The European Brand & Packaging Design Association (epda) held its 2018 Annual Congress in Madrid.

Under the theme “Disruption in Brand Design – The Impact of Digitalisation”, more than 100 professionals from different fields of activity from around the world, such as digital experts, branding gurus, packaging professionals and spokespersons for major brands from all over the world, gathered to discuss the consequences and opportunities of digitalisation in the field of brand design and to make the most of the latest digital innovations that have changed the rules of the game in the sector.

“The impact of digitalization on the world of brand design and packaging is obvious and is part of our daily lives. Increasingly, we are facing new challenges related to new customer and consumer expectations, new skills for designers or new agency models,” said Malgosia Leniarska, president of EPDA. “The lessons learned from the annual congress in Madrid have been clearly inspiring and can be summed up in one sentence: the future of design in an increasingly digital world is to generate experiences related to what makes us human from all areas: in business, slogans and logos that achieve empathy with the consumer, and experiences capable of creating positive memories for brands”.

The event was attended by Tim Leberecht, author and co-founder of “The Business Romantic Society”, who focused his presentation on the need to focus on romanticism in everything we do, including design and marketing, to achieve greater efficiency in the business world: “Romanticism is what makes us human. We must never lose that perspective. In addition to solutions, we must give our clients intrigue, drama and adventure. We must be not only exponentially more productive, but also more humane.”

Other international speakers of the stature of Jeremy Abbett (Creative Evangelist), Christian Eager (from the design agency Turner Duckworth) and Hernán Braberman, partner and executive director of the design agency tridimage, also took part in the conference. He focused his presentation on the multiple possibilities offered by digitalization in packaging and the design of products and brands, which allows us to generate unique experiences through augmented reality.

The event was also attended by national representatives such as Fernando Ortíz-Ehmann, strategy director of Saffron Consultants, who said that “packaging is an essential part of the brand; it is the link between it and the consumer, and must therefore reflect its values. Digitisation is making a significant contribution to generating positive experiences between the two sides, and building strong and lasting relationships.”