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But what I mean to say is that there’s been a certain amount of pent up innovation. These brands haven’t been blind to what’s going on, either on sustainability or social responsibility trends that the consumers are asking them to address. They just haven’t had the capacity on their lines to be doing a whole lot of R&D, testing new products, and spinning off new SKUs that might hit a new market, or hit well with a certain group of consumers. But I think we’re normalizing. I think what I mentioned before, this earthquake to the landscape of the omnichannel is recalibrating in a way that might be somewhat permanent, at least in the near term. And then based on that, you’ll see brands that are gradually seeing capacity come back. And with that capacity, ability to start experimenting with new pack designs, new ways to express who they are in terms of what they stand for and the values they believe that will resonate with their customers or their consumers. And the other factor is we haven’t had a chance to have in-person events to really connect the dots of what might be available out there. Again, 16 months, we’ve also seen that people haven’t been able to get together and exchange ideas as easily as they have in the past. Just because the packaging shows like Interpac, PACK EXPO, those are the big ones, just haven’t been able to happen for obvious reasons because of COVID-19, because of borders being
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closed. So, the free exchange of ideas, while we’ve done our best via Zoom, the best collaboration tends to happen in-person and in areas where you can get your hands on a machine. Or use AR, VR to virtually get your hands on a machine at least. But still, what we’re feeling is pent up innovation. So we had these thought leaders or early adopters in Unilever and Hershey that are showing what’s possible and what might be around the next bend. But we also have a lot of pent up innovation and brands that are just waiting for an opportunity to make the next shift, because they have been running like gangbusters for 16 months. And as they gain more capacity, then they’ll be able to turn their attention to what they want to look like next, what the next version of that brand is going to be. And I think the first event that we’re all going to be at is going to be PACK EXPO Las Vegas. I know I’ll be there, Sean, and you’ll be there. I look forward to that as the first time that I will be able to see a lot of these trends that we’ve been following and been hearing about, but in the flesh and actually in some sort of application going forward. For more information about exhibiting at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, visit: packexpolasvegas.com Easily share this article with your peers: oemgo.to/2020change
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