Appetite Creative director: Legislation propels industry confidence in connective packaging

Legislation is accelerating the adoption of connected packaging technologies across the industry, according to Jenny Stanley, the managing director at Appetite Creative. 

Appetite Creative, an agency specializing in innovative digital marketing, connected packaging, and creative solutions, has released the results of its fourth annual Global Connected Packaging Survey, revealing an industry boom in confidence in the technology. 

Packaging Insights discusses the results with Stanley, including why industry confidence in connected packaging is on the rise and how it is driven by regulation. She also spotlights tech innovation and tackling adoption challenges.

“The surge in industry confidence is striking, with 88.8% of respondents now seeing connected packaging as increasingly important (up from 80.4% in 2024). This represents a significant vote of confidence in the technology’s value proposition,” Stanley highlights as the most significant finding from this year’s survey. 

She argues that the UK’s EPR and the EU’s Digital Product Passport legislation will likely accelerate the adoption of connected packaging technologies across the packaging industry. This technology allows players to track their products throughout their life cycles to ensure compliance.

“Another change is the shift from single-technology to multi-technology approaches. QR codes combined with NFC technology (42.4%) have emerged as the leading implementation method, showing greater sophistication in deployment strategies.”

She adds that the 15% year-on-year growth in gamification adoption (now at 59%) indicates a major shift in how brands engage consumers through connected packaging.

“There’s been a substantial decrease in companies viewing connected packaging as just a passing fad — only 13.4% now hold this view, down from 23.2% last year. Brands are starting to embrace the benefits offered by connected packaging — and increasingly including it as a line within media budgets.” 

Driving industry confidence

Connected packaging is evolving from a marketing tool to a strategic business asset.Discussing the key factors driving the increase in industry confidence, Stanley says that the business value of connected packaging delivers across multiple fronts. 

According to the new survey, connected packaging’s value ranges from consumer loyalty (66.7% say it encourages customer loyalty) to improved direct communication (59.1%) and actionable marketing data (50.6%).

“Other factors driving industry confidence include broader industry adoption beyond traditional packaging sectors, with FMCG (36.9%), marketing/advertising (36%), retail (21.8%), and even automotive (15.9%) embracing the technology,” she adds. “Everyone is trying it out these days.” 

“The evolution of connected packaging from a pure marketing tool to a strategic business asset is important. It addresses multiple business needs, including supply chain optimization (39.8%).”

Meeting regulatory requirements 

Stanley says the UK’s EPR legislation will likely accelerate the adoption of connected packaging technologies.

She points out that connected packaging allows packagers to “track products through their lifecycle, provide recycling information to consumers, and help brands prove compliance with recycling requirements.” 

“The survey shows that sustainability and recycling initiatives are a primary driver for connected packaging adoption (51.9%), so we’ll see more of this in 2025 and beyond.”

“Connected packaging will also become essential for meeting regulatory requirements like Europe’s Digital Product Passport.” Stanley expects connected packaging to continue moving from being a marketing tool to a multi-functional business asset.

Legislation could accelerate the adoption of connected packaging, according to Stanley.“The survey shows connected packaging is already addressing needs across consumer engagement, sustainability, and supply chain optimization, with 50.6% of respondents valuing connected packaging for providing actionable data, its role as a data collection and analysis tool will likely grow in importance.”

AI in connectivity

Stanley tells us that connected packaging is well-placed to absorb technological innovations. 

“From improving accessibility functionality for visually impaired users to giving customers fun interactive, shareable content via augmented reality or competitive leaderboards for gaming.” 

“The growth in gamification (59%, up 15% year-on-year) points to increasingly rich and engaging consumer interactions through connected packaging. Powered by continuous technological innovation — connected experiences are only going to become more sophisticated,” she outlines.

“Connected packaging can also be updated and adapted in real-time based on the time of year, new product launches or changes, or even based on customer feedback. Once the connected experience has been developed, it can keep evolving to continually improve the customer experience and functionality and adapt to changing requirements from the brand.” 

This year’s survey reveals a shift toward multi-technology approaches (combining QR codes with NFC) and a growing interest in serialized QR codes (66.1%, up from 64.6%). Stanley says that these factors indicate an increasing “technological sophistication.” 

“AI is also something we’ve seen woven into connected experiences this year. Last month, we shared details of a new campaign we’ve created for Sunny Oil, which shows customers how the product can save time in the kitchen,” she continues.

“Using AI to make life easier, users can select ingredients from the ‘my fridge’ list, which suggests recipes combining existing items found in the fridge. The app has an unlimited number of combinations available, ensuring users will never get the same recipe twice.” 

Adoption challenges 

At Packaging Innovations 2025, Stanley tells us more about Appetite Creative's “game-changing” connective tech.The Appetite Creative managing director says that “the biggest challenge” to connected packaging adoption is internal teams not aligning on their strategy or communications. 

“Connected packaging can stem across lots of different teams, not only marketing but finance, product development, packaging design, etc. It’s important they all understand the value it can deliver for their specific area and support longer-term business strategies,” she says. 

The survey results show a reduction in companies planning to increase spending on digital marketing (75.5%, down from 96% in 2024), suggesting budgetary constraints or the impact of global economic uncertainty. With 34.8% of respondents planning to spend less than US$15,000 on connected packaging (up from 11%), sensitivity considerations could also be relevant this year. 

“It’s important for internal teams to share the easily accessible return on investment metrics and perhaps educate media investment teams about the strategic benefits beyond marketing and how connected packaging is a scalable, cost-effective solution.”