Reporting from the IMDPA 2024
Danny Stepper's L.A. Libations has worked with many famous faces to launch new beverage brands. Image: Bell Publishing.
Today marks the final day of the International Metal Decorating & Packaging Association’s (IMDPA) Annual Conference, and we’re excited to hear from the last few speakers before we all head home.
Yesterday, the versatile conference schedule kicked off with a keynote from Danny Stepper, CEO of L.A. Libations, a beverage innovator brand that has worked with the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Emma Chamberlain and many more, aided by Stepper’s experience within the film industry and expertise in the beverage sphere. Many beverage trends were discussed by Stepper, including the rise of non-alc, functional and energy drinks.
Stepper’s presentation was followed by Matt Fraser, COO of Monster Brewing Company, who detailed how his love for the canned format was born and grew, noting the success story of Dale’s Pale Ale as a craft beer innovator. Fraser showed an image from his ‘pre-wedding’ drinks, and said that “consumers will keep coming back because it’s cool to hold a can,” which was certainly true of his and his groomsmen in the photo shown. One point, however, that Fraser mentioned and was also noted by Beverage Marketing Corporation’s MD, Gary Hemphill, was that cardboard beverage formats are steadily becoming real competition for canned formats, especially in the boxed water and wine categories.
Stepper was asked whether he thought consumers really do care about sustainability, and the answer was a complex one because he stated that, of course they do, but whether they act on this desire to ‘be better’ at the point of purchase was another thing entirely, and difficult to predict, given the ever-present plethora of plastic bottles still on offer in stores.
One popular branding option for metal cans that the speakers noted was thermochromic inks and other types of special effect packages. Innovations in colour-changing technology is really driving canned beverage categories and is only set to expand.
The rest of our day yesterday was then split up into two-piece, flat sheet and manufacturing breakout sessions, with many of the speakers addressing technical issues to overcome, as well as advising how to heighten operations.
Winners of the IMDPA scholarship and various metal decorating awards were announced during the luncheon. The Association’s members are clearly a close-knit community and are paving the way for the next generation of metal decorating specialists.
Team CanTech will be eagerly anticipating the next IMDPA show; it has been a great opportunity to learn and network. We may have to brush up on our golfing skills for next time, but we were quite glad to have missed the outing in torrential rain, although myself and Sarah Hills got soaked in Chicago town instead! Followed by a lovely sunny day the day after – typical!
For now, our readers can await a review of this year’s edition in CanTech November 2024.
- Alex Rivers (she/her), CanTech International editor
Keep in touch via email: [email protected] Twitter: @CanTechIntl or LinkedIn: CanTech International magazine
