In March The Buyer, together with Sophie Jump and the WSTA, is looking to do something very different for the drinks industry. Hold a one day conference that is 100% focused not on the individual wine, beer and spirits categories and the specific product trends within them, but on the consumers that we might want to drink them. An event that is instead dedicated to the huge changes taking place to consumer behaviour and our potential attitudes to alcoholic drinks and the new smart, connected technology that is driving them. To give you a taste of what to expect here is James Harmer of Touch Design, the brand design and packaging agency, on the challenges and opportunities facing all brand owners, producers and retailers when it comes to making ever more sustainable, relevant, challenging and consumer friendly products that work from a manufacturing, design and packaging point of view. We might not all be able to hire George Clooney to then sell what we come up with, but we could all do with the sort of transformative packaging and design solution that Nespresso has done to the coffee market.