On 29 June 2019, at The Park in New Delhi, LMAI organized a well-attended brand owners and label converters event with strong support from the industry’s equipment and label stock suppliers. A prelude to both the LMAI event in Kochi in end-July and to the Labelexpo in Brussels in September, the event reviewed the label converting situation in the country.
Shantanu Chowdhary, associate director at Sun Pharma, highlighted the need for improving some of the methods being used for information and interaction with consumers. He said, “QR code is a very good example if you want to talk about dispensing solutions and if you want to talk about your product. Beyond that, there are limitations with the QR code. . . . A QR code can be created in 10 seconds. One that can be seen on a branded product can be duplicated easily in 5 seconds. An invisible technology is a must to avoid this counterfeit.”
Speaking on FMCG labels, Naveen Stuart, packaging development manager at Reckitt Benckiser said, “The best thing about a label is that it provides branding to a particular product which helps it greatly to stand out on the shelf increasing its saleability. However, there is generational shift. We’re a part of generation X but if one really observes one will find that there is a drastic demographic change happening with the current generation moving towards digital and wanting to take control over everything.” In such a scenario, customization becomes extremely important while packaging also needs to tell the story of a brand and the product. It must be interactive according to Stuart and in the the authentication of the product often comes through the label.
Tamal Ghosh, deputy general manager at Dabur, said that his company loves to invent. In comparison to a general self-adhesive label, Ghosh said that in-mold labels provide better graphics and do away with liner wastage. He asked the converters if they can come up with a PET-based label on a PET packaging substrate for an in-mold labels solution similar to an HDPE label on HDPE bottles, a solution that has recently come to India, saying that PP is not viable for this. He suggested that thinner labels without affecting the performance of the label are the need of the hour in the FMCG sector.
Somnath Chatterjee, general manager – Procurement at Pernod Ricard, thanked the business partners of the event who according to him played a huge role in the growth of his company. Giving a brief description of Pernod’s growth in the liquor segment, he said, “With ageing population, rising prosperity, increasing cost, urbanization and globalization, there is a need to create a difference in packaging for adding value for the consumer. Consumers want convenience, genuine products and value preserving products, which raises the need for age-appropriate, operational packaging suiting new lifestyles.”
The event concluded with suppliers and brand owners interacting in a panel discussion. Concluding the proceedings Manish Desai of Mudrika Labels, the current president of LMAI, encouraged participation in the continuously growing LMAI conference in Kochi from 25 to 28 July 2019.
