FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#282 - Connected Packaging Moves Centre Stage
The discussion in this episode draws on findings from io.tt’s latest Connected Experiences Report (CXR3), a global study exploring how brands, designers, converters and consumers are really using connected packaging today. The report digs into adoption trends, preferred use cases, consumer expectations, sustainability communication, GS1-driven change and the shifting role of QR and NFC across the pack lifecycle. It also includes practical viewpoints from partners such as Team Creatif and Eurostampa, with concrete implications for packaging, print and brand teams planning their next steps in connected experiences.
👉 Download the report here: https://io.tt/whitepapers/cxr3
In this episode, Marcus Timson explores the fast-evolving world of connected packaging with three guests who sit at different points in the value chain:
Stefan Casey, Head of Ecosystem at io.tt, the connected experiences platform behind the new Connected Experiences report
Benoît Delaverne, Senior Partner at Paris-based branding and design agency Team Creatif
Riccardo Sauvaigne, Innovation Lab lead at premium label specialist Eurostampa
Stefan explains how connected packaging has matured from a marketing novelty into a critical business tool. Powered by GS1 digital barcodes, QR codes and NFC, packs are becoming gateways to services, safety information, provenance data, loyalty and sustainability narratives. The third edition of io.tt’s global report reveals that consumers now expect this: over a third want QR codes clearly visible on the front, while 86% develop a negative view of a brand when links are broken or redundant.
Benoît brings the brand and consumer lens. For him, connected packaging finally allows the pack to live up to its role as “first media”, extending a small physical surface into an expandable storytelling canvas. He outlines how brands can use connected experiences for education, inclusivity, recycling guidance and authentic sustainability communication, while warning against one-off gimmicks and overwhelming content. Strategy and simplicity win.
Riccardo describes what all of this means in practice for printers and converters. Through Eurostampa’s Innovation Lab, brands, agencies and production teams co-create labels that combine design, embellishment and robust connected triggers. He highlights the need for new capabilities in digital print, variable QR, NFC encoding and inline verification, as well as a mindset shift from “supplier” to “solution architect”.
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SPEAKER_03:Welcome to the latest episode of the Future Print Podcast. And we're in time for the launch of a really important, exciting, and insightful report for on connected packaging. So the theme of this discussion will be focusing on that and this fast evolving, incredibly innovative, new area within the uh industry. Although Stefan and Benoit might argue it's not necessarily as new as we might think. So there's a lot going on in terms of developments of it, and there's a lot to learn. And also there's a giant opportunity for the printing industry for those who are willing to learn and integrate and understand. So listen, welcome to the podcast, Stefan Casey and Benoit Delaving. And Stefan is with Iodt and Benoit is with Team Creative. Welcome to the podcast, gentlemen. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you, Marcus. Great to be back and super excited, and I'm glad you're super excited too. Yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_03:It's good to good to learn more. And I know later on we'll be joined by another gentleman, but we'll we'll cover that that when we reach that point. Um, first off, I'll start with Stefan. Could you do a little intro about yourself and also a bit about um the business and the report before we introduce the creative force, which is Benoit, based in Paris, and um really so have a little bit of an understanding of the context of why this is important.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, no, great. So, yes, as you say, I work for a company called IoTTT, which is really about connected experiences. It's about when you click, scan, tap a product or pack somewhere in a retail environment, the team and the business behind it is who I work for. And I'm I head up the ecosystem, which is really exciting because I'm bringing partners together across the supply chain, across design. And and that's what's exciting about this report is this is the third generation of this Connected Experiences report. And what's really different is we brought our partners along. They are integral to it. This dream, this vision, this reality. Um, and and each of them bring their own unique perspective, but their own unique needs and talents. And this is why when we we soft launched it last week, and it was it was really good with you could attend, we had everybody across there, so labelers, digital partners, and and we can't do it without them. And that's first and foremost. But the report itself is is a questionnaire really that we've been running the last few years, and it's about asking the public, asking peers, what is connected packaging? And and you're right, Marcus. For me, it's been 15 years. You know, it's it's not new, it's not new at all, but it's new to a lot of people now, and there's a lot of things driving a sense of urgency, a sense of excitement, and a sense of real belief in how it can add value to brands and retailers. Um so yeah, really, really super excited to kind of delve in a little bit more. And as you said, yeah, this is launching imminently.
