You want shelf “pop,” but time and the budget are considerations, too. As more marketers are turning to foil packaging or packaging accents, and each of these three issues presents a challenge.

Jeff Petersen, Executive Director of the Foil Stamping & Embossing Association, provides the following steps for achieving the best results when foil is part of the design equation for your package.

We asked readers during May whether their marketing strategy included one-to-one packaging during the next 12 months. This approach includes tactics such as the Internet to let consumers, in effect, create their own brand by customizing the product formulation and some or all of the packaging elements.

Packages using one-to-one marketing have cropped up in categories such as health and beauty aids, bottled water. and soft drinks.

Fourteen of 44 Shelf Impact! readers who responded to this question said one-to-one marketing is a near-term strategic consideration at their company.

Look under there. Under where?

Ha-ha, made you say underwear! But can I make you say “underwear in bio-based, wash-away packaging”? We’ll see.

While most men are conditioned to rip open and toss aside the poly bag our new skivvies come in, micro-retailer Devo Underwear thought a more environmentally sensitive approach was necessary. Devo engaged San Francisco-based industrial design and brand strategist Fuseproject to develop a bio-based underwear packaging material that disintegrates in the washing machine.

Devo’s theory, says Fuseproject’s Catherine O’Connor, was: Rather than introduce more packaging into the waste stream, why not wash away the evidence? The solution was a 3-mil, corn-starch-based, semi-rigid plastic foam-like packaging material. The bio wrap is also impregnated with trace amounts of laundry detergent.

Are you responsible for managing the packaging research and development process in your organization? If so, you may gain invaluable insights to help you do your job better by attending the seventh annual Market Research and Development for Package Design conference Sept. 21-23, 2005, at the W Chicago City Center in Chicago.

The conference host is the Institute for International Research, and Shelf Impact! is a media partner.

Speakers will include Isabelle McDonnel, Senior Brand Manager, Diageo; Greg Zimmer, Oral Care Designer, Procter & Gamble; and Jeffrey Conrad, Vice President, Licensing, American Greetings.

Shelf Impact! Editor Jim George will moderate the panel discussion “ Packaging Integration Across the Value Chain:

Q: Marketers sometimes look to other product catagories for package-design inspiration. How can they measure and determine whether the inspiraion they've found in another category is right for their brand?

A: One path is to look closer at consumers who will purchase your product. The consumer’s frame of reference goes beyond your category, bringing in all the perceptions and experiences that satisfy a particular need or desire.

Here is an example. The Rid brand had developed a non-toxic, pesticide-free SKU called Pure Alternative Lice & Egg Removal System. Consumers would need to quickly understand the difference between this product and the original Rid line. Target moms were interested in the gentle and safe formula as an alternate solution.

Moms buy products in other categories that they perceive as safe, gentle, and caring. Yet, many products with aloe and antibacterial products deliver on these attributes.

These products use visual cues to deliver the safe and gentle message. Tactics include the color palette, layout direction, and typography.

The design and product name for Rid Pure Alternative positions it as a safe hair treatment. The soft greens feel safe and protective; the diagonal curve, gentle and caring. The sub-brand font is approachable and friendly, implying ease-of-use. The strength of the Rid brand assures efficacy.

Domino Foods Inc. found out just how much more consumers are willing to pay for convenience packaging. The Yonkers, NY, marketer had added an HDPE canister to its line of sugar packaging that costs 10 times more than bags in the category.

Since Domino introduced the canister in February, Midwest consumers have been paying up to 70 cents more for 4 lb of sugar in the canister than they would pay for 4 lb of sugar in a paper bag. In the Northeast, consumers pay about as much for the 4-lb canister as for the 5-lb bag.

At the recent Brand Identity & Package Design conference in New York, five package designers and managers lamented the realities of getting effective package designs approved in “Corporate America.” Their panel discussion produced these top-line conclusions:

1. Understand the people you’re working with from their perspective.

2. Tune into your values every day.

3. Leverage resources.

4. Work seamlessly.

5. Practice “tough love.”

6. Think differently.

Here are some thoughts from the panelists:

Amanda Bach, Packaging Communications Design Manager at Nestlé USA, said her shift from designer to the corporate world broadened her perspective; she had to learn to “walk the walk” of marketers. “Designers are not just designing for themselves. They’re designing for someone with a mission. I had to learn to speak the corporate language.”

The steady consumer shift away from traditional grocery stores in favor of other types of retailers—which often have different packaging requirements is continuing. The typical U.S. consumer made 69 trips to the grocery store in 2004, down from 72 trips in 2003.

These figures come from ACNielsen’s analysis of its own consumer panel data. The research concluded that consumer trips are increasing at both supercenters and convenience stores. Food is rapidly growing as a product category in supercenters as a strategy for increasing traffic through their stores.

Recently in Shelf Impact!, Seattle Package Designer David Kendall lamented his belief that package design is drifting toward commodity status. Many Shelf Impact! readers agree with David. This month, we share more of your responses.

“Yes, I agree with Mr. Kendall. Graphic designers must get their heads in the game and contribute meaningful concepts that translate on the shelf at “buy time.” The designers should understand and be aligned with the brand manager’s understanding of the target audience in order to elevate the packaging from commodity to an obvious value to consumer and retail buyer.”

—Patt Kelly-Pollet, Brand Manager, Innotek Inc.

“No, I disagree. I actually think the trend is just the opposite. True creative talents are valued within organizations for their thinking and ability to solve marketing issues. We are being asked to be the brand stewards to protect those visual equities.”

—Carrie M. Golvash, Senior Manager, Package Design & Development

“Yes, I agree with David, because no one is seeing big sales benefits from packaging alone.”

