A survey of executives working across the marketing, media, automotive, retail, utilities, construction, hospitality, and consumer packaged goods sectors has shown increased investment and interest in connected packaging.
Connected packaging is packaging that facilitates consumers digital engagement with a product via the internet and a smartphone. This engagement can take a myriad of forms, from reading product information on a webpage to entering an immersive artificial reality environment. QR codes and NFC chips are the most common mediums to facility these types of digital engagement.
The survey was conducted by Appetite Collective, a digital marketing specialist, and collected 2,954 answers between January and February 2024.
Results show increasing interest in connective packaging, with 82% of those surveyed reporting to have used connected packaging in the last year, compared to 81% from the survey released in 2023, and 54% in 2022. Moreover, 88% are planning a connective packaging campaign this year and 80% consider it increasingly important to the packaging industry.
Respondents consider connected packaging important to inform product and marketing decisions (16%), alongside direct interaction with customers (15%), data collection (15%) and educating customers (13%).
On the other hand, respondents see connected packaging as less important in improving the sustainability credentials of a company than in the previous two years. In 2024, 78% agreed about its importance, in comparison with 91% in 2023 and 80% in 2022.
“We’re seeing an overall desire to increase investment in digital advertising this year and a stable investment in connected packaging,” said Jenny Stanley, managing director at Appetite Creative. “It’s great to see the perceived value of data collection through connected packaging rising, especially in the context of the imminent demise of third-party cookie data. It’s also interesting to see sustainability drop down the agenda despite new government-led regulations,” she concluded.