Customised Packaging Innovation Set to Shake Up Print and Packaging

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Just when commentators were ready to write off the Print and Packaging industry, it’s begun to enjoy a marked resurgence, led by brands which want to appear less corporate and to appeal more directly to consumers. The major corporates are leading the way with innovation in personalised Printing and Packaging, and this trend is now growing throughout the industry.

The fact is that personalised Printing and Packaging is now seen as a key way to add value to what are otherwise standard consumer products. A customer will pay far more for a bag of cookies with – say – their own or their partner’s or child’s name on it. So Printing and Packaging are seen as previously under-used ways of harvesting extra value on products. As brands jostle with competing products and generics on the supermarket shelves, personalised products are turning into increased sales at far better mark-ups. The most noticeable manifestation is probably the Coke bottles in your local store now bearing a selection of people’s names. Coke ads feature people holding the personalised bottles.

Digital Cheaper for Shorter Runs

The Financial Times recently reported on this trend and talked with Dion Weisler, who is CEO of HP (previously Hewlett Packard), so a man who knows what he’ talking about when it comes to printing innovation. He sees digital printing as the next big development in the print market. Because digital printing is now as good as analogue in terms of quality, a new market has suddenly opened up. Whereas analogue printing remains cost-effective for large runs of the same label, shorter runs are cheaper with digital.

Growth of 20% Predicted

It’s not just a case of printing popular names on products and then charging more for them. The personalisation can extend to targeting consumers’ gender, ethnicity, language, culture, nationality and other attributes. Although corporates could find themselves embroiled in diversity issues and will have to tread sensitively.

Smithers Pira, a sector consultancy, has forecast growth of 8% in digital commercial printing and 20% for digital printing on packaging, which shows the step change that is under way.

Added Value for Established Brands

The key driver of growth is the phenomenal value that can be added to brands by customising them. The FT quotes the example of a Melbourne department store that last Christmas sold Nutella in customised printed packaging. They sold these at AUD 12.95 each. That’s around £8.00 per jar. And they shifted 400,000.

Not to be left out, Kraft Heinz has been sending out “Get Well Soon” customised cans of tomato soup and charging about six times as much for them as for the standard product. The company would no doubt point out that this is still less than the cost of a decent get-well card, and you can’t eat a card. These examples give a glimpse of the massive potential market that is opening up.

The unlikely corporate love affair with randomisation is also influencing the digital printing and packaging trend. Algorithms are used during the print runs to introduce randomness. Diet Coke recently produced two million individually packaged bottles using this method.

Great Opportunities for Fresh Thinkers in the Industry

Companies are going to need executives who are abreast of these trends and understand the technology but also have a shrewd idea of where the print industry is going. Because of the massive innovation that is taking place, there’s going to be a need for managers who understand change management and can deliver new ways of working with different technologies.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors across Europe. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

Possibly the best time management advice ever!   

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One of the best time management advice stories goes like this. Charles Schwab was a steel mill Magnate in the 1930s and asked a time management guru, Ivy Lee, for his top tip. Ivy Lee gave the tip and said he was so confident of his advice that Charles can try it out and pay him whatever he feels the tip is worth. After a few weeks Charles was so impressed with the usefulness of the advice that he sent a cheque of $25,000. In modern money this is about $344,000. Wow!

 The famous advice that Lee gave was: 

  • At the end of a day list the key tasks that you need to get done the next day.
  • Prioritise them (ideally 1 to 5 priorities).
  • Next day work on tasks in the order of their priority/importance until daily time allows, not proceeding until a task was completed. Get as far as you can on the priority list.
  • Keep doing this every day.

Charles M. Schwab said this tip was the most profitable advice he had ever received. He was the first manager in the US to get over a million dollars a year so he must have been a competent guy.

We all have the same amount of time and there is normally plenty to do. Managing our time optimally is so important and gets us ahead.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors across Europe. Please get in touch if you are contemplating a career move or looking to recruit. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

 

I have several job offers, how do I decide which to choose? 

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In the current economic climate, securing a new role is difficult for many candidates, but if you are lucky enough to have several job offers, you will want to ensure you make the right choice. It may be the case that you have been unemployed for a long time and suddenly you find yourself inundated with offers. It can be tempting to just take the first one offered to you or to focus only on the salary, but there are several other elements to take into consideration.

Culture 

In order to get real job satisfaction, it is important to work in an environment which suits you and the culture is often an aspect which is discounted when candidates make a decision on accepting a job offer. The wrong culture can make you truly miserable, even if the salary and benefits exceed your expectations. You will be spending most of your life at work, so the right culture fit is vital. For example, if you prefer to work on your own initiative, you won’t get job satisfaction if you are micro managed. Similarly, if you prefer a relaxed environment and the culture is very corporate and strict, it won’t be the right fit. Take time to consider where you would feel most comfortable and consider this when making your decision. You will gain a lot of insight into the culture during the interview process.

Expectations 

Don’t be afraid to ask for as much detail as possible about the role and the expectations the manager has for you. If you start a role, only to find that you are quite quickly fire fighting to keep up with the workload, you will be completely disheartened. There should be an induction process and training provided for you, before you are left to get on with the workload. You should definitely not feel stressed and overwhelmed as soon as you start the job.

