Why Book a Connected Packaging Keynote Speaker?
Packaging is becoming one of the most valuable media channels a brand already owns. By adding QR codes, NFC or augmented reality, businesses can turn physical products into measurable digital touchpoints—without asking consumers to download an app.
Yet many marketing and packaging teams still struggle to move from an interesting technology demonstration to a connected experience that produces commercial results.
A connected packaging keynote speaker can close that gap. The right session should explain the technology, demonstrate the business case and give attendees practical ideas they can apply. This article examines what event organisers should expect from a connected packaging keynote and why Jenny Stanley brings a particularly valuable combination of strategic insight, campaign experience and measurable evidence to the stage.
What Does a Connected Packaging Keynote Speaker Cover?
A connected packaging keynote explores how brands can connect physical products with digital experiences through technologies such as QR codes, NFC, augmented reality and digital watermarks.
The technology is only one part of the discussion. Effective connected packaging brings together marketing strategy, consumer experience, first-party data and packaging operations.
A strong keynote should help audiences understand:
- How packaging can become an owned digital media channel
- What motivates consumers to scan or tap a product
- How web-app experiences remove the need for an app download
- Which engagement formats work across different product categories
- How brands can collect GDPR-compliant first-party data
- How to measure scan rates, engagement time and conversions
- Where AI can add useful personalisation
- How connected packaging can support sustainability communication
Jenny Stanley approaches these questions through more than 25 years of experience in digital transformation and marketing innovation. As the founder and Managing Director of Appetite Creative, she has helped develop connected experiences for brands including Coca-Cola, Tetra Pak, PepsiCo, Bacardi, AB InBev and Nestlé.
Why Is Packaging Becoming a Media Channel?
Consumers who scan connected packaging are already holding or using the product. This creates a context that conventional advertising cannot easily reproduce.
There is no need to pay for another impression or compete for attention in a crowded social feed. Every interaction begins with a consumer who has a direct relationship with the product, resulting in zero media wastage.
Appetite Creative’s campaigns achieve a 14% average scan rate, compared with a typical digital advertising click-through rate of 0.01–0.10%. Consumers spend an average of three minutes within connected experiences, giving brands time to offer something useful rather than simply deliver another advertising message.
Connected packaging performance
- 14% average scan rate
- Three-minute average engagement time
- Up to 30% documented sales increase
- Zero additional media cost
- 25% increase in brand engagement through Appetite Creative’s proprietary platform
These results make connected packaging relevant to a wide range of event audiences, from brand marketing and customer experience teams to packaging specialists, retailers and sustainability leaders.
Connected packaging campaign results
How Can Connected Packaging Support First-Party Data Strategies?
The decline of third-party tracking has increased the value of direct, permission-based consumer relationships. Connected packaging gives brands a practical way to create those relationships at product level.
A consumer might scan to enter a competition, claim a voucher, access a recipe, join a loyalty programme or learn how to recycle the packaging. In return, the brand can collect consented information about preferences and behaviour.
This can reveal:
- Which products and SKUs generate the most interaction
- When and where consumers engage
- Which content keeps their attention
- Whether users return after their first visit
- Which rewards or experiences drive conversion
- How preferences differ across markets or product variants
Because the interaction happens through a web app, content can be updated without requiring consumers to install or maintain a separate application. Brands can monitor performance in real time and adjust the experience as behaviour becomes visible.
Jenny’s keynotes place this data in a practical business context. The objective is not to collect information for its own sake, but to use relevant insights to improve marketing, product development and the consumer experience.
Global Connected Packaging Survey
What Role Does AI Play in Connected Packaging?
AI can make a connected experience more relevant to the individual using it. However, it should solve a recognisable consumer problem rather than appear as a novelty.
The Sunny Oil connected packaging experience provides a useful example. Its AI-powered recipe recommendation tool allows consumers to enter ingredients they already have and receive suitable recipe ideas. The experience gives the consumer an immediate reason to interact while connecting the product with a useful everyday activity.
This approach demonstrates several principles that Jenny explores in her talks:
- Begin with a clear consumer need
- Use AI to reduce effort or improve relevance
- Keep access simple through QR-enabled web apps
- Connect the experience to the product’s real use
- Measure behaviour and improve the journey over time
AI can also support personalised recommendations, conversational interfaces and more responsive content. The strategic question is not whether a brand can add AI, but whether it creates a better reason to scan, engage and return.
Sunny Oil AI recipe case study
How Does Connected Packaging Support Sustainability?
Brands are investing in more sustainable materials, processes and supply chains, but those efforts are not always visible or understandable to consumers.
Connected packaging can bridge that communication gap. A QR code can provide market-specific recycling guidance, explain sourcing decisions or give access to product lifecycle information without adding substantial printed copy to the pack.
It can also help brands prepare for developments such as Digital Product Passports and extended producer responsibility requirements. Information linked to a digital identity can be maintained and adapted as products, markets or regulations change.
For event audiences, Jenny connects these compliance and operational developments with the consumer experience. Sustainability information must be accurate, accessible and useful. If the digital journey is confusing or overloaded with corporate claims, the technology will not create trust.
Connected packaging therefore offers both a communication channel and a practical infrastructure for greater transparency.
What Makes Jenny Stanley’s Keynotes Different?
Jenny combines thought leadership with evidence from connected packaging programmes delivered across multiple sectors and markets. Her presentations focus on decisions audiences can act on: how to choose the right experience, how to create a reason to scan and how to define measurable outcomes.
She is the author of Connected Packaging: The Game-Changing Marketing Tool, a practical guide to technologies and implementation strategies developed through a decade of campaign experience across 43 countries.
Connected Packaging: The Game-Changing Marketing Tool
Jenny also founded the Global Connected Packaging Summit and leads Appetite Creative’s annual Global Connected Packaging Survey. The research shows sustained confidence in the channel: 96% of surveyed brands are planning to increase connected packaging investment, compared with 88% in 2023 and 59% in 2022.
Her speaking topics can be tailored around:
- Connected packaging innovation
- Packaging as an owned media channel
- Digital transformation and first-party data
- AI-driven consumer engagement
- Sustainable packaging communication
Sessions are available in English and Spanish and can be delivered as keynotes, workshops, masterclasses, panel discussions or executive strategy sessions.
What Should Attendees Take Away?
A connected packaging keynote should leave an audience with more than a list of emerging technologies. Attendees should understand how to identify a valuable use case, create a compelling value exchange and connect engagement metrics with business objectives.
Jenny’s sessions are designed to give marketing, packaging and leadership teams a clearer framework for turning existing physical products into measurable digital channels.
For an upcoming conference, leadership event or innovation programme, book Jenny Stanley to deliver a practical connected packaging keynote tailored to your audience and commercial priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a connected packaging keynote speaker?
A connected packaging keynote speaker explains how technologies such as QR codes, NFC and augmented reality can turn physical packaging into interactive digital experiences. The session may cover consumer engagement, first-party data, AI, sustainability and campaign measurement.
Who benefits from a connected packaging keynote?
Connected packaging keynotes are relevant to brand marketers, packaging managers, customer experience teams, sustainability leaders, retailers and senior decision-makers responsible for digital transformation.
Can a connected packaging keynote be tailored to an industry?
Yes. The presentation can be adapted to the audience’s sector, level of technical knowledge and priorities. Relevant areas may include food and beverage, FMCG, retail, healthcare, beauty, packaging manufacturing and sustainable innovation.
