I recently struck up a conversation with a manager at a company that helps some major U.S. marketers produce consumer packaged products. Steps for integrating sustainability initiatives are wonderful, this manager said, but they quickly can break down in the "silo" mentality that's still prevalent at so many companies today.

He's far from alone in that thinking, and his comments do pose the issue of removing communications barriers between departments.

For the answers, I think back to several recent discussions with those who have walked in the other guy's shoes, working on both the supplier and marketing sides of the fence. Collaborative efforts break down, they said, because efforts aren't made to understand other relevant perspectives.

As a result, marketers too often don't understand packaging in its critical role as the primary brand salesman. Graphic designers, on the other hand, speak a very different language than marketers. They aren't well-versed in consumer research techniques, yet they lament that marketers inhibit their creativity. And neither structural designers nor the sales or engineering departments have been consulted before marketers tell designers, "This is what I want."

To this I would only add that retailers and consumers today are making pretty clear-cut demands of packaged products: Give us what we want, how we want it. Responding to these wants can require complex packaging systems that come about only when the creative process recognizes that the successful group works together. Let's make breaking down the silos one of the hot tactics in the new year.

I welcome your comments. Please call me at 630/897-7158 or contact me by e-mail. I will share them with you in the near future.

By Jim George, Editor