SPEAKER_03:Fantastic. And I think this is the third report, isn't it? Yes, it is the third. Yes. It's always good to look back and see how things uh develop. Just going to ask a dumb question, because that's one of the advantages of being um somebody who isn't an expert in any area, but somebody who is interested to learn. Just a short explanation of connected packaging.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, look, connected packaging is is almost like um it's a gateway to consumers, customers, data um experiences that are largely driven by what we're seeing uh as an influx now of the 2D QR code, 3D code, whatever you want to call it, but that thing that you're seeing on front of pack, side of pack, on labels, on the back of labels. But it's really accessing information and enabling brands and retailers to engage directly with consumers because we have these things in our hands called mobile phones and they never leave our sites. Um, so it's something to leverage that, and it's a communication really. Uh and that's what's exciting about connected packaging. But it has been around a long time, but it's been driven in different areas from supply chain efficiencies using kind of dot matrix coding, it's been used for the pharmaceutical industry for a long time in terms of compliance and legislation. But in the world that we live in, it's predominantly been used by marketeers and brands to engage on stories. Now it's all come together and it can do a multitude of things. And that's why we're super excited about the report, but also super about our partnership networks and how far we can push it, how far we can challenge industry to accept the technology to make life easier for everybody. And that's that's fundamentally some of the benefits. Probably listed off a bit too many, but we'll delve into a little bit more anyway.
SPEAKER_03:So so so the drivers really is uh from in in in the growth of connected packaging has been um a number of technological advances, but equally the opportunity it presents, I suppose. Is that the key driver? It's it's it's uh ability to help sell products.
SPEAKER_04:It's it's the it it's the ability to sell products, it's the ability to inform a consumer not to drink me if you have certain allergens or eat me. It could literally save a life, it could literally guide you in what medicines you should be taking or shouldn't be taking. But it is technology driven, and I think a lot of these things start in the academic think tanks and you know, some of the technologies other than QR code, like NFC, is a hugely widely adopted technology that is probably growing at more pace than any of the others because it's becoming cheaper, which means more scale, more volume, is becoming more principled and recyclable, which means some of the old sustainability challenges of old are becoming not a problem. And and I think technology has been a key driver, and perhaps been where it's been living within some of the brands and retailers, but now I'd say in the last 10 years, marketeers have started to embrace the benefits in terms of the storytelling and design aspect. So, you know, this is why we we've partnered with Team Creative and Benoit, because it is very much uh a design interface uh to touch you know brands and retailers all over the place.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, thanks Stefan. So Ben Benoit, um Team Creative, you're you're very much uh at the intersection between uh between this and consumer brands and your clients and design and everything else. Um so really around consumer behavior and brand storytelling, I I guess from from what we're understanding from the report and also from sort of how things are developing on the shop floor, consumers are uh are really increasingly willing to perhaps scan, tap, and interact with digital touchpoint. What stands out to you about how consumer behavior is evolving? And uh have how are brands exploiting this opportunity perhaps that connected packaging provides for really effective storytelling?
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Marcus, and thank you, Stéphane. Um, I'm the French guest live from Paris, and I'm extremely uh excited to answer your question, of course, and to tackle this uh very key topic that, in fact, I think is uh just at the start of the revolution. Just one uh quick word about uh Team Creative, so that uh the um people will listen to your podcast in the world, hopefully, will know a bit more about uh the agency I'm working in. We are almost uh 40 years uh born, it will be celebrated next year, which is in our world quite uh success and uh quite outstanding uh longevity. We are a branding and design agency and present in five on the over the five continents because we have a subsidiary in in Brazil and uh in Jakarta and as well in USA. And what we are doing is to work from archetype definition, personality of a brand, nourishing the brand platform to brand identity and universe. That's where the connected packaging, in fact, uh comes in. So far, what's interesting when you consider this idea of a digital pack is that for years and years, decades uh even, PACs has been uh on top of being a protective uh layers, has been on top of being uh EGN uh protective protection protection, sorry, a medium uh for connection, for storytelling and for data. So it's it's becoming, thanks to Connected Pack, something which goes beyond the strict information of being a brand, bringing a product or giving a list of uh ingredients. What's interesting is that the the packaging has always been considered, at least by design agency, as the first media, even probably in front of or before the communication. That's the one that you get in touch uh in a shelf, that you put in a cupboard, that you put back on your breakfast table, that you uh list or put back in the in the fridge, and it's as much opportunities to discover the story which is in. And thanks to Connected Pack from now on, it's that to go from uh one single pack, which is a surface which at the end of the day is pretty small, to a kind of uh gateway, as Stefan was remaining, to uh compelling uh stories. So, where it's very excited is that uh for our job of uh designers, of storytellers, of being able to open to new worlds and to new information, it's a world of uh possible that we didn't master so far, and which GS1, NFC, or whatever will be in the future will open to. And I will uh I would just add as well that uh IA uh AI, sorry, will uh also give strong opportunities about shaping the content because so far shaping a content is costy. You had to to shoot a movie, to produce, etc. etc. Tomorrow morning, after tomorrow, even today, it will be much easier, much simpler, and much less costy to identify opportunities of brand content thanks to AI, which will justify to scan because you will get uh a lot of uh uh information in a smart way, in a funny way, in uh entertaining way. Something which uh so far was uh not really possible, which explained, by the way, why QR code exists for 15 years but didn't really take off uh so far.
