ADF&PCD and PLD Paris completed its most successful edition to date. Dedicated to the aerosol, dispensing, perfume, luxury drinks and cosmetic packaging community, the even attracted 650 exhibitors, including 141 new exhibitors, and 10,000+ attendees on 29th and 30th January 2020. In addition, according to the organisers, 90% of exhibitors reserved stand space for ADF&PCD and PLD Paris 2021 before the show had closed its doors, with many increasing the size of their stands.
Key highlights of the event included the launch of PLD (Packaging of Premium & Luxury Drinks); an interactive conference programme across four theatres, featuring speakers from the world’s top brands; plus the ever-popular ADF&PCD Awards.
“ADF&PCD and PLD Paris proved itself to be the key packaging event of the year for doing business for the world’s top beauty, drinks and FMCG brands, with companies such as L’Oréal, Martell, Mumm, Perrier, Jouët, Chanel, LVMH, Coty, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Remy Cointreau and many more sending full teams of packaging decision-makers across design, marketing, packaging technology, purchasing and R&D to the event,” said the organisers.
While France accounted for around 70% of attendees, the event also extended its international reach, with attendees from 84 countries. The top-represented countries outside of France were the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain, accounting for 16% of attendees. The event also hosted a Korean Pavilion for the first time.
“We worked hard to build our visitor experience around the four key pillars of learning, inspiration, sourcing and networking, and we’re very pleased that the feedback from exhibitors and visitors suggests the show successfully delivered in each of these areas. Most of all, this is an event where companies come not only to plan projects but to execute them, and to do business with both new and existing suppliers. We saw bigger teams - and therefore more buying influence - attending from the top brand owners. This suggests that the show is only becoming more important as an essential element in the innovation and buying process for the sectors it covers,” said Josh Brooks, event director at ADF&PCD and PLD Paris 2020.
Sustainability, responsibility and evolving consumer sensibilities
Environmental protection, corporate responsibility and circular economy took centre stage with some unexpected turns. Some speakers advocated incremental refinements to the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra. Suggestions included placing greater emphasis on bioplastics, carbon offsetting, the switch to chemical recycling of plastics, as well as focus on factors such as lightweighting and mono-material design. Others put forward more radical solutions in reinventing how the sector can address the waste issue.
Nicolas Moufflet of Lys Packaging, suggested the time has come to shift responsibility to plants. He wants to see brands reconfigure packaging strategies to plant-based materials, coupled with nationally mandated domestic composting strategies. Monique Large of Pollen Consulting recommended the beauty sector looks seriously at decarbonisation, the process of removing carbon from the air and capturing it in products and, potentially, packaging.
Dates for the next edition of ADF&PCD and PLD Paris have been confirmed as 20-21 January 2021.
