Reinventing
packaging
Companies can use packaging –
a new contributor to the digital
thread – to better engineer and
manufacture products. Evolving market dynamics, suchpackaging technologies is still now being dispelled and brands
Foreword fromas COVID-19, regulations, relevant. But new market are beginning to see real value
customer expectations and thedynamics are creating both a push creation potential. They have
the AIPIA growing sustainability agenda,and a pull for more smart fewer and weaker reasons for not
have elevated the push for packaging solutions. digitizing their product
product digitization higher than Over the last 10 years, our industry experiences though packaging
ever on C-suite agendas.was very much driven by the innovation. Indeed, many are now
Packaging can make even passive smart technology solution seeing this as an imperative.
products become smart and providers, which is typical for a In this report, Accenture has
connected products, enabling relatively new industry. Today, collated the evidence showing
brands to weave a ‘digital thread’ brands are taking much more that brands initiating smart
for multi-directional interactions notice of how smart connectedconnected packaging are
throughout the product lifecycle.
Eef de Ferrante packaging relates to these achieving much better results
This can ensure a route to theshifting market dynamics. than those who aren’t – across a
Managing Director, Active & Intelligent creation of a virtuous loop of
But knowing how to utilize this range of outcomes and business
Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA). downstream and upstream value functions. Readers will be left in no
generation and data sharing. understanding and effectively
implement these technologiesdoubt that CxOs should be
As Managing Director of the global may not be immediately apparent. shifting their perceptions of
Active & Intelligent Packaging packaging from merely functional
Industry Association (AIPIA), I see The basic technologies used for to truly transformational –
significant growth potential for much smart packaging such asreinventing how packaging is
this industry and many new andRFID, NFC and QR codes are perceived and how it is utilized –
interesting business cases coming already long-established in the just as the title of this report
up. AIPIA’s original mission to market. Sadly, myths about smart suggests.
connected packaging have
decimate supply chain costs,I hope you enjoy reading!
reduce waste and increase itscreated misconceptions about
members’ profitability through the their capabilities and cost Eef de Ferrante
implementation of smarteffectiveness. These myths are Data is the heartbeat of every exception of the barcode which Our findings? Simple. Companies
Foreword from thriving modern productemerged in the 1970s and somethat use packaging to drive data
company. The most advanced sector-specific adoption of downstream to customers to
Accenturecompanies are persistently using practices like serialization,enrich their product experience
data to reinvent their products. packaging innovation has beenand also pull data back upstream
They also use data to reinvent relatively anemic in spite of great to be shared across business
their operations by weaving digital advances in technology. But, functions such as product
threads which allow information to aided in part by the stewardship of development and manufacturing
flow between products,the AIPIA, compelling use cases are already achieving outsized
processes, and plants. And the are now emerging, and pockets of gains across business imperatives.
more they excel at processing this success are leading to growing This all means that product
data and putting it to use, the interest in smart connected business leaders must understand
better they do. packaging and the data-driven-
Sef Tuma that packaging is now, more than
But being data-driven requires, of value it can deliver.ever, inherently an extension of
Industry X Lead, Engineering & course, data. In my role, I see first- We investigated attitudes and the product. So, if your purpose is
Manufacturing at Accenturehand how the more varied andactions of product business to build an organization that truly
reliable the data companies leaders to packaging innovation believes in the reinvention of the
possess, the more likely they are by conducting dozens ofproduct, the reinvention of your
to weave valuable data threads interviews and fielding a survey to engineering and manufacturing
and be successful. 1000 company leaders. The operations, and the overall
Our team set out to understand answers to the survey were then reinvention of the entire industrial
how some product businesses are processed by Accenturesectors, then I urge you to read
weaving digital value threads by Research’s AI-driven data the report and take heed of our
leveraging one particular clustering techniques to findings.
unconventional data source –understand which combinationsBest,
product packaging. With the of management actions enable
companies to excel. Sef TumaIt’s time we took a closer look at
packaging…
Packaging has existed for as long as products have been traded.
That’s literally thousands of years.
From clay-pots and leather pouches to cardboard box and plastic bottles, the role of
packaging to protect, preserve, promote and support the transportation of the product
has remained fairly constant. So, why should product organizations be refocusing
attention on it now?
Because a groundswell of tech-innovation is dramatically
changing packaging.
While advances in material science are making new types of containers possible, new
combinations of technologies are further enriching the functionality of packaging to
deliver 360° value.*
*Accenture defines “360° value” as delivering the financial business case and unique value a client may be
seeking, along with striving to partner with its clients to achieve greater progress across these dimensions:
Client, Talent, Inclusion & Diversity, Experience, Sustainability and Financial.
4 ExperienceFinancial
… because next- University of Glasgow researchers Annual sale volumes grew
have developed a solution fordramatically when Treasury Wine
gen packaging traders to authenticate bottles ofEstates launched an augmented
rare whisky (of which 40% are not reality-enabled ‘living label’ for its 19
what they claim to be) by using Crimes brand – which ‘disrupted the
is helping drive4
their smartphone to tap an anti- world of wine.’
360° value. tamper NFC bottle closure.1
Sustainability
Talent Sheep Inc. launched garments
Pepsi developed an innovativewhich feature a biodegradable NFC
platform which gamified the tag providing each wearer with the
company’s recruitment process to ability to trace the supply chain of
attract more diverse and creative its knitwear; empowering them
thinkers. The scannable barcodes with the ability to carry out a self-
encouraged graduates to playservice carbon audit.5
interactive quizzes. The recruitment
team then accessed the results
back-end to shortlist probable
candidates.2
Inclusion
Kellogg;s created a special Coco
Pops box to mark World Sight Day
helping partially sighted people
access packaging info by scanning a
code.3