SPEAKER_03:So it's the the the storytelling from what you're saying there, it's it's an opportunity to uh promote and engage and uh and and entertain, but but also it's an educational platform as well as uh perhaps legislative one as well, isn't it? So it has a a practical and a and and then more of a um emotional um point to it. And I guess the the the mix of the two are going to be uh compelling. Is there anything you wanted to add to that, Stefan?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, look, I think you know, Ben Wall covered, you know, uh a really good point. And I think you know what we're we're seeing is this this move from marketing curiosity, which you know has always been the kind of consumer engagement, to it becoming almost a critical infrastructure for the business, you know, and and you know that's quite a bold statement to say, but if you think about it, you know, it's you know, what was once an afterthought in many projects, and I, you know, I've got a history in this when I was asked to do projects and oh, can we add a QR code and can we add a digital experience or a social experience really far down the value chain? What we're seeing now is it's becoming front and centre. What's the what's the connected packaging, the social strategy, the digital, the printed, the packaging, the product? And I think that curiosity has now become so embedded that it's been seen by, you know, the brands as a way to win the hearts and minds of its consumers again. You know, they can start to own that relationship more instead of relying on traditional bricks and mortar retailer kind of third-party data, which they pay handsomely for, you know, so they can actually have a dialogue if they get it right. And I say if they get it right, because all those emotional points that Ben Mo was talking about, getting the communication, getting the tone, getting your target audience right, this doesn't go away. You can't just put a code on here. You know, and there's so many organizations and brands and retailers that do this as well. Is they put these codes on and campaigns come off and you get a 404 error message. There are so many learnings that we need to instill into the process of getting it right. But consumer behavior is it's there. You know, people are already seeing them. If you look, now let's pull some stats out of the report. 37% of the people like QR codes, large and in clear view. That means on the front of pack. Now, if I look back three years ago, I'm getting messages from uh marketeers going, yeah, but it looks ugly, we don't know what it's on the front of pack, it's disruptive. Well, it needs to be disruptive, it needs to be clear, it needs to be scannable. And and I'd argue even that and the report, you know, is is is a conversation start, but it needs to go further. You know, what about accessibility? We've just announced the partnership with Zappa in terms of accessibility and that AQR code, which I'm gonna throw in a care pull for you, Marcus, because it wasn't mentioned. But you know, 2.2 million people in the UK have visual impairment. So it has to be on the front pack, you know? And and then and we have to do the right thing. And this is again storytelling, knowing your audience, knowing your demographics, so there's products and packs that maybe are for things for the older generations, and I'm including myself now because I wear three players of glasses. This is what we've got to do. And this technology unlocks it far better than any print, any design, because it can expand to a different size. You know, you don't have the limitation of text sizing and things like this, but you have to have the clear call-outs, it has to be right, and I think that's the consumer behaviour and storytelling that you know, team creative have had a proud career making many dreams, I would imagine, Benwell.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. And um, with that in mind, then so you you you mentioned a lot about the practical side of things, but also the emotional side of things, and I guess that's often encapsulated with sustainability as a driver of change and innovation. It continues to be a big motivator for connecting packaging, I believe. Is that correct? And how how are brands using that to communicate that progress credibly? Is that one for you, Stefan, or Benoir?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, definitely, sustainability will be probably part of the reason why few brands will start, or a lot of brands hopefully, will will start a conversation through a QR code. If I take a step back and uh we try to identify all the opportunities, because let's uh imagine that at the moment you print a QR code, you will get it all year long. So there is a possible risk that if you click once and twice and third time and you fall on the same information kind of information, you probably get bored and you will not uh click anymore or scan anymore. So you need a real consistent brand strategy on that. If we need and if we take a step back and think about all the thematics that can have a matter of interest for consumers, of course, you have a story about the brand, about the founders, about why the brand is still there. You can have a lot of information about the what we we call the agriculture, uh, the part of uh farmers, which leads to quality, of course. Uh Stefan mentioned it quickly about usage, about uh receipts, about advice, speaking of baby food or pharma, for instance, and as well uh about uh things as important as inclusivity. Imagine tomorrow that you go to audio instruction for people who have difficulties to hear, for enlarged text for people not blind, unfortunately, but uh at least having uh issues to read, multilingual content or uh receipts simplified to help consumers. So that's just part of the iceberg that we feel can be really a matter of uh inventivity and and creativity. And if I go a step further about your question and more sustainability, it's sure that there is an incredible field. Why? Just because companies have difficulties to prioritize. What the what what we we witness, sorry, uh with