CHICAGO — While there are a variety of search engines available for emerging brands to consider when hunting for various needs, the process of getting that information can feel as overwhelming as taking a sip of water from a fire hydrant.
During an educational session at Pack Expo, held Nov. 3-6 in Chicago, Joan Jacinto, director of adtech and search, and Jen Krepelka, director of digital media for show owner PMMI, the association for packaging and processing technologies, highlighted ProSource, the association’s latest tool designed to help brands find the right suppliers.
ProSource is a one-stop directory of PMMI’s members that helps emerging brands find packaging, machinery, materials and service solutions specified to their exact need. The website harnesses the search engine traffic of customers looking for packaging machines and materials online, tweaked with PMMI member expertise to streamline the process.
“There are a lot of ways to find information, but there are often too many results,” Jacinto said. “Just searching ‘liquid filling’ alone gets over 8 million results, and there isn’t an easy way to filter that.”
ProSource is specifically tailored to the packaging and processing industry, with a directory that can apply highly tailored filters to validate category listings. The tool was designed so PMMI could provide a directory that was focused on less scrolling and more finding.
“It’s a great way to compare apples to apples without searching through a bunch of different company sites that are organized a different way.” — Jen Krepelka | director, digital media | PMMI
To ensure SEO, ProSource’s published submissions are reviewed and authenticated before being published in the directory.
“What makes ProSource really unique is that when you search with that tool, you can search with confidence that the companies that come up in that category actually have a solution for you,” Krepelka said.
PMMI ProSource categories and supplier information have been curated for the platform based on input from end-user experts in packaging. ProSource’s plain-language filters and graphic features help users find what they need.
“The core piece of ProSource is the company profile and the categories that company is in,” Krepelka said. “It’s a great way to compare apples to apples without searching through a bunch of different company sites that are organized a different way.”
Although the search tool offers a present solution for any information overload, PMMI will continue to improve and narrow searches for the directory, with avenues of innovation within the tool already on the horizon.
