Why REEL?

People occasionally ask us why the business is called REEL. The answer sits at the intersection of materials science, manufacturing, cinema history, and the increasingly blurred line between the physical and digital worlds.

Let’s start with the practical reason.

Almost every paper-based packaging material begins life on a reel. In paper mills around the world, pulp derived from trees is formed into enormous continuous ‘sheets’ and wound onto giant reels weighing several tonnes. These reels then travel to printers and converters where they are unwound, printed, coated, cut, folded, and transformed into everyday products - cartons, cups, trays, labels and packaging of every description.

In other words, if you work in the fibre-based packaging industry, everything starts on a reel.

But the name REEL also carries another meaning - and that’s where the story becomes more interesting.

For more than a century, the word reel has also been deeply associated with film and storytelling. Early motion pictures were recorded on celluloid film, a material partly derived from cellulose, which itself comes from wood pulp. Those early films were physically stored and projected from large film reels. When a cinema projectionist threaded a film through a projector, they were literally feeding a reel of cellulose-based film through the machine frame by frame.

In a rather poetic way, both industries - packaging and filmmaking - share a common origin: wood fibre transformed into a continuous reel.

There’s another layer to the name as well.

In today’s social media world, a “reel” has taken on a new meaning. Platforms like Instagram and other digital channels use the term to describe short, attention-grabbing video clips designed to communicate ideas quickly and visually.

That modern interpretation fits perfectly with what we are trying to do. Packaging today is no longer just a physical container; it’s increasingly part of a communication medium. It tells a story about sustainability, materials, innovation, and the choices brands make.

This is where the idea of “phygital” comes in - a term used to describe the point where the physical world meets the digital world. Packaging is becoming a bridge between the two. QR codes, smart packaging, printed media, and digital content are increasingly linked together.

So the name REEL captures three ideas at once:

• The industrial reality - paper materials begin life on a reel.
• The storytelling heritage - films were historically stored and projected from reels made from cellulose film.
• The digital present - short “reels” of content capture attention and communicate ideas instantly.

It’s a name rooted in materials, manufacturing, media and modern communication.

And perhaps most fittingly, the word REEL also sounds exactly like “real.”

In a world increasingly dominated by digital experiences, there is something powerful about real, tangible materials - particularly those derived from renewable fibre rather than fossil plastics.

So if anyone ever asks why it’s called REEL, the answer is simple.

Because great stories - whether in cinema, packaging, or social media - often begin on a reel.