our client is that they are doing a lot of things, but they are they have two obstacles to uh to overcome. The first one is that they are doing they are doing so much things that they have difficulties to choose one, two or three to communicate and to elaborate on in order to really print their uh CSR activity. And the second, of course, is that they are they fear a little bit that because they are not all perfect, they are not all by the book, uh, there will be a kind of uh um uh uh not flashback but uh something back, um uh like uh greenwashing, like uh getting a slash uh from not being perfect and though uh communicating on. So the chance that we will have with QR code will be that uh we could do a lot of things displaying and showcasing the sincerity of the company. If you do it with authenticity, with the right way and with the right attitude, there is a huge chance that uh your community will follow you. For instance, you can move complex information off the physical uh label and then reduce printing using less ink, for instance, or bringing on top uh certification that you get from your plants, from your uh production uh facilities, but that you never speak about, of course. Uh the most obvious one, of course, the whole recycling rules, where in fact people are all totally uh lost in translation when starting to put uh any product in the dustbin, the yellow, the green, the the grey, or whatever. Um as well, we can imagine for big corporations that you geo-colla geolocalized uh the guidance, the recycling uh get guidance. So just through one QR code about uh recycling, you can elaborate an information which cross China, USA, or wherever you are in the in the world. That's the beauty of the of the technology. Um most of the of the time, if you provide proof not too boring, of course, like audit, life cycle, life cycle analysis, giving uh sourcing information, people will step by step enter in your world. The only uh issue will be to educate carefully, not to be too much um uh complex, not to make to pretend being the one who knows and the other uh just people following. So you need just to bring on board a decent, reasonable, step-by-step, let's say baby step information so that consumers will be more and more uh educated. And I would uh really advise brand brands and companies to start thinking that way versus elaborating uh reports of 100 pages that nobody reads, that uh you put in the cupboard, uh if not in the in the chimney uh for a fire in the in uh in winter. Um we are ahead of this revolution, it's a soft revolution, fortunately, but sustainability, yes, to come back to your question, Marcus, will be at the earth of the opportunities.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it it's come out on the report as well, Marcus and Ben Moore. I I think you know, you know, 93% of brands see that a connected pack can help them with the sustainability goals. And they say this, but you know, like Ben Moore said, it's it's a massive report that no one's gonna read. I don't think they're fully taking leveraging of the technology. But I think what what's interesting is the point that Ben Moore made, and this comes out in the report as well, is that 78% of consumers feel that this device, this gateway could also help them understand what is an immensely complicated world of EPR, PPWR, and all these taxations, which are our massive issue for brands and retailers. But, you know, it's coming out that consumers see this as a real gateway of communication and education. You know, 43%, you know, want to be rewarded for recycling properly, you know, and then the other 42% want to be educated on how to recycle properly. So you can see what you know the public are trying to say is that they're willing to engage with these, but they're not going to read a 120-page report or a corporate website or policy. It has to be designed, it has to be engaged, and and and that's where you know we're seeing uh, you know, a real uptake in everyone's head is down in these taxations, but they're not realizing that actually connected packaging and products and experiences can genuinely unlock at scale, at speed. Rather than waiting for everything to be perfect, Ben Moore made a really good point is you can regionalize, you can geolocate, you can change. As more information comes on board, that code can generate the new case, you know, new information, it can grow, and it can also take things out that become less impactful or incorrect information. So that speed to market to consumer is is now here. The technology's here. Embrace it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exciting the more you explain it. I sort of um I imagine that you know consumer trust is a huge factor, isn't it, in terms of um both sustainability but also other factors too. And I guess um I think it's called product product provenance or brand provenance, isn't it? Where the with the product information and provenance and the origin of the product and the story of the product, how it's made are really important. Um, but you're starting, uh Benoit, are you starting to see where this connective packaging is starting to satisfy that demand for clarity and transparency among brands and for consumers?