I recently bought a couple bags of Tostitos tortilla chips for a party. A ribbon at the top of the bag announced "Coming Soon! New Look, Same Great Taste" and showed pictures of the new packaging design. Nice preview, I thought. The new graphics were the right mix of fresh yet familiar.

Even popular brands need a facelift every so often to keep current and remind customers how much they care.

The same goes for media brands like ours. Welcome to Packaging Digest 2.0. We've started the new year with a minor redesign to better emphasize our renowned in-plant stories and introduce a few future-looking features.

Articles are now organized into three pillars: Trends, Best Practices and New Technology.

• Each month in Trends, we'll identify emerging developments and analyze their implications. For example, in this issue, Tom Hammann, operations business manager at General Mills, examines the global retail-ready packaging landscape and evaluates challenges for its broader use in North America.

The Trends section also houses some of our most popular pages, including Packaging Concepts (which showcases new products in innovative packaging), the Sustainability column from thought leaders at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and advice from experts in our Industry Insights column on the last (but not least) page.

New in Trends is our first Visionary feature in a series. As part of our year-long celebration of Packaging Digest's 50th anniversary, we'll be interviewing packaging executives at forward-thinking companies to get their take on the future. We'll also compile a timeline of packaging innovations from the company in recent years, underscoring the organization's status as a leading-edge packaging company.

• In Best Practices, our core in-plant case studies will continue to share those valuable "peer-to-peer" success stories that foster cross fertilization of ideas and solutions across markets. And, coming in February (ever improving!), leading procurement pros will counsel on matters related to packaging purchasing. 

• Each month in New Technology, features, new products and Promising Patents will cue you to what's coming so you can prepare for it and/or jump ahead of the pack.

To deliver on all this promise, we've strengthened our editorial team with the addition of Technical Editor Rick Lingle, a veteran packaging reporter with a background as a food technologist. We'll also be tapping into the vast experience and mind-trust of our newly created Editorial Advisory Board. See a list of members below—a virtual Who's Who.

The value continues beyond this issue with a revamped WestPack Insider, a highly interactive digital guide to the show. Co-located with seven other manufacturing-related tradeshows, WestPack is part of North America's largest general manufacturing event. The Insider will be delivered to your inbox at the end of January to help you prepare for the mid-February extravaganza.

Please—take a minute or two to tell us what you think of our new and improved products. Call me at 630-990-7384, send a message to [email protected] or add a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Packaging Digest's 2013 Editorial Advisory Board

• Kim Carswell, Senior Manager Packaging, Target
• Oliver Campbell, Director Procurement, Packaging, Dell
• Scott Hemink, Senior R&D Manager for Intl. Technical Services, General Mills
• Joe Hotchkiss, Director, Michigan State University, School of Packaging and Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability
• Joe Keller, Section Head Packaging Development Global Packaging Sustainability, The Procter & Gamble Co.
• Denise Lefebvre, VP, Global Beverage Packaging, PepsiCo
• Peter (Pete) Macauley, Director, Global Packaging & Sustainability, Abbott Laboratories

• Michael Okoroafor, VP-Packaging R&D/Innovation, H.J. Heinz
• Ron Sasine, Senior Director of Packaging, Private Brands, Walmart

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