Cosmopack 2024: the show with many souls

Focus on the entire production cycle of a cosmetic product, from the raw materials to process and packaging technologies and to contracts, all with the complement of innovation: Cosmopack 2024 confirms its unique character in the international trade fair panorama of events dedicated to beauty, offering a sure attraction for professionals from all over the world. Antonia Benvegnù talks to us about the event, anticipating some new significant developments that make the BolognaFiere Cosmoprof show “always unique and different”.

Luciana Guidotti

Cosmopack’s reputation is strengthened year after year, being increasingly perceived as the top event for the entire beauty sector supply chain.

«Thanks to a strategy that has led us to better focus on complexity, finding the right way to connect the many different contexts of the cosmetic supply chain more effectively, - explains Antonia Benvegnù, Head of Sales Cosmopack - we have managed to belie the misconception that the show is dedicated only to packaging». Besides this “renewed” brand awareness, it’s important to point out the physiological growth of the show, which this year is organised in 7 pavilions in the Bologna trade fair district (28 included):

«560 companies from 37 countries will, in fact, be exhibiting, equivalent to a +9% presence compared to 2023. Of these, as many as 66 are suppliers of process and filling machines: a decidedly significant number for an event considered to be generalist. It should be said that, besides key historic names in the sector, we are hosting for the first time very interesting new enterprises, both on the “machinery” front and that of materials and products… There are companies, for example, that have recently entered the cosmetics market with a number of innovative technologies, perhaps borrowed from a well-established experience in food, able to optimise and speed up industrial mixing processes … or packaging suppliers, born and grown on the back of the objectives of circular economy and environmental protection ».

In other words, perfect testimonials of the underlying themes of a show with many different souls.

«We like to think of Cosmopack» Benvegnù points out «as a “different” trade fair for many reasons: different not only for the many different types of product represented or for the highly international flavour that distinguishes it, but also because the stakeholders we address - be they suppliers or buyers - express extremely diversified demands and potentials: large and small industrial enterprises mingle side-by-side, proposing large volumes or super-specialised productions, managing to give adequate responses to multiple and multifaceted requests».

Confirmations and new developments: from real to virtual

«Given the positive feedback received regarding last year’s premiere, - the manager recounts - we are repeating the “Ingredients Zone”, which is growing and has further potential for development: there are, in fact, over 20 suppliers of raw materials and fragrances that will liven up the space dedicated to them, again this time coming from all over the world, including Australia and Malaysia».

Besides this confirmation from an exhibition point of view, the by now traditional three days of analysis and discussion of the CosmoTalks returns with over 70 speakers, to discuss the state-of-the-art of the industry and its future evolution.

«The themes of the 2024 edition will include new trends, high-tech solutions for the industry, sustainable and innovative ingredients and raw materials, and an analysis of new international equilibriums»

Benvegnù specifies, who also gives us some interesting previews from a communication and marketing point of view.

«To highlight our focus on the supply-chain, we have developed the Cosmopack Stage: from this year, in pavilion 20, a discussion area will be set up for exhibiting companies, who will be able to present their products and services in a dedicated paid-for slot».

The most disruptive new development, however, is the evolution of the Factory, which changes identity, transforms and, in practice, dematerializes.

«We are celebrating the tenth edition of this initiative with a decisive change of direction: from a “factory of products” to a “factory of ideas”. We have, in fact, set up the “Cosmofactory - From ideas to innovation”, with a precise goal: to provide less self-referential information regarding the trade fair event, involving operators that do not necessarily exhibit at Cosmoprof but are invited to discuss “macro” themes, such as the circular economy, inclusion, AI or new packaging materials. For this we are counting on the support of Deanna Utroske (formally editor of the Cosmetics Design magazine), a recognised opinion leader not only in the field of cosmetics, but also in the retail world, which therefore brings a global vision of the cosmetic supply chain and the finished product».

This is an initiative which, in the future could have interesting implications in communication terms.

And to finish…

To close the roundup of the news of the 2024 edition, there must inevitably be a reference to the Cosmopack & Cosmoprof Awards, the “Beauty Oscars”, which will celebrate innovation and research in all the sectors of the cosmetics industry and which will be awarded with some differences compared to the past. Benvegnù concludes:

«The technical jury will be, as always, high profile and, will be called upon to evaluate the products exhibited in the show not only in terms of technological innovation or the quality of the formulation, but also in terms of the potential perception of the consumer. The prizes will, therefore, be awarded to the solutions which, in a sort of projection into the future, will become trendy products, that is, able to influence the market, without forgetting, however, attention to sustainability and communication aspects able to highlight the uniqueness of the brand or of the company».