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, sure. If we are back to um one of the hits uh on uh number of uh scanning in the world is uh about the the pandemia. In fact, consumers avoided shared surfaces and uh insta interaction, um and and then QR code became suddenly uh like uh the Graal, the the the the one uh to start continue living in a normal way. And and and you started to check about uh menus, uh payment, uh ingredients, information as well about the pandemia, and it really extended to to the to the QR code on uh on packaging. What's interesting is that since that time it has uh bit uh slowing down. However, what we feel and what we aim at with the I OTT and through this excellent report is of course, and this one will not be in a cupboard for sure because it's full of uh strong information, but the growing demand for uh reliable and immediate data has brought forward this idea of uh connect back at uh at the table of the discussion. Where the product comes from, what is the exact list of uh ingredients? What is the understanding that I have of the list? Because you can have as well uh 10 different information that uh at the end you don't have a clue about uh about it. And uh putting myself in the shoes of my client, which is uh pretty tough nowadays because of the economical context, the competition which is so fierce every day, and we need to give more to consumers, which means that at the end of the day, we will find probably some mistakes, but we will find the the chemin, the the way uh to go and to have people really on board. What I believe is that first you need to invite scanning, that's where design is so key. I'm not sure that we will have two-thirds of the front face of a packaging with a QR code, unfortunately, Stefan, but for sure we need to find the way because the the more we interview consumers, the more they tell me why I should scan when I have so much to do. What the hell should I spend 10 minutes of my life when I have kids, husband, wife, whatever, sports, uh uh hobby, etc. So that's one. So you need to be naturally integrated, you need to be an invitation and not an obstacle, and you need to really immediately uh get uh from this scanning, which is an effort that you do for or with the brand, you need to get the meaning immediately. So you need a full content which you understand uh what you will find on, you understand where the brands lead you, and how you can get something out of this scan. If you are too complex, you will lose the consumer, and there is a chance that you will never scan it. So there is one chance at a time to really uh get it uh get it right. And the third point is about uh the activation should be extremely in line with the brand strategy. Of course, if you have a big brand of soft drink from Atlanta, for instance, who is doing an uh incredible activation, uh showcasing the share uh cook to create messages, for instance, and at the same time your QR code is about the list of ingredients, it will not match, meaning you need to uh try to build this ecosystem where QR code will emphasize, will amplify all your brand strategy at the moment you speak. And when the activation is over, because it has lasted three months, the QR code takes the relay of another information. Uh another information which should, of course, be within the strat of the brand. That's where we need to think QR code, not like a gimmick, not like uh uh a funny stuff to play with, but a real media that you anchor in the full strat as you have been uh anchoring uh a media strategy, uh big idea strategy, etc. It's as important as that uh to make sure that uh it will be useful on the long on the long term and not uh kind of one shot where people will not come back and you will lose space on your pack and time of your consumers.
SPEAKER_03:And that and that's what you're saying there, it's a difference between using it as a trialing something or single promotion, it's actually a strategic solution for the brand, for consumers, and everything else. Strategy takes longer to integrate, doesn't it? Um among uh with anything new. Um what do you think will really make the difference and determine greater adoption among brands from the sort of pilots into full-scale enterprise-wide connected packaging product ecosystems?
SPEAKER_04:I think if you you know reflect on what Benoit says, I think you know, you know, we're backing it up with the data, you know, 86% of consumers said if they engage with such a brand and it had one of those dead links, or it went to uh even a more surpulus uh website because the campaign's dead, they have a negative view of the brand. And negativity and views of brands are harder to recapture and regain that trust than just having a continuously always on campaign. And as Ben Moore said, you know, if you're running those campaigns which we know from IoTT, what works and what does engage with consumers, then those tend to be those what is the value for me kind of considerations. And that means a loyalty mechanism or a competition mechanism. And these things entice people in, and then they might want to read about the provenance of the ingredients and the materials, and you start to engage in with the and curate the Content that's appropriate. And I think those pillars, any brand manager has to take heed of what consumers do and don't do, that behavior. And that leads naturally into, you know, what do brands need to do to move from that small pilot campaign, you know, winner whatever or winner personalized whatever into always on communication. And it is strategy, it is building it in. And we're seeing that a lot with our partner brands and retailers. They're understanding and learning from the metrics and learning from IITT as a platform of what works and doesn't. And and with the dynamic part of what we do, if it's really not working, they can change it on the fly. And the code can be redirected into a certain different instance of it. So if the communication doesn't resonate in terms of engagement clicks, change it. If the value-added proposition, and and we all hate it, you know, a chance to win one in a million is not the same as you will win a chocolate bar or a cup of coffee instantly if you engage and give me a little bit of your life or story. I think with there's a massive education piece to do. There's the behavioral part, but I think I said it at the beginning, is it's gone from curiosity. It is now integral to the plan of brands and retailers who want to embrace it fully, whether it's the sustainability driver, whether it's the consumer driver. It is really about developing an end-to-end ecosystem with the delivery partners as well. Let's not forget that. You know, we need to be able to print it. We need to be able to manufacture it. You know, is it a gift set or is it a label on the wine that tells a story? You know, it really is that versatile. So the limitation really is only the creativity of the teams that they bring around them, which is why we've partnered with the Alexa Team