EasyFair's Packaging Innovations show set for mid-February

The two-day show, running on February 11 and 12, features around 80 free-to-attend presentations, plus academic research findings and opinion from leading brand managers.

A Brand Summit will also be running, featuring practical seminars and workshops designed specifically for brand managers and marketers.

One of  the Summit speakers is Jonathan Sands, chairman of global brand design consultancy Elmwood Design. Sands, who advises brand bosses in Japan, the US, India and Australia.

He will discuss the tactics being used worldwide to boost consumer confidence during the economic slowdown.

Sands said: "The big global trend is anxiety, be it over the credit crunch, the environment, food scares or terrorism.

"As a result, I'm seeing brands striving to develop antidotes to anxiety. One example of this is the growth of retro branding that oozes nostalgia and throws consumers back to halcyon days when they weren't as fearful...and less worried about spending money." 

Jonathan Ford, creative partner at Pearlfisher and the man credited with the 'Chocolate Revolution' at Green & Black's, will also be giving a Summit speech. 

Ford will provide case study evidence of how Green & Black's identity and packaging redesign created overnight success and sustained long-term growth. 

Nick Verebelyi, director of 3D branding and packaging at Design Bridge, is also set to speak and will make a case for 'instinctive packaging', arguing that insights into how the consumer's instinctive responses to pack design are vital if brands are to successfully communicate their proposition. 

The full seminar line-up is available on EasyFairs' website.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com