Packaging, even flexible packaging, must be responsive to trends in social and cultural circles. To that end, brand owners have made it a priority to work with designers and packaging manufacturers to develop packaging that reflects the trends within the marketplace.

This issue marks the return of our popular Branding Report, where we sample a story from our sister publication - Brand Packaging  - to give our readers a taste of what issues are at forefront of brand owners’ minds. On page 6 we see how brand owners are embracing trends and incorporating them into the packaging of their products, creating a certain synergy for consumers.

Also, page 31 features the debut of a new section of Flexible Packaging , something we call Web Snapshots. Here we briefly describe the contents of an industry website, explaining what you might find there and including a screen shot of the homepage. This glimpse at a company’s online presence should provide a starting point for your flexible packaging-related web browsing.

Green
Next month, Flexible Packaging magazine will turn a shade of green, as we focus on environmentally friendly technologies, initiatives and sustainable packaging in our Annual Green Issue.

Our cover story will focus on Ampac Flexibles, with a glimpse at its environmentally responsible projects. The rest of the issue will highlight sustainable packaging and labeling, printing advances and green packaging initiatives across the various markets within the flexible packaging industry.

And don’t miss our extended preview of the Drupa 2008 show in the April issue. That massive event only comes around every four years, and we’re likely to find a number of new products and technologies making their debuts in Düsseldorf, Germany come June.