< Previous30 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukPRINTING & PACKAGINGPerfecting packaging© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / NEW AFRICAPerfecting packaging30-33.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 14:20 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukEast Midlands Business Link 31 PRINTING & PACKAGINGIn response to consumer demands and stringent legislation, the packaging industry has entered a period of major change. Perhaps the most impactful trend hitting the industry is the desire for more sustainable packaging options. Public outcry from conscious consumers over packaging is continuing to focus on the use of plastic and the damage it causes to the environment. Retailers have responded to concerns by removing black plastic from their products’ packaging, which cannot be sorted easily by systems generally used in plastic recycling and often ends up in landfill. Waitrose for instance recently reached the halfway mark in its target to eliminate black plastic from all its own products by the end of this year and is aiming to make its own-label products’ packaging reusable, compostable or recyclable by 2023. Negative perceptions of plastic packaging continue to rise with the topic being showcased in the media, making it essential for packaging firms to design new eco-friendly packaging that, of course, can still protect products. Leicester-headquartered Walkers faced public scrutiny last year for not jumping on the sustainable trend, leading to a petition asking for the crisp giant’s packets to become recyclable. The viral campaign ended with Walkers’ new recycling scheme, in partnership with Terracycle, where the company asked people to send in their crisp packets to be shredded, made into plastic pellets and then new items. The firm is now also trialling paper and plant packaging materials. Consumers want less unsustainable packaging and less waste. Highlighting this, the European Consumer Packaging Perceptions Survey found that 9 out of 10 UK consumers want easily recyclable packaging, 88% would like information to be provided on packaging about how environmentally friendly it is, half of UK shoppers are decreasing the amount of products they buy with unsustainable packaging, and strikingly, 53% of 19-29 year olds said that because of over-packaging and recyclability they switched brands last year. Businesses must therefore join the race to sustainable packaging or face falling behind their competitors. This has seen many firms and suppliers working with plastic packaging sign up to the UK Plastics Pact. Targets featured within the pact include eliminating unnecessary single use plastic packaging, making 100% of plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable, and ensuring 70% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted. These targets are to be met by 2025, and it is hoped they will create a stronger recycling system, make sure plastics are made into new products, and help form a circular plastics economy. Additionally government taxes and legislation are pushing packaging firms to more sustainable options. Last year, in the Autumn Budget, Phillip Hammond revealed a new tax on plastic packaging, imported or produced in the UK, that does not contain a minimum of 30% recycled content. Subject to consultation in 2022, the aim of the tax is to address the issue of the cheapness of non-recycled plastic that makes it preferable to use. Manufacturers are also, as announced by Government in December, now to pay the full cost of recycling or disposal of their packaging waste, in a move to “overhaul England’s waste system, putting a legal onus on those responsible for producing damaging waste to take greater responsibility and foot the bill.” While there is strong societal demand for packaging made of recycled plastic, this does not mean that the shift to completely recycled packaging is easy. For instance bioplastics have been used by some to replace non-biodegradable plastics, but as the processing methods needed for biodegradable plastics, which must have the right conditions to be biodegradable, are not always available, well-intentioned replacements of packaging are not actually helping reduce the plastic packaging waste problem. In addition the 33 uAs consumers demand more from their packaging it is vital that firms get on board with major trends. The most important of which, perhaps, is the matter of sustainability. 30-33.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 14:21 Page 2Unit 3, 606 Industrial Park, Staithgate Lane, Bradford, BD6 1YA T: 01274 731222 E: info@advanceddynamics.co.uk www.advanceddynamics.co.ukIf you are the type of person who is looking to find a machinery supplier that you can call a partner, one that understands your needs and is driven entirely by the service and support they offer... we look forward to meeting you.For a brand new type of filling experience!32 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukPRINTING & PACKAGING© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / CHAOSAMRAN_STUDIO30-33.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 14:21 Page 3hopes of going completely plastic free is not realistic as plastic packaging has a vital role in, for example, keeping food protected and fresh, preventing food waste - another waste epidemic across the globe. Packagers also note that a major problem is the limited availability of high-quality material that is recyclable, along with the fact that there is a real lack of systems advanced enough for sorting waste that can be used to create recyclable pellets and new packaging. As plastics were previously formed from non-renewable resources, there is now a need for the industry to embrace innovation and invest in R&D to advance design improvements that increase use of materials that are compostable and recyclable - to create the packaging of the future that consumers are demanding in the present. It is also essential that firms invest in reprocessing technologies and recycling infrastructure. The UK government is doing its part to improve the nation’s recycling capabilities, announcing £8m of funding for research projects exploring new ways of making and recycling plastics at the end of last year on top of funds already available such as the Plastics Innovation Fund. In our region the focus on finding sustainable alternatives has been highlighted most recently by Loughborough Advanced