In 2010, Shelf Impact! and international brand consultancy Dragon Rouge return with a new and improved version of our exclusive packaging innovation survey.

Though the topics of investigation remain unchanged, we have expanded our scope so that our year-end summary of package innovation becomes even more representative of key trends in the marketplace.

Each quarter, readers of Shelf Impact! are invited to rate 15 new packages in an online survey. They are asked to evaluate the packages around the following five criteria:

1. The product concept’s ability to provoke new ways of thinking about a category.
2. The product structure’s ability to present new ways of interacting with a product type.
3. The package graphics’ innovative cues that help bring the product positioning to life.
4. The package’s use of innovative materials.
5. The relative effectiveness of the packaging production process.

Results compiled for this article summarize responses from more than 330 brand/marketing managers, designers, and materials suppliers surveyed in January.

The scores don’t suggest that any of the packages mentioned are not innovative; scores reflect the ratings of the packages relative to each other rather than in comparison to new packages on the whole. Our goal in conducting these surveys is to take package samples from different categories to establish key metrics that measure the success of new ideas and product launches in package design and innovation