In these “unprecedented times,” phrasing we’ve all come to understand as being metaphorically applicable to nearly all of life’s experiences in this new normal, the label industry, where it is literally applicable, is doing well despite these times. 

Labeling, both as a printing service and a technology, has proven itself essential – with population growth comes product growth, and with product growth comes packaging, and therefore label growth; with consumer safety concerns comes product scrutiny, and with product scrutiny comes security, and therefore innovative labeling technology. Nothing to date has made these truths more evident than the COVID-19 pandemic.

In our new normal, being a labeling solutions service provider means we are in the right place at the right time with the right offering for a range of customers across a spectrum of industries. Be it by happenstance or not, this shines a new light on our business, on the fact that what we do really matters to each and all of us as consumers ourselves. It matters because labels are like enhanced wayfinding signage, having the capacities to point us to, inform us about, and guide us along the best routes we can take given the individual or collective circumstances at hand (or to the best products to buy for our specific needs, and even from where they originated should we be so inclined to know).

We agree with our peers, which you can read about in this informative article on the state of the North American Label Market, that digitization, e-commerce and sustainability are indeed exciting opportunities for new and disruptive innovations, as much as they are also challenges within and for our industry. As a 132-year-old company which has survived its share of challenges, you can take our word to the bank on this – technology will continue to propel our business and the ways in which we service our customers, as well as drive and optimize the labeling solutions we provide to them with modernizations we can’t even fathom today.

But all told, despite the many challenges and unknowns we are facing, labels are an indispensable thread in the fabric of commerce and consumerism, pandemic or not. Opportunities for better, faster, smarter, and even cheaper, are abundant. To say our industry is a resilient one is an understatement…we like to think of it as sticky.