Technology and Innovation Centre-based Interface Polymers’ project to create sustainable, commercially viable solutions to the plastic packaging waste problem. The research, focusing on putting multi-layer flexible plastic packaging back into use, was recently awarded a £638,000 Innovate UK grant. Further, the region’s universities are searching for packaging solutions, with a project at the University of Nottingham seeing researchers develop 100% biodegradable and edible food packaging made from plant carbohydrates and proteins. While conversion from rigid to flexible packaging is one method that has been used by firms to improve sustainability, the next step will see the incoming of mono-material and various recyclable film structures. Innovation in the industry is seeing packaging manufacturers investigate options like plant-based fibres such as microfibrillated cellulose which can create strong and light weighing packaging materials, though at present it is proving difficult to create the wrapping material in mass and, like with other fibre-based packaging, the problem remains of its inability to be a safe barrier against the elements. Overall, quite simply, more is expected from packaging, which is further seen in the smart packaging trend. Using technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) codes and labels printed on packaging, the smart package can send data to smartphones and other reading devices to communicate the status and location of goods easily and quickly to retailers and consumers. Smart packaging is being used to optimise the consumer’s experience with brands as it allows for heightened interaction. Smart labels on packaging can even offer consumers the chance to scan packages with their phones to see in depth what they contain. Therefore, quite usefully, the smart label has the opportunity to placate a rise in consumer desire for precise and honest information on packaging. Looking at design, further trends include the growing use of bold, strong colours, along with minimalism, use of natural looking imagery to take advantage of healthy trends, and vintage looking packaging to take advantage of nostalgia. Use of new effects, such as textured, matte and holographic packaging, to make goods stand next to rival brands, is also becoming key. Personalising packaging is proving to be important too in making consumers engage with goods on a personal level. Coca-Cola with its choice to print names on drinks bottle labels is one basic and successful example of this, and thanks to further adoption of digital printing it is now much easier to firms to customise packaging.www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukEast Midlands Business Link 33 PRINTING & PACKAGING© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / JOSEP CURTO30-33.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 14:21 Page 434 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukPUBLIC RELATIONSThere’s a hole in your bucket dear LizaGreg Simpson, founder of Press for Attention PR and Enterprise Nation Champion for Nottingham OK, so you’re not Liza BUT I’m about to save you a fortune on wasted marketing anyway. All you need to do is find the holes in your bucket which sounds simple but after a number of similar different experiences in the last month, maybe it isn’t. In the last month I have sourced quotes for a bathroom tiling project along with many other bits and bobs. My wife and I scoured Trusted Trader, found some good reviews and asked for quotes. Two different people got back to us. Great marketing. However, neither of them showed up. What a waste of time, effort and marketing investment. They’ve got zero chance of being asked to quote again and if a friend asked me for a recommendation I would tell them to run a mile. They had Facebook pages, not great but they were there. We checked them. Again, that effort is totally wasted but they can’t blame their marketing for that. Eventually we went old school and I checked the local Post Office window. We were in luck. I dropped a text to the chap and then and he replied immediately, even offering to come over there and then. On a Saturday. Talk about impressed. We arranged to meet on Monday. He was 10 minutes late which did worry me as he didn’t warn me of this which would have been courteous, never mind sensible for a trader seeking to quote for a job. Anyway, he arrived and was very polite and professional. He even gave me ideas on how to save money rather than waste it. There’s a theme here folks. We agreed to a schedule just after Christmas which was even more impressive, especially as he said he was starting a corporate job in the new year so wanted to get this done and dusted for us pronto. Altogether now...’Oh it’s all gone quiet 34-35.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 10:27 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukEast Midlands Business Link 35Greg Simpson - on a mission to tell 2020 stories by 2020 PUBLIC RELATIONSover there.’ Then it went a bit quiet. Very quiet. I chased him to check he was STILL coming over the next day. Silence and then...an excuse about family illness and that no, he couldn’t make it. That’s fine. We’ve all been there and it is awful. I asked him for when he could pop over, it was only a day’s work according to him. Silence again. Well, it turns out he couldn’t make it at all and that he was starting his new job soon so he can’t do it now but he does have a mate who might be able to help. If you think I was going to call his mate who ‘might’ be able to help you’d be wrong. I associate his mate with him and his professionalism, or lack thereof. These things happen but all he had to do was to tell me proactively. Then I’d have been tempted to call his mate IF he had already set it up for me, which would have made sense. ‘Sorry Greg, I can’t but Gary is a specialist and I’ve briefed him. Same cost and he’s available to help you’. I didn’t reply. I have since gone out to a national outfit who have bigger marketing pockets and better systems. They actually paid NOTHING to get my work other than the investment in their branding over the years. What a wasted opportunity for the local tradesman. Now, just think to yourself before you invest in an awareness campaign, do you want the leads it might bring? Do you have capacity? Do you have the skills? If you can’t, it is no problem at all. You can tweak your marketing message to make sure it fits your skills or hold back on your campaign until you can do the work. Just don’t blame your marketing campaign if you don’t convert open goals and don’t pour marketing budgets into leaking buckets. Fix the holes first dear Henry.34-35.