Creative and other brand agencies because they get it. We've been talking about this for a long time, and I think brands are finally waking it up. And they need to lead, and they need to lead quickly because the retailers are hot on this stuff. They're seeing it as a value-added metric, a loyalty add-on to instore, and potentially even an added charge that you can start to pick for brands if they don't go on board quickly. You know, it's you have to use our code in our store if you're going to do it. You can see these future wars happening. But for now, consumers are there. They don't like disconnect. So you've got to get it right. You've got to stop this one-shot mentality. It has to end. You have to see the QR code or NFC or whatever else comes out. We're agnostic, but it's let's face it, it's the most affordable. You have to have a story. And when that story finishes, where does it go next? What's your always-on story? Sustainability is an easy one. But I can tell you now, those readership rates about what you're doing in far farms around the world are very low. They're three or four percent at best. When you hit the double digits, is where's the instant value exchange? Or where's that loyalty mechanism? And I think that's where brands are starting to embrace that. And the biggest challenge I see with all organizations is the mindset, is the gap, is you know, who owns what, the silos, you know, it's does it belong with the digital team, the marketing team, the supply chain team? Well, actually, it benefits all of them, but you need to find a way of working. And I'm seeing a lot more of digital transformational roles, connected experience roles. These seem to be the highest kind of um influx of new roles within organizations that are being transformed by this technology and also the word AI.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Marcus, I would like just to add something on what uh Stefan just said, if I may, uh, which is about uh the strategy. In fact, if we are back in the 80s, or yes, let's say 80s, uh we had the television with uh three channels from the state, and and then it started to be a bit more, fortunately for uh viewers. Uh, but it was uh distinct trying to mass media. Okay, that's what we called mass media, and then you had to look on television, and then you looked and you you were given uh advertising from the brand. And then we went and we turned it into the digital uh media, where suddenly the capability to touch people were uh multiplied by uh thousands, and you started to elaborate uh, I would say a a bit more of targeted uh media strategy. And today, with the QR code, in fact you enter in a new era, which is in a way the ultimate opportunity to almost connect one-to-one. What Stefan was uh remaining, which is to say, if it's not working, if the the the girl doesn't stay uh when he's at he has scanned because probably it's not interesting, there is one moment in time, perhaps not tomorrow, but after tomorrow, where you will direct messages to this individual, to Marcus, to Stefan, to Benoit. And this time you will interact as almost a friend of him, and you will be as close as his needs uh are required, as his uh wishes uh are uh are to be uh to be sold or to be uh supported. So, what I mean is that uh it's it's being back and giving back to marketers, I think, a hedge about brand strategies, uh big, big responsibilities, even if, of course, because it's a bit complex, they cannot handle uh on their own all that uh QR code, let's call it like that, or connected pack uh strategy. But what I wanted to mention is that we go in uh in a direction where the proximity will be reinforced and really handled by this uh technology uh opportunity.
SPEAKER_03:Now I'd like to introduce somebody who was also at the um connected experience launch last week in London. Um Ricardo Savine, welcome to the Future Print Podcast. You're in London last week, now you're in Mexico, so we're lucky to have got you really in the in in one place. Um Ricardo, you're with Eurostamper. Eurostamper, a famous name within the industry for creativity and delivery and so on. Um before you sort of go into your perspective, because we've we've kind of had a look at design and creativity and that that side of things, and obviously a stream of that is still the creativity and the design, but also more on a production side of things. Give us a little bit of an intro about yourself and the business first before we we get into some questions about connected packaging and the report.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, Marcus. Uh yeah, I'm uh Riccardo Sauvegna, and uh I've been working in Eurostampa since uh 10 years now, since we have launched the Innovation Lab. And this is where we support um brands uh uh marketing um during the product development uh is a place where we put together design agencies uh and uh uh brands team uh in order to finalize the packaging. Is now the place where we also try and finalize uh the connected packaging experience. So uh this is a key uh for us because um uh with uh the Innovation Lab uh we uh are uh having a kind of technical creative support because uh brands can do 95% of their creativity, up to 95% of the creativity with uh uh, of course, the design agency, but there is uh a gap uh to reach 100. And this is made with the supplier, it's made with us at the mission lab because we actually can uh um suggest uh all the possible uh uh design solutions in terms of uh um label solution embellishments uh and so on in order to make sure that design is uh uh you know reproducible at the industrial level. This is a key point uh then when uh you reach the final stage because then uh you know uh the brand owner needs uh the label uh to be applied on the packaging uh in order to be uh place the product placed in the market. Yeah, so this is where we play a key role in the industry, I believe.
SPEAKER_03:Brilliant. And and obviously this is a growing area, and a lot uh interesting, you said that there's a little bit of a gap there, so you're creating a little bit of a bridge between the two parts to make this happen.
