EskoArtwork releases brand owner survey results

EskoArtwork recently partnered with Adobe and the International Packaging Institute (IPI) to conduct a survey of brand owners to gain an understanding of trends in packaging design. The survey results provide insight into packaging trends that will assist both brand owners and suppliers to the industry in preparing to meet emerging market demands.

‘Today’s brand owners have more capability at their fingertips than ever before as they manage an increasingly complex packaging supply chain,’ said Prof Dr Ingo Bren, the director of science and technology and academic director at the International Packaging Institute, located in Neuhausen, Switzerland. ‘This research validated much of our understanding of upcoming trends in the packaging market from the perspective of the brand owners, and provided new insight in several areas that will benefit the market as a whole.’

EskoArtwork’s objective was to ensure that its product portfolio is appropriately structured to meet the emerging needs of brand owners, as well as to provide insight and guidance for its customers as they work to support brand owners in the packaging design process. Respondents from across Europe, of which 62 percent worked in companies with 500 or more employees globally, cooperated to the survey.

‘We were pleased with the cross-section of respondents to the survey,’ said Dieter Janout, global director brand owners at EskoArtwork. ‘While most of the respondents represented global companies, half are operating in small marketing workgroups and are senior managers or professionals. We believe their responses provide an accurate portrayal of the current state of mind for most brand owners.’

The majority of brand owner respondents reported that pre-press/repro work, creative surface design and creative structural design are currently outsourced; outsourcing of these functions is expected to remain the same or increase in the next few years, according to respondents. Forty percent of respondents reported having no design department in their company.

‘As the packaging supply chain grows increasingly complex and as global competition and regulatory oversight continue to grow,’ added Dr Bren, ‘the ability for brand owners to efficiently collaborate with outsourced partners will gain in importance. 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.’

The survey also reaffirmed the growing popularity of and demand for private labeling, with 54 percent of respondents reporting that their private label business accounted for up to 25 percent of revenues.

Other key survey findings included the following:

• Respondents strongly believed that the 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

• 56 percent expect a significant increase in the use of digital prototyping either ‘definitely’ (12 percent) or ‘probably’ (44 percent)

• Only 15 percent 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 percent), regulations and legislation (64 percent) and retail requirements (57 percent). 84 percent thought that ‘environmental and sociological constraints’ would require ‘significant change’ (63 percent) or ‘new ways required’ (21 percent)

• 50 percent thought that packaging design will adapt to the opportunities presented by the Internet as online shopping becomes more prevalent

• 71 percent agreed that ‘data consistency across products will have to be managed more effectively’, 65 percent agree 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 has 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 over the next few years

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