to repeat the event at future shows.

Supplier panel at Brand Innovation Day

‘The Brand Innovation Day was intended to bring brand owners closer to the technology providers, allowing them to gain a competitive edge by understanding trends across a wide range of fields from digital printing and workflow to new materials,’ said Andy Thomas-Emans, strategic director of the Tarsus Labels Group, and who chaired the half-day event.

The session was opened by Chakravarthi AVPS, global ambassador of the World Packaging Organisation and CEO Ecobliss India, who looked at macro trends in the global label and packaging market. 

Sukhdev Singh Saini, packaging lead, AMEA at General Mills, looked at designing products for sustainability, while Avinesh Jain, packaging engineer at SC Johnson, considered different anti-counterfeit strategies, both overt and covert. 

Kanchan Bhargava, senior brand manager at Twinings, explained how the company had used design ‘English’ design cues for brand building its re-launched tea range. Gagan Talwar, packaging manager Reckitt Benckiser talked about how his company is looking to exploit digital printing technologies. 

A panel of suppliers representing Avery Dennison, SMI, HP Indigo and Esko, then answered questions on a wide range of issues, including one from the floor on what actions a brand owner should take to make the most of digital print capabilities. 

In response Christian Menegon, worldwide business development manager, Industrial Products HP Indigo, said it was not so much a matter of technology, as developing a responsive supply chain. ‘Can you efficiently deliver a personalized product?’ 

John Winderam, general manager SEA & SA at Esko, emphasized the importance of automating the pre-press and approval processes as a response to increasing numbers of SKUs and shorter product life-cycles. Ajay Mehta, managing director of India-based materials supplier SMI, stressed the importance of adding value through the PS label specification process, while Parag Bagade, head of technical marketing, South Asia Pacific and Sub Saharan Africa, Avery Dennison, talked up the opportunities opened up by RFID and other interactive label technologies. 

This was followed by a tour of the four sponsor companies’ stands and invitations to the India Label Awards and dinner. 

Andy Thomas

  • Strategic director