—Edward Bauer

Research: The best packages engage consumers as both shoppers and product users while helping retailers build their bottom line.

Consumers crave convenient products that simplify and accent their lifestyles. Retailers demand shelf impact, product security, and customization. The term that best describes each of these desires is “value,” and both consumers and retailers point to paperboard as a packaging material they would like to see used more frequently—and effectively—to deliver it.
They told independent researchers recently that paperboard packaging offers under-explored potential for providing value in ways that matter to them.

Anyone responsible for developing and maintaining worldwide brands cannot ignore the meteoric growth of the Chinese market. China is now a desirable marketing target for manufacturers around the world. Success in winning a share of it will require marketers and consultants to learn from companies familiar with the complexities and incongruities of the Chinese market.

How can U.S. marketers and package designers make their products sell in China? They need to understand that the Chinese population is spread out over an enormous area of land and has many levels of population and income. This may require modifying product formulations and packaging in order to make a brand appeal to a broader range of Chinese consumers.

“Sell the emotion.” Those words are all the rage in marketing circles. Michael Livolsi, Senior Packaging Design Manager at Unilever, validated this point in a panel discussion (see screen 10) at the recent Brand Identity & Package Design conference in New York.

Livolsi said, “How do you get that emotion in a commodity category? It’s merchandising and packaging.”

What Livolsi and others are saying is that marketers have to become storytellers. There’s simply too much clutter on the store shelves to enjoy success merely by being like everyone else.

Some marketers are failing in their effort in telling stories that sell the emotion. One axiom of this strategy is that the story has to resound with every touchpoint. But if my mail is any indication, in practice this is occurring inconsistently at best among some brands. They’re not truly authentic, and nothing kills a brand faster in a consumer’s mind than when they suspect they’ve been misled.

Results of new RFID-captured grocery store data challenge many long-standing perceptions of shopper travel behavior within a supermarket, including ideas related to aisle traffic, special promotional displays, and perimeter shopping patterns. The data will have important implications for store layout, product placement, and end-cap displays, among other factors, in which packaging plays a central role.

Metal “tins” equate to keepsake value in products from sweets to playing cards to golf balls. Germany-based Bosch Group communicates the premium positioning of its IXO power screwdriver with a custom metal package for distribution at D-I-Y retailers and other outlets in the European and Asia-Pacific markets.

The screwdriver’s packaging accomplishes several objectives. Functionally, it’s a sturdy tool-storage unit designed to reflect the product quality.

A crowded category, energy drinks have to continuously “push the envelope” to remain ahead of the curve. Cadbury Schweppes succeeds with an updated aluminum bottle design for its Snapple Elements energy drink.

The bottle, from CCL Container, features blocks of bold and vibrant color and rich graphics that scream “energy” to the 16- to 24-year-old male target audience. Minimalist graphics depict each flavor on containers whose frosty appearance supports the promise of fast relief.

“We were trying to communicate energy, and I think the design does that,” says Mike Acken, Snapple New Products Brand Manager.

Link: CCL Container

Link: Bell Inc.

Package design for private-label products is rapidly closing the gap with national brands, and a bag-in-box carton for TUF trash bags, from Tyco Plastics, Minneapolis, offers a good example on the shelves of Walgreens drugstores.

The carton structure is a clay-coated newsback SBS printed flexographically in seven colors plus an aqueous coating. The Flexographic Technical Association cited Bell Inc. for its use of new technology to produce compositional effects previously difficult to achieve with flexography.

These include gradient drop shadows and feathering, which give the graphics a three-dimensional effect.

Mattel has launched a packaging graphics initiative with the goal of helping consumers locate the right games for their specific needs.

Tactics on packages for games such as Scene It? include color-coding packaging to segment products by age groups, number of players, duration of play, and key game attributes and benefits. Mattel supports the packaging initiative with a new Web site, www.mattelgamefinder.com.

“Through our extensive research, we have discovered that consumers have a difficult time shopping for games because the games aisle can be overwhelming,” says Phil Jackson, Vice President, Marketing for Mattel Brands.

Link: www.mattelgamefinder.com

McDonald’s has more than doubled its milk sales after switching from a gabletop carton to 8-oz high-density polyethylene bottles. Lisa Frick, McDonald’s Director of U.S. Menu Management, cites two reasons:

First, PVC labels from Seal-It, printed gravure in 10 colors, heighten the visual impact with vivid colors that create entertainment value for kids. Second, the injection-molded polypropylene closure, from Portola Packaging, wins parents’ trust by providing tamper evidence.

The HDPE bottles contain 8 oz of milk and are available at more than 13,500 McDonald’s restaurants in the United States.

Link: Seal-It Inc.

Sherwin-Williams Co. has leveraged its reputation as a packaging innovator in paint with the Ready to Roll “project-sized” container for its Dutch Boy brand. With a built-in roller tray and an easy-open lid, the container eliminates the step of pouring paint into a tray prior to painting.

This saves time in both set-up and cleanup, says Adam Chafe, Dutch Boy Vice President of Marketing. Consumers told the company in testing that the Ready to Roll container was both easier and neater to use than conventional paint cans.

The container holds 2.5 gallons of paint.

Grupo Ayecue, a manufacturer and marketer of mushrooms in Spain, exports its mushrooms in new flat and stand-up retort pouches.

The company says the pouches enhance the visual “real estate” and maintain product freshness through a longer distribution cycle. A layer of polyester provides thermal resistance and the right surface for the razor-sharp photography and illustrations. Printing is done in gravure in seven colors to reinforce the freshness message.

The seven-layer pouch resists breaking and puncturing and “guarantees that our products reach the market in optimal condition,” explains Yolanda Parra, Marketing Manager.