Presenting at a trade event gets the creative juices flowing. Sometimes this can be a good thing. Sometimes it leads to other ideas.

This is what happened this week. I was invited to present a short deck at Pro2Pac at London’s Excel. Appended to the annual IFE show, Pro2pac is a mash-up of machine and packaging manufacturers alongside smaller brands of, sometimes, niche and regional food products. It brings together a compelling mix of people and ideas.

Agenda

My agenda time slot was titled ‘identifying and addressing consumer needs through intelligent design’.

My abstract read like this: Trends across consumer behaviour strongly signal that plastic packaging has lost its place in the hearts and minds of shoppers.

As Generation Z becomes more of a force in the buying community, companies grown and built on the belief that plastics present the best way of shipping CPGs and Produce, over long distance and in the extended supply chain, are being challenged.

How do we break the cycle that causes consumer frustration at the apparent apathy demonstrated by the packaging industry and its perceived lack of preparedness to accept responsibility for the change that is, in some peoples’ eyes, inevitable?

Already I can feel hackles rising amongst plastic packaging producers. So here’s my point: whatever output and efficiency targets incumbent producers need to hit to make money, how ever much the packaging industry tells us that we need plastic nets around oranges or seven-element packaging to make a pot of soup look premium, or a bag around bananas, or plastic wraps around trays of mushrooms… consumers know they don’t. Retailers may prefer pre-packaged goods to make the supply chain more efficient and to manage, their definition of, food waste within the system that the packaging industry and they have created – but consumers don’t NEED it.

With this single, unavoidable ‘black elephant*’ the packaging industry is losing the hearts and minds of consumers.

During my presentation, I referenced the work that is being done in class rooms with Key Stage 1 to 3 students in schools right now. Educating children about the impact of avoidable plastic usage and even more serious environmental concepts is having an effect.

Generation Z

Generation Z has received this information and the recent Greta Thunberg inspired schools strikes are an illustration of a change in the wind; new consumers beginning to make their feelings felt.

Not to put too fine a point on it, there’s a sentiment building.

With industry so hung-up on Millennials as the largest shopping age group, it’s no surprise that subsequent segments aren’t front of mind. For reasons of sustainability, yours and everyone else’s, Gen. Z should be. Do you even know what age Gen.Z is?

My presentation at #Pro2pac was along these lines. As an identified trend, age-specific shifts in attitudes towards consumerism is as clear as day. It’s signalled and is being shouted from all segments of your consumer audience. Resist all you like but if you don’t adapt and change, your business will feel it.

I’ve drawn a quick infographic that sums up this concept and you can get it here. It’s called ‘Who will you sell your packaging to?’ Have a look. I’m interested to talk to you if you agree with this sentiment. I’m more interested to speak to you if you don’t.

To talk about how we can help you re-envisage your product design strategy, we’re a call away and this link will drop time into my diary. Let’s talk soon.

*The Black Elephant is combination of boardroom clichés: the Elephant in the Room, the thing which everyone knows is important, but no one will talk about; and the Black Swan, the hard-to-predict event which is outside the realm of normal expectations, but has enormous impact.

The Internet of Everything is a misnomer. It suggests that everything innovative should be plugged in, and implies that if it isn’t, it’s not worth our time. Digital is everything.

Is it really?

Solicitors are switched on, but not necessarily plugged in. Can you do without them? Yes, right up to the moment you need them. Accountants are switched on. Plugged in? Sometimes. Not always; it depends if they need to be. Whether they service your domestic law and conveyance needs, or work in corporate taxation, professionals like these deliver a service designed to your need. Consumer-centricity by another name.

Textile design gets better by the day: generally and specifically. Think about how Spandex became Lycra and how your Lycra has improved over time. And how good your knitwear is now, compared to when your mum used to knit school sweaters. Digital? Well, the manufacturing process may have a dose of it, but the product itself? Nope.

Street food is loved the way it always has been: it’s cheap, convenient, local, authentic and available. ‘Slow food’ is valued more highly still. The skill of artisan producers is both acknowledged and prized. By contrast, fast food is remorselessly promoted, digitally, and still it’s the measure of last resort: and not valued at all.

Slow fashion is a trend that reflects times past. Accessorise beautifully and buy clothes selectively. Stop buying disposable fashion and make-and-mend where it’s viable. Re-use, re-style and renovate over cheap and cheerful. It’s the circular way.

T-shirts are produced by the bale and designed by computers. Thermal transfers are pin-sharp and multi-coloured. They’ve been used for decades to send a message. And by the second wash, the transfer has cracked and the slogan is a bit tarnished – so we see a trend back to proper, old-fashioned screen-prints that fade with the shirt and become old friends over years. How many Supreme shirts will last as long as Grateful Dead ones?

