THE FUTURE OF PACKAGING

PACKAGING FORESIGHT for your business

For over two decades, leading companies have relied on PTIS and Leading Futurists to guide their strategies and programs, through every three year Future of Packaging consortia, and now with our valued global alliance partners, provide insightful Packaging Foresight that you can use to help guide and grow your business.

Contact us to stay ahead of key drivers and trends impacting packaging.

Brian Wagner
brian@ptisglobal.com
269-806-4566

Packaging Foresight: July/August 2025 – AI Not Perfect

Generative AI is a game-changer for packaging, helping companies gather data, spot trends, and draft reports quickly. But turning those insights into a winning packaging strategy requires human expertise. Seasoned consultants bring decades of industry knowledge to...

Packaging Foresight: April 2025 – Holistic Design Brief

In the fast-moving world of consumer goods, packaging is a brand’s silent powerhouse—shaping perceptions, driving sales, and building loyalty beyond its role as a container. A well-crafted brand brief is the key to this success, uniting teams, speeding innovation,...

Packaging Foresight: January 2025 – Leveraging Shrinkflation

Shrinkflation, a once trendy and satirical term, has now become a lasting staple in today’s marketplace and an accepted brand practice.  With inflation likely not slowing down soon, consumer brands face a considerable challenge. They must balance profitability...

Shrinkflation Unpacked: Building Trust and Value

Shrinkflation, a once trendy and satirical term, has now become a lasting staple in today’s marketplace and an accepted brand practice.  With inflation likely not slowing down soon, consumer brands face a considerable challenge. They must balance profitability...

Packaging Foresight: November 2024 Plan Now

You’ve probably heard the Wayne Gretzky quote to skate where the puck is going, not where it is. The same goes for packaging strategy. With 2025 fast approaching, now is the time to pause, assess, and strategize for the future. The packaging landscape is evolving...

The Time is Now to Plan Strategy for 2025 and Beyond

Now is the Time to Prepare Your Packaging Strategy for 2025 and Beyond With Q4 underway, it’s a critical time for packaging leaders to take a step back and set the stage for 2025. As technology, consumer demands, and sustainability pressures evolve, companies that...

Packaging Foresight: October 2024 Think Like a Futurist

PTIS is different than most packaging consulting groups. When PTIS started in 2001, we wanted to bring some new thinking and approaches through our management consulting practice. A forward future thinking, foresight, consumer understanding and insight along with...

Packaging Foresight

Packaging Foresight: July 2024 Stay Ahead of Legislation

In today’s fast-paced regulatory environment, executives in the packaging industry must stay vigilant. Legislation targeted at packaging, such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), chemicals of concern, and material/container bans, can present unanticipated...

Packaging Foresight

Stay Ahead of Legislation in the Packaging Industry

Stay Ahead of Legislation in the Packaging Industry by Todd Bukowski, PTIS Principal In today's fast-paced regulatory environment, executives in the packaging industry must stay vigilant. Legislation targeted at packaging, such as Extended Producer Responsibility...

Packaging Legislation PTIS

Packaging Foresight: May 2024 Is Foresight Scientific?

Foresight is a vital methodology for anticipating future trends and uncertainties. Unlike forecasting, which relies on past data, foresight explores multiple plausible futures to guide present decisions. PTIS has honed this approach over two decades through the...

Packaging Foresight

Is Foresight Scientific?

Foresight: Intuition or Science? How systematic methodology and analysis help us anticipate possible futures. We've all heard the saying, "Hindsight is 20/20." It's easy to look back and see how events unfolded, connect the dots, and understand the causal...

20 Years of Shaping the Future of Packaging

Introduction In the fast-paced world of consumer goods, packaging isn't just a box or a bag – it's the unsung hero, always there to protect our products and push the boundaries of innovation forward. And at the heart of this evolution stands the PTIS Future of...

future of packaging 2035

Packaging Foresight: February 2024 Exploring the GS1 2D Barcode

As we reflect on the significant undertaking of integrating GS1 2D barcodes and QR codes onto packaging and pallets, it's clear that the journey is ongoing. The commitment to innovation and the resilience to adapt will define the industry leaders who shape the...

2033: The Evolution of Packaging Design

Contributed by Rick Rangler, Colbie Blue Studio Meet Anya In a world dominated by technology, one profession remains essential: innovative and sustainable packaging design. Meet Anya, a packaging designer at a top CPG company, driven by her passion for creating...

2033 Package Design Evolution

Packaging Foresight: September 2023-Packaging Expert Witnesses

With increased focus on digital and transformational changes across packaging more material related claims and challenges will be made and many new areas of opportunity and concern in the packaging sector will be scrutinized. Additionally, increased government and...

Packaging Foresight

Packaging Foresight: August 2023- Unpacking ESG

We have all heard about the major impact that sustainability and circular economy principles are having on packaging and shaping decisions. Through our Future of Packaging Thought Leader survey, it is apparent that sustainability will be at the heart of packaging...

Packaging Foresight

ESG in Packaging: Here to Stay

Contributed by Positive Scenarios Consulting (PSC) As sustainability consultants, we work with a wide range of organizations across sectors, from retailers to manufacturers. Many of our clients are companies that make, buy, or use packaging. And regardless of...

June 2023 Foresight for Success

The Future of Packaging dates back to the mid to late 1990s, and our friend Andy Hines guesses that it might be the single longest-running foresight program in the world. In the mid-late 90s, while Mike and Brian were working for Kellogg’s, a group of Washington,...

