Advanced Packaging

Packaging can be extended using cell-phones and it can also be enhanced in a number of ways that that address the senses with form, color and even scent. Signage that attracts a shoppers attention is becoming commonplace, but another view is to add these capabilities on the shelf, even to the package itself. As an example, a company call Nth Degree is doing some interesting work. Dupont's work in the area is also worth looking at, an image example at the right. Electroluminescense is a process that is now employed to deliver printed illumination suitable today for displays and ultimately for packaging. Cost and sustainability, especially at the package level, still big issues.

AdAdge writes about some recent trials:

In-store displays and product packaging are getting a whole lot flashier -- literally, with lights and streaming video.

Henkel's Right Guard is testing use of printed electronics to power flashing lights in corrugated in-store displays at Walgreen's stores in the Chicago area, a first step for a technology from Arizona start-up company Nth Degree that could eventually bring low-cost streaming video to printed displays, packaging, direct mail or magazine inserts ..."