Once upon a time, I developed a process for making kitchen foil non-stick, using an atomic gauge coating. It worked well and would run at 300m/minute through a Gravure machine. My company decided on a different method of application that used annealing ovens the way they had been used for centuries. It worked. Nothing new was needed and that product is still available today. Both things would have stopped cheese from sticking to the foil. The easier solution worked better.

Even the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical fraternities now agree that some of the health and disease issues we face today stem from lifestyle and diet factors and can be remedied by – guess what? – lifestyle and diet.

The point of all these examples is that digital isn’t the only way of innovating, even today.

If a consumer need changes, solutions are available and if you haven’t heard this before, you heard it here first: simple sells.

If you happen to be in a business incubator or acceleration programme, ‘simple’ is called the MVP. But take it from me: if it sells, stop trying. You may have done enough. You may have satisfied a consumer need and it may make you famous.

If doing the right thing is what you want to be known for – good job.

If your CEO is fixated on going digital or on the EBITDA, enjoy the journey.

Future thinking. Future proofing. It’s what we do.

We’re looking at the plastic packaging industry at the moment. We know we can make a consumer-facing difference here but, to be honest, it’s a hard nut to crack. Nobody wants to take the leap in case they have a price to pay, so all parts of the supply chain struggle to recover the costs associated with change. And that raises the question, who is responsible for innovation?

Progressive companies looking at new ways to deliver a better consumer experience say, almost exclusively, that customers’ overriding focus is on price. Reducing weight, thin-walling and recycling materials are driven by a single incentive: cost. Costs are not welcomed by the retail sector.

Packaging, though, is an increasingly emotive subject and features almost every day in the press. We know, for instance, that plastic will soon outweigh fish in the sea. As a consumer concern, the environmental impact of plastic, including packaging, is commonly acknowledged to be catastrophic. Years after ‘reduce, re-use, recycle’ was launched as a campaign strapline, the best we can find from packaging manufacturers is: ‘As an industry, we need to lead the way.’

So, is price the only consumer demand, or is this, more accurately, customer demand?

Objectives driven by business performance targets rather than consumer-centricity seem to be holding things up. Packaging is created in a bid to deliver perceived value over real consumer benefit. Having established the notion of added value, the task is to meet the profit requirements of retailer customers who provide a route to market for these items. In other words, marketing.

There seems to be a chasm of understanding between consumers, who want to see a reduction in environmental waste, and the packaging industry that focuses on the requirements of their customers. I’ll quote again from a room44 blog from August (Can you innovate even if you wanted to?) where a senior packaging industry figure said of the plastic pollution issue, “Anyone with any common sense knows the only problem with plastic waste. It’s the morons who throw it away.”

Here’s a snippet from an e-mail I received from a major UK supermarket on the subject of black masterbatch in plastic packaging. This is a particular problem. Black and dark colours reduce the ease with which plastics can be recycled and then re-used. Our contact wrote, “… If you have colours that you think will be detected and also answer the need to show off product at its best, then of course I am interested. But the way to do that is to work with suppliers and for you to find a way to gain commercial benefit through that route.” In other words, supermarkets are happy to move in the right direction, as long as their suppliers bear the cost.

If there is a genuine desire to lead the way, there is absolutely nothing stopping supermarkets or their suppliers – except for the impact that change will have on their short-term business performance. As a study in who needs to use Design Thinking as a methodology, the packaging industry is perfect. As a study in inertia, it’s almost unrivalled.

The commercial reality is that retailers simply won’t take a price increase that they can’t pass on to consumers – and that’s not popular with anybody. But with a declared strategic goal that consumers can understand, and the baby steps in place that are needed to meet the target, it is easier to manage.

UK retailers have declared carbon reduction targets. Here’s an example from Tesco:

“Following the Paris Climate Agreement, we will encourage suppliers and work with them to set their own credible science-based targets on a 2-degree trajectory. Or alternatively aim to achieve ‘absolute’ reductions, based on 2015 levels of:

• 7% by 2020 and
• 35% by 2030 (15% for agricultural emissions) 

We believe these targets balance the need to produce more food to feed a growing global population with the need to embrace restorative farming practices and reduce field emissions. We are working with our suppliers to achieve these targets through our Tesco Supplier Network where we can collaborate on carbon reduction measures.”

As a consumer, I want to know how many Coke bottles won’t be produced for Tesco as a result of this target; how much of a dent will it make in marine waste; when will turtles stop getting yoked in plastic; and when can I expect to see loose fruit and veg across all stores?

