Having returned from a successful Packaging Innovations Birmingham event, we spoke to Tim Mallender, our Business Development Manager, about his thoughts on the show, the importance of face-to-face interaction and what themes could be taken into the year ahead.
During Packaging Innovations Birmingham, we used our stand to present Denny Bros as a printing service and to broaden people’s horizons on the benefits of adding and using additional labelling.
We took the decision that if we only ever put our core leaflet label as centre stage, it could narrow people’s interest and reduce the opportunities to converse with different industry representatives.
So Denny’s joined up with Willowbridge Labels Ltd, which is part of the Denny Bros Group, to offer a one-stop solution and tick all manner of boxes.
The two companies dovetailed perfectly as Willowbridge offer a different setup – they offer a wide variety of label types that are very popular in the trade whereas Denny Bros offers more of a specialist service.
This meant we could showcase our range across two different businesses and many different sectors.
Whenever we sample and display our products, people always come up to us with intrigue. It looks like a normal single ply label on pack but once you let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak, our labels open up into multiple panels and gives the people you are talking to a great idea as to how they can streamline their current packaging, for example. It also opens up the possibility of greater brand messaging and the potential of introducing other products using a multi-page label.
I think there are still some out there who don’t appreciate that such a product is available. Why is this? I think some of the people we speak to may never have had the need or desire to use a multi-page label.
But that is one reason why Packaging Innovations is so important. It tickles the interest of potential customers as to what can be achieved on a label.
There will always be some companies who leave any trade show a little disheartened about not getting the level of interest they were hoping for.
But I think trade shows are about much more than that. The last couple of Covid years has seen everyone become more reliant on a virtual world through Zoom and Teams.
I don’t think the importance of face-to-face interaction will ever disappear and these kind of events facilitate that, whether through networking or potential sales.
We were delighted to leave with a number of new leads but equally it was great to meet up with current customers and colleagues.
Body language speaks volumes in our industry and our products are so tactile. You can’t reach into, metaphorically speaking, a computer screen and demonstrate what our labels can offer to customers as you can speaking to someone face-to-face.
For me, you can’t put a value on meeting someone in person. Face-to-face will never diminish.
I would say I came away from Packaging Innovations with a mixed view. It was a busy two days (and I note reports that visitor numbers were up by 20%) and we certainly had our usual busy peak times.
But there was certainly something missing. Pre-Covid, we saw a number of entrepreneurs coming to the stand expressing an interest in our products. These could have been start-ups or those who have recently joined a new company. Post-Covid, unfortunately, those type of individuals don’t appear to be attending these shows at this time– we found the same with the event last May.
This could be the current economic climate, that it’s not the right time or right landscape to set up a business.
But it could also be the number of packaging technologist roles are reducing; something that is quite relevant when you want to talk about primary and secondary packaging to these very knowledgeable professionals. I’m not sure whether companies see these roles as an expensive luxury and, as a consequence, they are becoming a dying breed.
When asked what conclusions or themes I can draw from Packaging Innovations Birmingham, I would say the packaging sector is very much in the thick of it when it comes to sustainability and recycling.
Consumer and public concern for the climate demonstrates that there is a big push towards packaging and recycling, but you can talk to 10 people and you will get 10 different answers as to what this means for the sector.
That was a big takeaway from Packaging Innovations. Ultimately the Government has a role to play in the clarity about the UK’s ambitions for recycling and landfill. The fact we have no national recycling policy adds to the confusion but packaging companies are striving to do all they can within their remit to reduce Co2, energy usage and their reduction in landfill waste.
From a joint Denny Bros and Willowbridge’s standpoint, the exhibition also gave us the opportunity to demonstrate that we have a clear objective to lessen any adverse impacts on the environment. Our huge solar panel installation and showcasing labels using a recycled material were topics discussed and highlighted to visitors to our stand.
