The future of label industry through the European Label Forum FINAT 2019

Once again, we have been at the European Label Forum FINAT 2019, the meeting to turn the attention on the European label industry and its future. Organized by FINAT, the European association for the self-adhesive label industry, this edition gathered over 250 industry entrepreneurs for three days in Copenhagen, where they have been able to discuss the future of the European industry with other companies. 

Present and future of the label industry 

As a new feature, in this edition round-tables have been organized to allow owners and managers of labels companies to discuss issues such as sustainability and recycling, investment in technology, marketing and the way of working of the next generation or the how to work of Z generation. Also highlighted the FINAT Young Managers Club, which presented the result of a survey among the future leaders of the industry and the Young Professionals Network product, which aims to contribute actively in the future of the label industry. 

All the conclusions reached in these debates will be discussed in the next main meeting of FINAT, which is responsible for ensuring the interests and future of the sector. 

 

Deceleration in local label markets

The situation of local label markets both from EU member countries and from external ones was another issue, which was discussed in the European Label Forum FINAT 2019. In this session, market reports on Danish, Swedish and Norwegian labels and FINAT’s annual European label statistics report were analyzed. 

Jules Lejeune, the FINAT Director, shared the deceleration in the demand for a volume of labels and sales in Europe. Last year, the demand of self-adhesive volume in Europe reached 7.5 billion m², 1.4% more than in 2017. Also, Corey Reardon, representative of Danish market, extended the scope of the label market to cover the development of the label industry from a global perspective and the design and ‘decoration’ of the product. 

 

The importance of custom label design

The event also dedicated one of its sessions to dealing with the innovation and evolution of the label. Guido Schmitz, a member of the Association of the Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry (AIPIA), explained his experience as director of packaging and technological innovation at Bayer and the close relationship that exists between holistic design and product packaging innovation. In this way, according to Schmitz, a holistic design adapted to the needs and identity of the brand is the most important to make the public connect with it. Thus, the packaging responds to the practicality to package the product and to the ingenuity of the brands to differentiate themselves in the market both with the design of the packaging and the label printing materials.

FINAT Label AWARDS 2019

In this edition, it has also announced the winners of the FINAT Label AWARDS 2019, which reward innovation and quality in this sector. In addition to the 27 winners of the category and 5 of a group, a total of 93 High-Quality certificates have been distributed.

 

Among this year’s winners, the “Alto del Carmen Barricas de Selección” label by the Multi-color Corporation (Chile) stood out for winning the “Best in Show” and the Marketing / End-Use Group Award; Òªiftsan Etiket (Turkey) earned the Print Processes Group Award for its label for Céu Shampoo; Forlabels SA (Greece) who took the prize of the non-adhesive group with his work for ADAMS Ouzo Santorini; Schreiner Group GmbH & Co. KG in the group category for Innovation and Germark SA, Spain in the Digital Printing Group category for “Un Ríªve Doux”.

 

The FINAT European Forum 2019 program is characterized as a meeting for the strategic success of the label industry. The next edition will take place in June 2020 in Rome. See you in Italy!