In retail, consumers pay for everything and we aren’t getting what we want. Why? Because things change.

• We used to want convenience. Now we have it, it isn’t enough.
• We used to want low, low prices. We’ve got them now. It isn’t enough.
• We used to want huge choice. Now we have it, we want to avoid out-of-town stores and walk up and down the high street as well.
• We used to want perfect carrots wrapped in plastic. Now we want misshapen, loose carrots in paper bags so we can feel reconnected with the food chain.

Of course this is a generalisation, and there is a flip side. There are examples, in grocery retail, of design thinking meeting great product design:

LUSH has been developing products that use zero packaging. Solidified liquids that are self-supporting: a retailer delivering against consumer demand. At a packaging innovations show recently, we found packaging company people who argued this simply couldn’t work because LUSH must sell so many more units to cover the cost of extended product life. Attitudinally, we see a retailer doing it and packaging guys rejecting the novelty.

Halo Coffee has seen the trend towards convenient coffee consumption and the disaster that laminated and unrecovered aluminium presents. New fully bio-degradable coffee capsules can do the same job as company branded products without the environmental on-cost.

HISBE may not be the first ethically minded supermarket to hit the high street, but it is determined. You’ve probably got a similarly minded outfit somewhere close to where you live but it may be hidden on a farm. Take a look at HISBE’s site: lazy observers will comment on all the packaging that’s still apparent. But by doing that, they’re choosing to ignore all the products that aren’t packaged. That’s where the difference is being made.

To find out more about the power of Design Thinking and how it can turn consumer demand into breakthrough products, look at the other blogs on our website.

For information on effective ways to drive waste reduction in all parts of the product supply chain, take a look at the work the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is doing. It’s a revolution that’s only just getting started.

Future thinking. Future Proofing. It’s what we do.

#room44innovates #ellenmacarthurfoundation #design thinking #innovation strategy

There’s a trend building for 2018 that’s soon going to be part of every innovator’s landscape, not just a few. It has the backing of major design thinkers and of social enterprise campaigners. Even if it hasn’t reached the mainstream or doesn’t sit on your radar yet – it will. The concept is Circular Design  “A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design” – and it can’t fail. Environmentally, the case for circular design is made and incontrovertible:

room44 is a passionate supporter of the circular design concept. It fits well with our own philosophy of encouraging companies to place innovation at the heart of strategy. Together, these ideas are powerful change drivers and we’ll write on the subject throughout 2018.

“A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design” – and it can’t fail. Environmentally, the case for circular design is made and incontrovertible:

• Design out waste and pollution
• Keep products and materials in use
• Regenerate natural systems

From any perspective, how we design, manufacture, value and use materials and digital products is unsustainable. Circular design helps us all to change that. Digital? Yes, digital too. Do a bit of research into how much electricity and computing power cryptocurrencies consume and you’ll see what I mean.

This is a quote from the principal resource for circular economy information, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and it wraps the concept up nicely.

“What is a circular economy? Looking beyond the current “take, make and dispose” extractive industrial model, the circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. Relying on system-wide innovation, it aims to redefine products and services to design waste out, while minimising negative impacts. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural and social capital.” Have a look at this video to see how circular design works and how you can help it.

This week, the World Economic Forum is big news and one of the highlights reported in the run up is that The Ellen MacArthur Foundation team will be participating with other Forum members at Project MainStream. This is a major offensive to pull product based companies into an elightened state.

To develop your own enlightened mind set we’re offering of absolutely free forensic calls in February, to explore your current innovation needs and to identify ways of breaking them down into bite sized pieces. To find out how to book a time slot, sign up for our newsletter here.

Good design or circular design. Lego shows us how. There are more than 11.5 million children under 16 in the UK. Over the course of 2016 they were given, or bought, an average of nine toys each, costing £105 per child on average. That’s £1.9 billion in total.

The US accounts for around 3% of the world’s children and 40% of the toys bought globally. That’s a lot of plastic, among other things.

Of course, all this plastic has some long-term implications for the environment:

• The raw resource too often finds its way into landfill
• The raw resource is lost to the supply chain
• The raw resource pollutes and kills parts of the ecosystem

Kids, huh?

Thinking about the long-term effect of product design is interesting. It’s easy for manufacturers to focus on shipping units and increasing turnover year-on-year. But, with some consumer pressure, we can drive change back into brand behaviour. We, as consumers, are starting to create our own trends and forcing brands to listen.

