(Weymouth, MA) InfoTrends has just completed a survey of over 150 brand owners and nearly 100 label and packaging converters. This survey is part of a multi-client project entitled Packaging and the Brand Owner that aims to reveal insights into brand owners' opinions and preferences regarding print, with a particular focus on the label, folding carton, and flexible packaging applications where color digital presses are now competing with conventional print technologies.

One area the new survey examined was awareness of color digital presses for labels and packaging. Bob Leahey, an Associate Director at InfoTrends, states, "We found that not only is there high awareness of color digital presses among brand owners in the survey, but that consumer brands have a strong and growing interest in the types of services that color digital can provide-short runs, personalized print, serialized codes are key examples." InfoTrends' survey of brand owners drew 42% of respondents from the food and beverage vertical, as well as 14% from health and beauty and 11% from pharmaceuticals.

Leahey continued, "One other theme is that there's some frustration among brand owners, the managers who want their companies to do more with print than they do. These look like things that digital does well-like cutting waste and supporting targeted marketing and interactive promotions."

Additional survey questions covered areas such as:

• Top priorities of brand owners
• Their use of online sales and marketing
• The coordination of label and packaging design with online marketing efforts
• Level of commitment to sustainability
• Current and expected future use of personalization in labels and packaging
• What packaging and label related converting services or features would brand owners would pay extra for, such as "green" media, item level serialization, single print runs to print many different designs, etc.

To complete its report, Packaging and the Brand Owner, InfoTrends is now recruiting and executing personal interviews with both brand owners and converters to get a deeper level of insight into the questions cited above.

InfoTrends will publish the full report detailing the findings of the study in July. For more information about the study or subscribe, contact Scott Phinney at +1 781 616 2123 or e-mail [email protected].