Community programs, finding funding tougher than ever to obtain, are turning more to cause-related marketing to raise money and awareness to support their objectives. The Death Valley Natural History Association found an innovative way, using packaging, to support its Death Valley ROCKS program and its mission of bringing city kids to the park to experience the natural world.

I recently had the occasion to visit Café El Marino in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. From its bustling plant in that seaport city, Café El Marino has become one of Mexico’s largest coffee producers in part because company General Director, Arturo Lizárraga Mercado, is a forward thinker. Mercado believes that one largely untapped opportunity in branding
is the cross promotion of related products. This is one approach, he believes, that could get products more into club stores and other high-volume retailers (HVRs).

Last month, Shelf Impact! also asked readers this question: “As mass-media audiences become more fragmented, what unexplored opportunities do you see for packaging the brands you work on?” Here are some of your responses.

Dental ancillaries are increasing in importance as consumers become better educated about oral hygiene. The category offers significant potential to grow and add value to the oral hygiene market, according to an analysis by Mintel's Global New Products Database.

    Increased availability and a choice of dental ancillaries such as dental floss, interdental brushes, bacteria-removing sprays and gums, and tongue cleaners have exploded onto the scene. Further, Mintel reports, increased consumer interest in cosmetic dentistry has brought about more convenient at-home whitening kits.

    Packaging is helping to bring about differentiation in dental ancillaries products. In dental floss, World’s Best International is taking convenience to a higher level with its Brushpicks toothpicks, introduced in the United States under the Doctor’s brand. The product removes plaque and food debris by using a rounded safety tip that protects gums, and tiny bristles that brush away food particles. A slender, plastic carrying case provides the portability benefit. The case holds the toothpicks, and it includes a chain attachment.

Timberland Co. leverages the pressure-sensitive label on cartons of its footwear products by featuring “nutrition” information that reflects the footprint the company makes in creating the shoes contained in the package.

Labels include an environmental impact section that defines energy needed to make the shoe, a community impact section detailing the company’s stance on child labor hours and community service, and a manufactured section that identifies country of origin and factory name.

The one-piece corrugated cartons include 100% recycled post-consumer waste fiber and are printed with soy-based inks. The cartons are hinged or locked together using die cuts.

Procter & Gamble Co. has opened up a new area of the package for graphics and branding information in introducing a cross-promotional package for Tide with Febreze Freshness to its stable of laundry detergents. P&G opted for a decorated cap with a shrink-sleeve label to attract consumers’ attention and to help them easily distinguish Tide with Febreze Freshness from other products in the Tide lineup.

A decorated cap gives the laundry detergent package distinction in a category in which the bottle caps are typically undecorated.

The shrink-sleeve wraps around the cap’s entire vertical wall. Label graphics are rotogravure-printed in five colors. Color-coded caps indicate the scent varieties.  Matching colors and an icon appear on the bottle label to reinforce the brand’s identity and indicate the product scent.

The shrink-sleeve cap also demonstrates that outsourcing some packaging operations makes sense. P&G determined that it required outside expertise to create the sleeves and attach them to the caps.

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

Peter Harrop sees enormous potential for smart packaging in brand enhancement. As Chairman of IDTechEx, a firm that provides independent analysis on development and application of RFID and smart packaging, Harrop has been following industry trends for the past six years.

Harrop advises marketers to think about “more than simply using the package for its ages-old function of displaying a product, instructing you about it, and protecting it.”