Looking back to look forward, we can see that trends in toys come and go. Everyone has a favourite from their era: train sets, Action Man, Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, Fidget Spinners… yet there are a few perennials. One is Lego. There are an estimated 90 bricks for every person on the planet, that haven’t changed in design in 60 years. If you bought and kept plastic Lego when it launched in 1958, you can still use them with modern bricks. More recently, Lego started selling its designed kits, but even the axles and fittings that were metal are now thermoformed plastic of the same material as the bricks themselves.

If you’ve ever tried buying a cheaper alternative to Lego, you’ll know why this is a false economy. As a design icon, Lego is already the most durable of toys featuring the best design of its kind, and now it has proved to be…  actually, no – not circular.

For a product to be designed to fit within a circular lifecycle, it has known obsolescence built in. A known tendency to break or a weakness is a larger part of the reason why toys fall out of favour. In Lego’s case, this doesn’t apply. Designed with longevity built-in means that the iconic bricks don’t stop being useful as they were intended to be.

So Circular Design is one way of helping the product lifecycle be more sustainable. Truly great design is another, and probably better.

Let’s stay in touch. Sign up for our weekly innovation insights newsletter.

Future thinking. Future proofing. Innovation justified. It’s what we do.

There’s a trend building for 2018 that’s soon going to be part of the innovator’s landscape. It has the backing of major design thinkers and of social enterprise campaigners. Even if it hasn’t reached the mainstream or doesn’t sit on your radar yet – it will. The concept is Circular Design  “A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design” – and it can’t fail. Environmentally, the case for circular design is made and incontrovertible:

“A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design” – and it can’t fail. Environmentally, the case for circular design is made and incontrovertible:

• Design out waste and pollution
• Keep products and materials in use
• Regenerate natural systems

From any perspective, how we design, manufacture, value and use materials and digital products is unsustainable. Circular design helps us all to change that. Digital? Yes, digital too. Do a bit of research into how much electricity and computing power cryptocurrencies consume and you’ll see what I mean.

Similarly, the costs of data storage and processing mobile communications will come under scrutiny. If you thought writing an e-mail was less resource-hungry than writing a letter, you were right. But it isn’t free. The number of e-mails and SMS texts in circulation is larger than written letters by a factor of X?.

This is a quote from the principal resource for circular economy information, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and it wraps the concept up nicely.

“What is a circular economy?

Looking beyond the current “take, make and dispose” extractive industrial model, the circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. Relying on system-wide innovation, it aims to redefine products and services to design waste out, while minimising negative impacts. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural and social capital.”

room44 is a passionate supporter of the circular design concept. It fits well with our own philosophy of encouraging companies to place innovation at the heart of strategy. Together, these ideas are powerful change drivers and we’ll write on the subject throughout 2018.

Have a look at this video to see how circular design works and how you can help it.

To find out more about design thinking, circular design and see how we price for room44 programmes, sign up for our newsletter here.

The trend of experience. “It’s so great you haven’t done that yet.”

After Christmas and the holidays, we often end up wondering where all the stuff we bought each other will go. Where we’ll fit it into our lives and, frankly, why we do it.
Decluttering, clearing down and simplifying all year and then allowing the the gaps to refill with things, most of which we never had it in mind to need.

Material products are a huge component of what keeps our economy turning. Manufactured goods that represent badges of position in our local social hierarchies, and others that fill a need for convenience and comfort, are valued relative to the brand values we subscribe to them. But things are changing.

Over the next year we’re going to see a far higher emphasis on the need for a reduction in material consumerism. Through promotion of the Circular Economy, driven by circular design, we’ll become aware of the benefits of making more mindful purchase decisions. We’ll be educated and asked to consider the calculated value and utility of an item and to think how we might dispose of it later: how it can be reintroduced to the supply chain or released to a predesigned secondary or tertiary purpose.

The strategic aim is to address the calamitous state of environmental pollution and to slow the rate at which our growing global population is throttling the ecosystem. By applying some kaizen thinking to circular design, the effect of small and constant changes will make a difference.

Out of this trend comes a focus on new opportunities. Call this the Experience Economy. The anticipation of going somewhere and doing something far exceeds the excitement of receiving a delivery. The actual doing of something can be stunning. Even if it doesn’t hit that high, in retrospect the memories are usually good. Here sits the value of experience. Experience, whether together or alone, is enjoyed and remembered differently to everyone else. We talk about it, photograph it and share the event from a unique perspective – and most often we don’t create material environmental waste when doing so.

The hierarchy of priority is also shifting. To be first to experience a new opportunity isn’t where the value is.
The aspirational trend is not to be first in line for the latest phone. The experience Economy leads us to want to be able to have someone say to us, ‘It’s great that you haven’t done that yet.’

The anticipation of doing something that has become popular could yet be where the highest value is.

Future thinking. Future proofing. It’s what we do.