LGC: In-store Experiences

We are all going through challenging times and to stay ahead we need to place ourselves strategically in the industry.

At AGI, we now have the independency to drive our business into many new areas and focus on real innovations and creativity. We are a global leader in marketing communication, design and special packaging, production and print, working with some of the leading publishers, who know and trust us for our reliability and creativity.

Throughout our 42 years of working in the entertainment business we have constantly adapted to change, from our initial work on record sleeves, all the way through VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and now Digital. Understanding the supply chain and the changes to the consumer purchase pattern allows us to change the way we work and adapt our business.

As we go through these transitions, the first area to be affected will be the merging of traditional print and digital media. With the introduction of different ways of delivering information to the consumer, we need to ensure we are leading this transition and supporting our global clients through creation, adaptation and delivery.

With the retail space also changing, the ability to buy, receive, and interact with different products or services grows. Our global POS team understands this and partners closely with our digital group to ensure we are at the forefront of any technologies that can make our clients’ products stand out against the competition.

As more products are being made available online, one of our first business objectives is to focus more on the gift card market and utilise our experience to make this area as simple and efficient as possible. We have many new products and patented designs that offer a unique experience to the consumer.

We are producing a number of point of sale activition solutions, from unique code generation through the tight processes controls required in that environment. We are producing packaging that the unique code is printed onto, as well as a unique activation bar code enabling content to be received via a download facility. This provides content owners the ability to place products in new retail outlets and reduces the piracy risk traditional supply chain process offer.

This is just the first of many changes that the digital transition will bring to our business and it’s all about understanding the needs of the client and supplying a solution.

Our special packaging team has been working on some truly innovative designs for a number of triple-A games titles this year. The games market is following a similar trend to the film market, and now we believe it is starting to understand the value in special (more personal) ways of delivering quality products to its valued consumer.

Our globally renowned creative and digital divisions also bring cultural and social understanding to our business. Communication is the very cornerstone of our organisation and our global design teams live and breathe this fact. Because we understand our clients’ brand, product and supply chain requirements and base our work on rigorous market research, we consistently produce work that achieves greater stand out and is therefore more effective in today’s cluttered.

The marketing channels have become ever more complicated as the consumer has many more ways to receive the information and product communications. We have been focusing on this area and have restructured our global teams to be able to support the clients through these less defined communication channels.

The entertainment service industry is having to adapt the way we work in order to support our clients through this transition, and by partnering with related industries we will be able to support our clients more effectively.

Having the ability to work across all channels means we can support marketing campaigns and control the overall supply chain for the client, which ultimately can increase profitability and reduce the need for project management and coordination.

This puts us in a leading position to support the games industry through this, and any future, transitions.

BIO: TONY GARNISH
For the last 25 years, AGI president Tony Garnish has been involved in the home entertainment packaging arena and has considerable experience in music, home video and games packaging. He has been with AGI for 17 years, currently responsible for the business globally.