SPEAKER_01:Correct. Correct. Yeah, this is uh um we have uh a program where we put uh everybody in one room, and uh for two days uh we go through all the label solutions uh and at the end of the two days workshop uh the brands go back home with uh all the printed uh labels uh they came up from the brainstorming uh, and uh then uh they finally can take a decision. Yeah, so it's a kind of uh shortening down the decision-making process uh with all the possible variables in terms of printing uh and make sure that what you bring back home then is the best uh uh design at the industrial level.
SPEAKER_03:Brilliant. And and from your point of view, really, I guess um we talked earlier about sort of adoption and and the process of people understanding or customers understanding the the power and potential of it and um the scope for that. Um from your point of view, what do you think really will determine whether brands move from perhaps more the isolated connected packaging examples to a full-scale kind of strategic um approach? What do you think needs to change or what needs to happen first? I guess you would you're you're part of this process very much so.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we uh I can say that we are uh living uh an interesting time uh in the last few few months since we uh you know partnered with IoTT on the connective packaging. Uh uh we reach uh the point that now we are going through some test of proof with um some brands owner at global level. This is a key point, of course, uh along the process because uh, I mean, brands uh won't start 100% with all the full uh uh brands uh uh with all the connected packagings in one time. Yeah, they need to go through uh test of proof. And I believe there will be uh you know two uh key um um elements to be evaluated by the brands. First, uh we need to prove uh the consumer engagement rates, they need to understand uh uh how uh many times consumers do uh use the trigger like the QR codes or the NFC tags uh in order to enter the experience uh because this is uh a kind of return on investment on there. They understand the return on investments. And then finally they see the results, they they go through the results. They're all uh you know big companies uh like Diage or Bacardi, they see numbers at the end, yeah. So we need to be consistent on these two elements.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So evidence of the impact and so on is really important, isn't it? Um we touched on this a little earlier around the the kind of advent of the kind of uh knowledge around GS1 and the fact it's around next generation. I guess barcode is a replacement to that. Um so this is a key driver, GS1, isn't it? What role do these standards play, in your view, with regards to connected packaging and product transparency?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I believe it's a great opportunity because of course, uh finally we have uh a single QR that is able to host all this kind of experience, going through all the types of uh uh you know uh compulsory uh information you need to add your product. At the same time, uh, through uh the GS1 QR code you can uh leverage uh the experience through the connected uh uh uh pro through some connected projects. So this is uh um of course a great opportunity. Uh I believe when uh you know brands will uh uh adopt the solution uh um and it's not going too far, I hope. Uh they are going to use the uh QR code on the back, also the GS1, uh, to deliver all the kind of uh nutritional compulsory legislation information uh, while they will keep the front uh with the NC tag in order to deliver the connected packaging experience, because this is the way you actually engage uh uh the consumer with the premium experience.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, makes makes a lot of sense. And um I guess I was curious because obviously we're future printing, we're very sort of focused on the printing technology and printing production industries. What what what does this mean for perhaps packaging and label printers and converters? Um, you know, beyond perhaps just handling different files, is there anything printers must prepare for or adapt to in order to you know maximize this opportunity?
SPEAKER_01:I shouldn't discover too much of our strategy, but I mean, uh uh of course uh we need uh to uh be part of the challenge. So there is, of course, a technical challenge. Uh every uh you know suppliers in terms of label solutions should um uh afford this uh face this kind of uh challenge, of course. Uh but we see also some tangible opportunities. Uh we need to rethink our role as a solution architect. So we need to deliver uh you know uh a more added value to our customers. This is uh key for us. So we are not just uh a uh merely a supplier in some ways, uh, but we are uh uh you know a trust partner for the brand in order uh to uh deliver a full innovation ecosystems where both um connecting experience and design can play the role in uh engaging the consumer. So at the same time, uh, it's a key to have uh you know expertise within the company that can play a role within the value chain. We need people that need uh to talk uh the language, the new language of the connected packaging. Uh the third point is uh we need to invest in new technologies. Uh we already doing, we actually have already, you know, uh, for example, uh uh digital printing machine for printing high-quality QRs, variable QRs, uh, through our partnership with um with HP, for example. At the same time, we are uh um completing uh uh our um um you know uh technology um portfolio with some um machines that can apply um the uh tax uh in line. Uh and this is about uh you know application for one side, but before you need to encode the tax, and at the end of the process, you need to make sure that the tax are working. So there is a lot of complexity also from an engineering point of view that we are now facing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so there is technical elements to it as well that's uh important as well as an educational. Yeah, and uh that that's commonly the thing you think, well, really, it's just a a printing code, but actually far more than that. Was there anything you might want to add to that, Stephanie?
