Marketers have long summarized their work in the four “Ps”—product, price, place, and promotion. Current thinking adds two more Ps—positioning and packaging.

Both will increase in importance over the next decade, say Herbert Meyers and Richard Gerstman, “because we anticipate that shopping will experience revolutionary changes resulting from limitless conceptual opportunities for making the shopping environment more exciting.” The authors outline how and why in The Visionary Package. Both are founding managing partners of Gerstman+Meyers (now Interbrand), a brand identity and design consultancy. Meyers is retired and Gerstman is chairman of Interbrand U.S.

Consider bottled water or the shape of the Absolut Vodka bottle. “What makes these packages visionary is that, being based on solid marketing criteria and precisely targeted positioning instead of on marketers’ or designers’ whims or current popular trends, they have withstood the flow of time, even when modified repeatedly, to adhere to the changes in market conditions,” the authors state.

The 242-page book compartmentalizes and summarizes ground that’s become popular fare at branding and package design conferences. The authors define the dynamics of packaging design at retail and focus on today’s marketplace, its potential, and how it could change.

The Visionary Package is required reading for current and future marketers who believe packaging is integral to product development.

To order a copy visit Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com or Palgrave Macmillan.

Capsule review by Jim George,
Editor-in-Chief, Shelf Impact!