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 10:27 Page 236 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukCORPORATE HOSPITALITYHelp for the hotel sectorBeset by staffing issues and increasing competition from sharing accommodation, the hotel sector is having to play to its strength to overcome its challenges. Help for the hotel sector38 uThe ripple effects of 2016’s Brexit vote are still being felt and as we come closer to the final divorce date, there’s a whole host of new challenges and issues facing businesses. Whatever the sector, chances Brexit had some kind of impact. Although the uncertainty has scuppered deals and investment and put growth plans on hold for some, for others it came initially as a blessing. The hotel sector was one of the first to feel a benefit from Brexit thanks to the weakened pound. With the value of sterling falling compared to other global currencies, the UK was host to a wave of inbound tourism, much to the benefit of hotels up and down the country. With its areas of natural beauty and historic cities, tourism in the East Midlands was looking healthy post-Brexit, with the region’s hotels enjoying a slew of new bookings. Towards the end of 2018, the hotel sector continued to enjoy high performance and – in many cases nationwide – record occupancies despite a more cautious outlook. Figures from PwC, for example, found that hotel deal volume totalled £3.8 billion in the first half of 2018 – up eighty per cent from the volume experienced in the first six months of 2017. Yet the professional services network predicts slower growth for the sector in 2019 reflecting uncertainty, softer economics and demand trends despite the potential benefit for the weakened pound. Looking at the year ahead, PwC said while it anticipates strong inward investment from European and Far Eastern investors, there is an expected slowdown in portfolio deal activity during 2019. This, it said, is due to a recent wave of new longer-term investors entering the UK hotel market compared to the previous generation. 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 12:24 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukEast Midlands Business Link 37 CORPORATE HOSPITALITY© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / AND-ONE36-39.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 12:24 Page 2The threat of Airbnb Despite a slight uptick in the rate of new builds and a steady rise of boutique hotels, it’s clear the market is changing. Budget hotels aimed at business travellers and staycationers are becoming much more commonplace, but it’s the sharing economy, the millennial demographic and the coming of age of the so-called generation Z that is having perhaps the biggest impact on the hotel sector. Of these it’s the rapidly expanding peer-to-peer accommodation sharing market that has become one of the biggest threats facing traditional hotels. Although Airbnb has become the single most recognisable brand in the sharing economy, it’s merely a figurehead for a much wider industry trend with more than 7,500 different online accommodation sharing sites. Like Airbnb, these sites are online marketplaces which allow people to rent out spare rooms or their entire properties to guests. Although Airbnb itself takes a small commission, it essentially cuts out the middle man, which can be advantageous especially as most of its users are normal people looking for extra income on their homes. It has not only shaken up the hotel sector but completely changed the way in which people book and organise their holidays and business travel, leaving traditional hotels trying to compete – be that through price or experience. CORPORATE HOSPITALITY© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / DOTSHOCK38 East Midlands Business Link 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 12:24 Page 3Coping with staffing shortages The threat posed by the sharing accommodation has only added to the mounting woes faced by the hotel sector. The uncertainty around Brexit has served to exacerbate the staffing shortages that are affecting hotels with EY claiming problems recruiting new staff and retaining existing staff as the biggest challenge for UK hotel general managers. The professional services company surveyed almost two hundred hotel managers in the UK and found that twenty-eight per cent ranked staffing problems as the biggest challenge. Twenty-two per cent of those polled cited cost increases and inability to pass these onto guests as the sector’s profoundest problems. Ninety per cent of survey respondents are currently recruiting for unfilled positions, with fifty-four per cent of those having witnessed a decrease in non-UK residents applying for jobs at their hotels since the Brexit vote. According to figures from the British Hospitality Association, the UK hospitality sector is highly reliant on EU nationals with between 12.3 per cent and 23.7 per cent of the sector’s workforce made up of EU migrants. “Retaining and attracting staff remains understandably the biggest challenge for hotel general managers and, particularly with Brexit moving closer, a shortage of migrant labour is an overwhelming concern not only for hotels but the hospitality industry as a whole,” says Christian Mole, Head of Hospitality and Leisure for EY. “This isn’t, however, to say Brexit is solely to blame for rises in staffing costs - the introduction of the National Living Wage and apprenticeship levy continue to have an impact and, with room rate growth at regional UK hotels in particular slowing down, hotels’ ability to pass on these costs to customers is becoming difficult.” Although Brexit inspired a wave of inbound tourism, the vote has also exacerbated growing staffing issues for the hotel sector. Coupled with the threat from Airbnb and sharing accommodation, the hotels can be viewed as being in dire straits. However, new developments continue, and hotel managers are playing to their strengths and wooing customers with exclusivity, experiences and quality food and dining. East Midlands Business Link 39CORPORATE HOSPITALITY© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / MONKEY BUSINESS IMAGES36-39.qxp_Layout 1 04/02/2019 12:24 Page 4Next >