Packaging Foresight

Why Foresight: Making Sense of Change

Contributed by Andy Hines, Associate Professor of Foresight, University of Houston Nobody likes to be caught by surprise. Most of us would rather not be in reactive mode either. And some of us really like to be ahead of the game. Foresight and futurists can help...

May 2023 Foresight: AI + Human Touch

PTIS appreciates and values our community of over 100 Associates and Alliance partners. In the May issue, Rick Rangler of Cobie Blue Studio, shares his experience leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Package Design. How will AI change design, and the future...

Packaging Foresight

Hi-Tech VS Human Touch: AI Packaging Design

An error occurred linking the June 2023 article to here. Please click below to see the correct June 2023 article titled "Why Foresight: Making Sense of Change"Contributed by Rick Rangler, Founder & Creative Director, Cobie Blue Recently, many news headlines...

April 2023 Foresight: A Letter from 2040

The latest issue of Packaging Foresight includes a letter from 2040 contributed By John B. Mahaffie, Futurist. This is a 2040 scenario, one of many possible outcomes for society in that future year. The story shows a world in which greater sustainability and...

Packaging Foresight

Packaging’s Role in Navigating Chemicals of Concern

Contributed by Michael Richmond, PTIS Principal and Jerrett Gogola, Sr. PTIS Associate  Reacting to new legislation and public pressure regarding chemicals of concern in packaging has been a nearly constant initiative for brands and packaging companies alike the...

chemicals of concern packaging

Future of Packaging – 2040: Industry Closes the Loop

Voice from the Future Contributed By John B. Mahaffie, Futurist This is a 2040 scenario, one of many possible outcomes for society in that future year. The story shows a world in which greater sustainability and circularity come from changes led by industry...

The Value of Leveraging Data and Analytics for Packaging

Contributed By Matthew Wright, Founder and CEO of Specright The need to address supply-chain challenges such as inflation, evolving sustainability regulations and worker shortages continues to be top-of-mind for many companies in 2023. While each of these...

February Leveraging data for Packaging

Strategic Plan for Packaging

PTIS is a unique consultancy of packaging leaders who are adept at facilitating strategic plans with packaging material suppliers, converters and contract manufacturers. Our clients especially appreciate our experience working across the value chain, pragmatic...

leverage packaging for growth

Consumer Insight for Package Design Is Crucial to Success

Package design is one of the most important elements in product marketing and consumer engagement. Often, it will be the primary ‘billboard’ for the product as it sits on a retail shelf. Packaging can make or break a product’s success. Good package design improves...

consumer insights build foundation for triumphant packaging

Packaging Foresight is Back: Look Back on 2022

Packaging Foresight is a collaboration of packaging news brought to you by PTIS and Futurist, John Mahaffie . We've had a busy 2022 administering the Future of Packaging program among client projects. We took a little break from our monthly newsletter Packaging...

Packaging Foresight

Sustainability Strategy – Your “North Star”

A common theme that came out of the recently completed PTIS led Future of Packaging program was that sustainability and circularity are here to stay and will be a driving force in packaging over the upcoming decade. Whether it was biggest opportunities, challenges,...

Future of Packaging 2032 Wraps Up

 By Michael Richmond, PhD, PTIS LLC Many business leaders think about today and the next quarter, perhaps looking two to three years into the future. What if they took some time to view 10 years ahead and start plot­ting where they want to be in 2032? This past...

Leaders Co-create the Future of Packaging

Harnessing foresight to get to “Good VUCA” By the Future of Packaging team Our colleague Mike Richmond of PTIS is a big proponent of the VUCA concept, an acronym that originated in the 1990s U.S. Army War College. It stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity,...

How to Win in an $8tn Market

  Design for an $8tn Niche By Brian Wagner Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, and the market isn’t quite ready. I credit Dr. Laura Bix at Michigan State University for making us aware of Universal Design principles, probably 20 years ago. In 2011, I authored...

Hiring Post-Covid and the Future of Work

A Dispatch from The Front Line of The War For Talent By Matt Simeone The last 18 months have taken companies and executive search firms on an unprecedented roller coaster ride.  The first quarter of 2020 was business as usual, followed by two-quarters of...

Honoring Mentors and the Future Supply Chain

Packaging and the Future Supply Chain By Jeff Wincel When I look at the landscape of packaging and supply chain and try to envision what is on the future horizon, I start by looking back.  In the 1980’s I began my career in automotive procurement and supply chain....

What To Do With This Post Pandemic Checkup

The Pandemic CheckUP Learnings By Wayne Clancy Leaders everywhere are looking at how to manage their workforces as we emerge from the pandemic. Even organizations that have seen significant revenue growth face many unknowns: will my team ever return to the office...

Post Pandemic packaging checkup

How Integrated Packaging Enhances Value

  By Mike Richmond, PTIS partner The IPVM Mode™ is a maturity model designed specifically for packaging to show the many elements that touch packaging internally and across the value chain. As the packaging industry moves toward many new challenges and...

Integrated Packaging

Moving Flexible Packaging to a Circular Economy

As consumers, brands, and legislators pivot toward a more circular economy message, Packaging Foresight explains how it is imperative that flexible packaging move toward this new model of sustainability. Also, read a future perspective on how digital commerce...

Moving Flexible Packaging to a Circular Economy