The start of the year is one of the few times when businesses get a chance to pause and take stock.
Budgets are being signed off. Product plans are being refined. Teams are looking ahead rather than reacting to what’s already overdue. It’s also when packaging should come into the conversation - even though, in reality, it often slips down the priority list.
From our side, we tend to see the same pattern repeat. Once packaging decisions are left too late, the room for choice has usually narrowed, and options start to disappear.
Why packaging decisions work better when they’re planned early
Packaging rarely draws attention when everything is running smoothly. When it isn’t, the impact is often immediate.
We see it when lead times tighten, costs creep up, and last-minute changes become difficult to absorb. In some cases, compromises are made not because they’re right, but because there’s no longer time to explore alternatives properly.
Planning packaging early changes that dynamic. It creates space to look at tooling schedules, material availability, and production volumes before pressure sets in. That breathing room usually leads to calmer decisions and better outcomes overall.
It also improves collaboration. Design changes, material adjustments, and prototypes can be reviewed properly instead of being pushed through simply to meet a deadline.
Reviewing what worked - and what didn’t - last year
Before looking too far ahead, it’s worth being honest about what’s already in use.
We work with many brands whose packaging has evolved gradually without ever being properly reviewed. A bottle shape that once made sense might now be awkward to fill. A material choice could be adding unnecessary cost. A design might no longer reflect how the product is positioned.
Asking a few straightforward questions often reveals useful insights:
- Did the packaging hold up well in storage and transit?
- Were there recurring issues during production runs?
- Did sustainability targets feel achievable or restrictive?
- Was the packaging flexible enough to cope with changes in volume?
These reviews tend to highlight small, practical improvements rather than major overhauls - but those smaller changes are far easier to implement when there’s time to plan them properly.
Sustainability goals shouldn’t be an afterthought
Sustainability tends to unravel when it’s treated as a final tweak rather than part of the original brief.
If the year ahead includes expectations around recycled content, lower material use, or improved recyclability, those decisions need to be made early on. The earlier those conversations happen, the more realistic and effective the outcomes tend to be.
In our experience, this is when discussions around post-consumer recycled plastics, lightweighting, and alternative packaging formats are most productive. There’s time to weigh up practical trade-offs and to understand how material choices affect things like compliance, tax, and long-term costs - rather than discovering the implications after decisions have already been locked in.
Matching packaging design to production reality
Some of the most common packaging issues don’t show up on screen. They only appear once production begins.
We regularly see designs that look right in theory but create avoidable challenges on the factory floor if they haven’t been developed with manufacturing in mind. Minor adjustments to wall thickness, neck finishes, or material choice can make a noticeable difference to consistency and efficiency.
Taking time to review design, development, and manufacturing together helps avoid rework later on and ensures packaging is suited to scale, not just initial launch volumes.
Building a packaging roadmap for the year ahead
Packaging tends to work better when it’s treated as part of an ongoing plan, rather than something that gets decided once and forgotten.
For most brands, that plan includes upcoming product launches, changes in demand, or a gradual move towards different materials. When we have a clear view of what’s coming, it becomes much easier to flag potential issues early and make adjustments before they turn into last-minute problems.
It also helps internally. When packaging decisions are set out in advance, commercial, marketing, and operations teams are less likely to pull in different directions. Instead of revisiting the same questions under pressure, everyone is working from the same assumptions.
Starting the conversation early pays off
The packaging projects that tend to run most smoothly don’t usually start with a rush.
They begin with a few straightforward questions and enough time to answer them properly. No panic. No fixed deadline hanging over every decision. That breathing space at the outset makes a noticeable difference to how the rest of the project unfolds.
If packaging is part of your plans for the year ahead, this is the right time to talk it through. Whether you’re reassessing an existing product or thinking ahead to something new, getting us involved early gives you more room to manoeuvre and fewer trade-offs late on.
If you’d like to discuss your packaging plans, speak to our team. A simple conversation now can save time, reduce cost, and avoid unnecessary compromise as the year moves forward.