Benefits 

This is an obvious consideration when accepting a job offer, but it’s not just the financial benefits you should take into account. For example, if you have childcare issues and need to work specific hours, make sure the company can accommodate this before you accept. You may also be interested in working from home occasionally and if this is important to you, be sure to clarify this before you accept.

Location 

A two hour commute might not seem like a lot if the salary is competitive, but this can quite quickly become frustrating as it will leave you with very little spare time in the morning and evening. The location is an important aspect to take into consideration, both for the financial implications and the potential stress it may cause you. Make sure you are able to commit to this long term before you accept the job offer.

Development Opportunities 

This very much depends on your future career plans. If you are happy to stay in the same role for the rest of your career, it may not be an important consideration. However, if you want to develop, make sure there is a career line of progression within the company.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors across Europe. Please get in touch if you are contemplating a career move or looking to recruit. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

 

10 reasons why you should use a headhunter

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10 reasons why you should use a headhunter

Headhunters, in simple terms, are recruiters – but not all recruiters are headhunters. Another term for what headhunters do is “Executive Searching” and this is it in a nutshell – they search for the ideal candidates at executive and senior management level. But they don’t just match people to companies; they match companies to people.

So what else does a headhunter have to offer?

  1. A headhunter knows how your industry works – the technology, the trends and most crucially understands what you do.
  2. A headhunter will have many years of networking within your field behind them. They make it their business to know who’s who, and will very quickly have someone specific in mind for a role you need to fill.
  3. By using a headhunter you can save yourself a lot of time. Your company doesn’t need to embark on a long, drawn-out recruitment process that may not even lead to finding the right candidate at all.
  4. As a result of the above, a good headhunter works in an advisory capacity for you, hence reducing the risk of making a bad (costly) choice of candidate.
  5. Once a particular headhunter has done a great job in finding you the perfect new recruit, a relationship of trust can exist for locating suitable candidates for future roles.
  6. Good headhunters in your field will be up-to-date with the latest laws, strategies and techniques.
  7. Headhunters are very proactive – it’s their job. After all, they’re paid on results. An effective headhunter will work tirelessly on your behalf until the role is successfully filled.
  8. A top class headhunter knows exactly where to look for talent. They not only have good networking connections within your field, but they also have a highly comprehensive set of tools and knowledge at their disposal to get that ideal person through your door.
  9. Headhunters will thoroughly understand the job requirements and person specification for the role on offer. Then will then be able to comprehensively convey these to a potential new recruit. This allows the candidate to gain a much clearer understanding of the role from the outset, meaning less space for misunderstanding – and a possible recruitment mistake.
  10. Any headhunter worth their salt will also make sure they do not lose the best candidates to other companies. There are likely to only be one or two ideal potential new employees for the level of job you are aiming to fill. A headhunter will know how to get them interested and motivated in the role – and not let them get away!

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors across Europe. Please get in touch if you are contemplating a career move or looking to recruit. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

 

The Role Of Video Interviewing In Recruitment

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In a competitive world, employers are constantly striving to come up with new, innovative ways to recruit candidates. This is especially true within industries and roles which are specialised and require certain skills and experience, as there tends to be high demand for these types of candidates. With such high competition, it is important for businesses to embrace new technology and understand how it can be beneficial, rather than sticking to the tried and tested traditional methods. Many businesses are undertaking more telephone interviews than ever before, so are these slowly becoming the future of recruitment? There are many reasons why video interviewing is becoming an increasingly popular method of recruitment.

Increased Choice 

When it comes to the recruitment process, it is not always feasible to interview candidates, regardless of how suitable they may be for the role. Many candidates are based overseas, but will be happy to move when they find employment. The use of video interviewing can allow businesses to widen their audience and improve their pool of candidates. With video interviewing, it is possible to speak to anyone, regardless of their location. In roles which are difficult to fill, video interviewing can make the difference between filling a role or not.

Flexible 

It is much more flexible to set up video interviewing than it is with face to face interviews. When you set up face to face interviews, you need to ensure both parties are free and find suitable time slots. However, with video interviewing, there is much greater flexibility as interviews can potentially be carried out at anytime and anywhere, even on the go!

Cost Saving 

Video interviewing is not only more flexible, it is also a good way for businesses to save costs. Most businesses spend thousands of pounds each year on travel costs, but unnecessary costs associated with travelling for interviews can be decreased, if not eliminated, through video interviewing. The cost of recruiting a member of staff usually mounts to thousands of pounds, so any way of decreasing expenditure will be welcomed by any business.

Quicker 

In many cases, employers will want to see candidates face to face before making a final decision on whether to make the hire, which is understandable. However, it is still quicker to use video interviewing in the first instance, as you can easily and quickly eliminate those who are not suitable. Video interviewing can help the process reach conclusion, long before it would using only traditional methods.

Convenient 

Professional people have busy schedules to adhere to and quite often, interviews can take up a lot of time, especially where travel is involved. Without the use of video interviewing, those involved may need to make numerous trips until a final conclusion is reached. It is much more convenient to use video interviewing, than to rely on traditional methods only.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors across Europe. Please get in touch if you are contemplating a career move or looking to recruit. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1