Daniel Blum

Emerging trends for 2021 While there are numerous trends predicted for 2021 by the pundits, 5 predominant predictions prevail. Many have to do with design, functionality, and aesthetics, but the main ideas do not. Here are the most agreed-upon in the FMCG category: Personalized Packaging Recyclable Green Eco Packaging Transparency and accuracy Vintage or Old Fashioned Generic Store Brand or Private Label Personalized Packaging While writing names on clothing, accessories such as purses and jewelry, and personal items like address books and stationery are not new concepts, this idea has become trendy, and we can expect to see it applied to FMCG as well. Products like Coca Cola and Fazer Chocolate are among the newest participants in this trend. Is it a fad that will pass? Maybe or maybe not, but if you want to sell your FMCG product in 2021, consider offering a way to have the customer’s name printed on the package. Recyclable Green Eco Packaging Most people are familiar with the problem with plastic. The discovery of the Pacific Garbage Patch and its possible solutions has shined a light on this. The idiom ‘Kill a tree or choke a fish’ has been around ever since plastic bags were offered to customers instead of paper bags in the late 60s. With recycling becoming easier and more practical, and awareness of global warming and climate change growing, more people are looking for products packaged in materials that are either biodegradable or which do little harm to the environment. Transparency and accuracy Consumers not only want to know what is in a package, they want to see what is in it. If a product has a picture of what is inside on its label, the picture had better accurately reflect what is inside. We all know that a picture on a menu seldom is what you get, yet this is no longer acceptable. Likewise, a list of ingredients alone isn’t acceptable. If not an accurate picture, then a window made of plastic (despite its disadvantages) is the new normal. Vintage or Old Fashioned Many in America are familiar with the picture of sailing ships on the packages of Old Spice cologne. This age-old tradition with one company has now become trendy, and other companies are adopting it. It’s not only the name and picture on the package, however. Early twentieth and late-nineteenth-century material and designs are catchy to the consumer’s eye. An old-fashioned design stands for quality nowadays. Generic Store Brand or Private Label Generic and store brand labels used to stand for economical but low-quality products. Not any longer. Now add Private Label to the mix. Private label, while representing a low to moderately priced brand, now indicates a special sort of product. Perhaps this is best exemplified in the beer industry. Private label beers produced at local microbreweries are the craze. With all the hoopla surrounding new technologies; VR, AI, and Robotics, it’s surprising that some trends are a throwback to the past, a simpler yet more practical and personal time. Those are the new tendencies in the FMCG market, and anyone who wants to sell their products should take heed of them. https://www.yorksaw.com/packaging-industry-trends/ https://ecolabnet.org/package-trends-2020/ https://99designs.com/blog/trends/packaging-design-trends/ https://www.cada.co.uk/emerging-packaging-trends/ https://www.smithers.com/resources/2019/feb/future-packaging-trends-2018-to-2028