IFE 2023 Wrap
Team Threesixty were back at IFE this month. We regularly take stand space at shows as part of our business development efforts.
IFE offers a terrific chance to witness the latest innovations, trends and challenger brand launches. We also get to attend the excellent Seminar programme and meet old industry colleagues and friends. If you’ve never been, I really recommend it for next year.
A comment leapt out at me during one of the Seminars. A fire-brand contributor boldly claimed there was zero Re-use provision from the event Organisers, the Excel building or from the Brands at the show.
As with most sweeping statements, it wasn’t especially factual. Example, there’s a water bottle refill fountain on the concourse. As to the brands, It’s true that they weren’t featuring much in the way of zero waste / refill concepts, but the movement is slowly gaining traction and IFE isn’t the best context for brands to be talking that game.
I’ve been in the packaging sector for most of my 30+ year career and, full disclosure, the thought of the world about-turning to Re-use fills me with horror. Bye, bye printed carton, hullo plain box with inbuilt-personalised-augmented-reality brand messaging.
The reality is, when some of the practicalities are overcome, the opportunity for cost savings combined with likely legislation, could really push things in this direction in a big way. If the majority of deliveries were made DTC - there’s simply less need for the branding we see in store.
We’ll keep a close eye on developments and keep you posted.
Finally, the thing that surprised me most at the Show was the limited use of QR codes. These seemingly humble little devices are the brand owners dream - linking shoppers to a virtual world of functional, creative or exciting brand content. Beside our own, I barely saw another QR code across the three days.
Maybe next year!
If you’d like to meet me and my team face to face, we’re at Food and Drink Expo, NEC, 24-26 April. Alternatively, our Maidenhead office is always open for visitors.
