Having been in the packaging industry for over a decade now, I’ve come to the conclusion finally that packaging will always be necessary given the growth of our population worldwide AND that it will be a problem most of the times.
Does this mean we should not have any hope or drive towards innovation as an industry? Of course not. It does mean that we have to be willing to follow the advice of Vanilla Ice and
Stop
Collaborate
And Listen
Come back with a brand new invention
STOP: We need to stop living on our islands and we need to stop selling the wrong packaging to the wrong customers just because we have EBITDA numbers to hit. Packaging is already a problem, STOP compounding the problem by knowingly making and selling packaging that’s bad for the product and the planet
COLLABORATE: We need to be better collaborators. We work with brands and designers all the time, but we have to dig in more with recycling companies, primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging suppliers, shipping companies, retailers, emerging technology (blockchain, AR, etc) companies, local and federal and national governments, and data driven marketing companies.
LISTEN: During this collaboration, we need to actively listen and be willing to change. Get fearlessly curious with each other and collectively seek to listen to the market and experts. Our industry is SLOW to change and it’s hurting our customers and the earth. We have to adjust and be willing to adapt and be nimble. This change might mean laying down your financial goals and referring companies to better companies for their sake.
A BRAND NEW INVENTION: And what might happen at the end of all of this process? A new thing. We may collaborate and come up with something so revolutionary that we can say packaging is not only a problem…
It’s now part of the solution.
If you are into any of this stuff, let’s connect up at www.adampeek.com