SPEAKER_04:So I know you're you're you're very very aware of the results of the report and also I think what's exciting is that you know Ricardo and Eurostampa are for me uh uh a lighthouse and refreshing uh organization that truly value partnerships and and growth and investment in the right technology platforms to make this happen, and and it's why we partner with them so effectively. And I think their their attitude and their way of working and getting everyone in the room is something that we hear time and time again. Collaboration, get everyone at the table at the beginning, and we have a far more impactful end. And it's about delivering that growth and those opportunities. But I think, you know, on the legislation, you know, you Ricardo, you know, GS1 is driving a lot of this, but it's through partners like Ricardo and myself and the organizations we've worked through. We're the ones bringing it to life. You know, GS1 exists for the partnership network to bring it to life for the brands and retailers who have to implement this ultimately. But it has helped. And that shift from the bar code to the QR code. And and we haven't really talked about NFC and the power of NFC, which I know Ricardo can come on to in a minute, because it's a it's a it's a true end-to-end experience, which for me is is far more organic and far more polished than perhaps the QR side of the of the codes that are available. But it, you know, if you think about GS1's role, a lot of it isn't mandated. It's guidance, it's structure, it's being part of a room with ourselves to help these brands learn. But there are things within the coding that is becoming mandated, which is why we're seeing such uh a driving change. And the, you know, the digital product passport that Ricardo mentioned about the ingredients and provenance and allergens that we touched upon earlier, this is becoming mandated. This is a requirement. And I was sitting in a really interesting, um, and I say interesting with a pinch of salt um meeting where I had the three powerhouses of the PPWR and the European um associations presenting what's around the corner. And what's really interesting is in the legislation that's coming through, which will only further empower GS1, us as partners and people, is there are many articles happening that are being pushed through that will become that compliance and regulatory information. It's not there yet, but I saw something like 112 articles that are going to be proposed into the documents of the sustainability narrative, which is the biggest focus for brands and retailers. And all of it is pointing to how digital labelling, regardless of what it might do, you know, whether it's a code or whether it's NFC or a combination, is going to be mandated, is going to be a requirement, you know, the recyclable instructions that we talked about early. So do you want to drive it? They're going to be empowered more, which gives us more to take to our brands and retailers in these workshops to, you know, to encourage them to embrace it beyond the norm. And I think that's really important to take away for your readers is this is coming now. And I've seen the white papers. It's going to come within months and it's going to be added to articles. And it makes sense. It's not going to be contested because it makes sense. You cannot physically fit everything on a label. You cannot do all the languages, all the all the multi-market clustering. And that leads into what Ricardo is saying on the digital print side. Is this now the tipping point where digital print and hybrid digital print? You mentioned one of them, Ricardo's a shared partner, but there are others out there. Where we're actually going to see those percentages lift up because not only can they fulfill very high quality codes, hopefully in line, but they can also take the creativity up to another level. And Benoit mentioned that point about hyper-personalization and customization. This cannot be done on conventional, but it can be done on print and digital print and hybrid digital printers. And you can imagine the unlock for those limited editions, those seasonal editions, the excitement of gifting that that then cascades. What we try to encourage through these workshops and partnerships is stop thinking on the mundane on the left and start to work your way on the right and take advantage of the partnerships, the people, the expertise, the technology, but think creativity. You know, the it's the opportunity is there now. There is no limit to the technology except your imagination and picking the right partners.
SPEAKER_03:No, exactly. And so the the report itself, where's the where where where can we get a copy of it?
SPEAKER_04:So it's gonna start to be launched throughout social channels. Um there'll be uh a form that you can apply to and uh obviously link and put your details in and then these will be sent to you. There'll be lots of uh promotion going. Uh our partners will have access to it, um, our brands and customers will have access to it. And so, yeah, it's gonna be an interest in the next couple of months. Uh, we're also gonna be at the uh couple of events that will be showcasing some of the elements of the findings. But for me, it's more important about taking the findings and what does it mean for your business and how can we as partners help you accelerate, educate, and take you on that journey together. And like Ricardo says, bring it to life in two days, printed right in front of your eyes. I think the label industry, again, will take advantage of the technology far beyond any of the other um converters. But everybody's looking at this now, everybody needs to look at it because it is a genuine unlock for many of the opportunities we've been discussing on this call.
SPEAKER_03:Well, listen, thanks for joining us, Ricardo, all the way in Mexico. Thanks so much, Stefan, for helping put this together and for initiating it, for launching a really fascinating, fast-evolving space that that really I guess we have to get equipped for in order to optimize it. And like you say, the key to all of this is collaboration, isn't it? And this this podcast was a great example of. Well, listen, thank you again for joining us. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe now for more great audio content coming up and visit futureprints.org related news or partner interviews or in-depth industry research or the practical content from futureprint events. We'll see you next time on the Future Prince Podcast.
