If packaging is essential in marketing your brand, pay attention to shape as you attend trade shows and conferences this fall. Designers who focus on structural packaging form have long considered their craft something of a "dark art," compared with the perceived sexier world of colors and graphics, but that is evolving.

Packaging is tangible, quite honestly, to such an extent that words can't readily follow. For example, the typical purchase "decision" takes merely 0.8 seconds at a grocery store. How much can any of us say in such a narrow time frame to explain a given choice? Not much; maybe a syllable or two will pass our lips.

Why do we indulge the clearly undesirable tendency to create "me-too" products with mundane packaging to match? Recently, I came across some interesting perspectives.

Sometimes, insightful breakthroughs originate from unlikely places. I was reminded of that while listening to Barbara Jirka speak at a conference in Boston last week. Jirka is Channel Marketing Manager for Tyson Foods, and she was presenting at the Kid Power Food and Beverage conference about marketing healthful foods to kids and moms.

Why can some products build an army of loyal consumers with little or no advertising and other brands require an expensive promotional campaign for success? Patrick Hanlon, Founder and CEO of Thinktopia, says true brands are belief systems with perceptible meaning to set them apart from commodity products.

A closer look at the newest trends in today's packaging.

Organic Valley, LaFarge, WI, has found an innovative way to extend its brand reach and bring the healthful benefits of milk to the ballpark. The dairy packages about 8 oz of milk in aseptic cartons for distribution at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, WI, during baseball games of the minor league Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

In order to be truly effective, packaging has to literally deliver the heart and soul of the brand in a way that forges strong, emotive connections with the consumer. The days of delivering a hierarchy of features and benefits on packaging in a dry manner, sans emotion, are over. But where do emotive cues come from?

Brand design is so much more than the artistic veneer it once was. It’s about orchestrating and delivering a total experience based on a deep understanding of what the consumer wants. When orchestrated perfectly, the design provides brand differentiation and delivers an experience that’s positive, memorable, and unexpected. In the fast-moving world of consumer goods, the opportunity for direct consumer experience with the brand is minimal. That is why Procter & Gamble’s previous way of thinking about design—regionally organized package and product design focused on simple aesthetics and technical aspects—gave way to a global design strategy based on the totality of the brand experience.

How do you sell the value of design to senior management? What do you look for when selecting a design firm? Senior managers from five of the nation’s leading consumer packaged goods companies discussed these two topics in a panel discussion at the Fuse: Brand Identity and Package Design Conference in April in New York. Panelists were:

In our survey conducted last month, Shelf Impact! asked readers whether you think about production-line issues during package design. Not surprisingly, most of you said absolutely.

Do you want to become a more nimble and cost-effective marketer by outsourcing your package development function? If so, a new conference, CP 07: Succeeding With Contract Packaging, will give you plenty of ideas for when and how to make contract packaging work for you—from major product manufacturers to small, virtual marketers.

Mike Payne is Director of Snack Food Packaging at Masterfoods USA, Hackettstown, NJ. In a recent conversation with Shelf Impact!, he discusses innovation and trends in packaging structures.

Last month, Shelf Impact! also asked the following question: How do you validate the return on investment when using a contract packager for your package development? Here are some of your responses:

Kerr Dental wanted to improve package durability and functionality for its OptiDisc Finishing and Polishing Disc Set, used by dentists.

From tamper evidence to production protection to designs with flair, these packages are the real deal.

The emphasis on convenience drives so many food packaging decisions today, and it may have a greater influence on the packages we see in the future than anything else out there. The following are new examples in the battle for shelf supremacy in convenience packaging:

Overall flat consumption and ever-increasing competitive pressures in the U.S. beer industry have driven the market leaders to rely more on packaging as a tool to boost sales.

What really is this thing we call packaging innovation, how is it nourished, and how can it be successfully woven into a company's approach to package design? This month, Shelf Impact! continues its discussion with Elizabeth Head-Fischer, Packaging Design Manager at Texas Instruments; Michael Livolsi, Package Design Consultant formerly with Unilever; and Arno Melchior, Global Packaging Director at Reckitt Benckiser.

Popular thinking among today’s package-creation teams is that the package must work for the consumer as both shopper and user of the product.

Great packages require at least 18 months, but economic pressure too often speeds up the design. Approach innovation as a cross-functional process, two gurus say.

Rapid changes in packaging formats are essential today. A new report provides winning strategies that get marketing
and operations working together.