The event brought together the most innovative packaging suppliers, including 141 new exhibitors, with the most influential packaging designers, buyers and specifiers in an environment that was carefully curated to maximise the opportunities for the market to learn, source, network and gain inspiration.

Key highlights of the event included the launch of PLD (Packaging of Premium & Luxury Drinks); an interactive conference programme across four theatres, featuring speakers from the world’s top brands; creative inspiration through galleries of artists and the world’s best packaging design; plus the ever-popular ADF&PCD Awards, guided tours and much more.

As a result, ADF&PCD and PLD Paris proved itself to be the key packaging event of the year for doing business for the world’s top beauty, drinks and FMCG brands, with companies such as L'Oréal, Martell Mumm Perrier Jouet, Chanel, LVMH, Coty, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Remy Cointreau and many more sending full teams of packaging decision-makers across design, marketing, packaging technology, purchasing and R&D to the event.

The event also extended its international reach, with attendees from 84 countries. As the spiritual home of the global perfume, cosmetics and luxury products market and a world leader in wine and spirits, France accounted for around 70% of attendees. The top-represented countries outside of France were the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain, accounting for 16% of attendees. The event also hosted a Korean Pavilion for the first time.

Josh Brooks, event director at ADF&PCD and PLD Paris 2020, said, “We worked hard to build our visitor experience around the four key pillars of learning, inspiration, sourcing and networking, and we’re very pleased that the feedback from exhibitors and visitors suggests the show successfully delivered in each of these areas. Most of all, this is an event where companies come not only to plan projects but to execute them, and to do business with both new and existing suppliers. We saw bigger teams — and therefore more buying influence — attending from the top brand owners. This suggests that the show is only becoming more important as an essential element in the innovation and buying process for the sectors it covers.”

Debates around the circular economy took new and sometimes unexpected turns. Some advocated incremental refinements to the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra. Suggestions included placing greater emphasis on bioplastics, carbon offsetting, the switch to chemical recycling of plastics, as well as focus on factors such as lightweighting and mono-material design. Others put forward more radical solutions in reinventing how the sector can address the waste issue.