Absolut vodka is experimenting with a special-edition bottle sans its familiar label. How many brands can you identify based solely by a package silhouette, and can yours join the list?

Brand stewards must take a leadership roll. Devise a brand security program, sell it to senior management, and customize your packaging solution.

Shape adds a spark to the baking aisle with Mr Kipling Cake Bites from Premier Foods. The bite-sized, individually wrapped sponge cakes come in flip-top paperboard packages shaped like a cake.

In today’s struggling economy, marketers need to come to terms with a new reality. Your true-blue, perennially loyal customers are cheating on you. They have developed a wandering eye—and they are checking out other brands, including private-label, with gusto.

Wal-Mart is one retailer that's recapturing its own stores by being creative inside the box, says Patrick Sbarra, President of New Creature, an in-store marketing design company. Sbarra told an audience at the HBA Global Expo earlier this month in New York City that the nearly $400 billion retailing giant has begun a gradual program to clean up its main aisles and improve sight lines, and brand marketers should be prepared to adjust.

Food marketers in more categories are looking for ways to intensify their package's graphics to heighten visibility.

Bottled wines typically achieve packaging distinction through the bottle shape or the label.

GE Caulk Singles are replacing squeeze tubes and caulk guns for convenient, on-the-go application.

Can design help bring a 20% to 25% sales premium at retail over competing brands?

Shape is the differentiator on another package in the beverage aisle with Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Beverages' 21-oz angled glass bottles of Rose's Mojito. The brand is a line of non-alcoholic mojito mixers.

Club-store sales have reached $115 billion and are increasing nearly 5% annually. The channel's growth presents opportunities to marketers who package their products to meet the special challenges of the club-store environment.

As a child, I loved being the first person in my family to break through the seal of any new package. It was a constant battle between my little sister and I that soon became a parental bargaining tool to separate and reward us. Be it pushing a spoon through the seal under a jar's lid, zipping open a foil pouch, or pouring that first cascade of corn flakes from the box, there was something special about that moment.

Too many packages fail to adequately clarify what the product inside does and, by association, declare a price-value relationship that helps consumers confidently purchase the right product.

When a brand favored by professionals goes mainstream, communication challenges with the new audience can be considerable. The products are usually of premium quality, with a corresponding price point. The right packaging is essential in introducing the brand to mainstream consumers.

Editor's note: With this issue, we welcome Robert Croft, a design industry veteran with a gift for seeing "what could be," and the ability to translate those ideas into workable, visual packaging concepts. His What if... columns will publish periodically in Shelf Impact!'s e-newsletter and in printed inserts of Shelf Impact! in Packaging World magazine.

White-coated aluminum cans provide the canvas for labels with glitzy graffiti graphics that introduce AriZona Beverages' All City NRG green-tea-based, pomegranate-juice-flavored energy drinks.

If your objective is shelf distinction in your category, do what competing brands don't.

Brand managers of healthcare products are beginning to use words like "efficacy" when discussing packaging options for their products—a sign that they view packaging as more than a carrier of the product.

Mass customization is an effective way to solidify brand loyalty, and Miller Brewing Co. offers a novel idea in the beer aisle.

VasoActive Pharmaceuticals, Danvers, MA, has gained additional market distribution for its three OTC topical lotions—Termin-8 (for athlete’s foot), A-R Extreme (for temporary relief from minor sports-related muscular and skeletal injuries), and Osteon (for osteoarthritis and other muscle and joint pain)—by redesigning the packaging for more vibrancy, dimension, and color-coding. With new packaging, the brand’s OTC topical lotions signal product efficacy and health benefits over competitive products.

Retailer brands continue to post solid dollar-volume increases in a number of categories across all distribution channels. The growth is due in part to retailers’ added emphasis on branding, in which packaging is playing a stronger role than ever in differentiating retailers and creating value.

You said…

In June, Shelf Impact! asked you this question: “Does your design process integrate graphic branding with structural functionality, or do you consider aesthetics of secondary importance?”

Simoniz, Bolton, CT, has developed a line of car-care products with a high-performance formulation that creates high gloss on auto surfaces. The company is using packaging to bring branding dimension to the advanced product formulation as a communicator of value and a squeaky clean shine—and to enhance product protection in distribution.

Can a package in the self-grooming aisles really influence which product a guy buys?

Over the years, in writing about the business of branding and design, I’ve found that some companies consistently develop products and packaging systems that truly hit home with consumers. One trait that these companies often share is the good fortune of having a top dog who understands the intoxicating power of design and actively nurtures it at all levels within the company’s culture.

They’re 16 to 24 years old. They’re brash, mature in life experience, difficult to shock. Collectively, this coming-of-age group within Generation Y is millions of consumers strong, and if your brand doesn’t speak their language, it may fall behind with this group as its spending power grows. Packaging profoundly impacts which brands.

Exclusivity sells because often, the package is the product. Shelves at Sephora, a chain of beauty products stores founded in France, showcased an eye-catching example during the 2006 holiday season.

The Institute for International Research (IIR) has announced additional speakers for its 11th annual Fuse: Brand Identity & Package Design conference April 16-18, 2007, at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.

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.

More than half of all purchase decisions are made in the store, and clutter is the reality of the shopping experience. What should brand marketers and package designers think about to be successful in this environment? It boils down to 10 principles.

We live in an image-driven culture that exposes thousands of images to us every day. To make your brand stand out in a crowd, it has to communicate to your consumer in a memorable way. And do so in a way that can’t be confused with your competition. Great food photography does that.

With unprecedented product choices in the retail landscape, it’s essential to provide appetite appeal that triggers an immediate “buy it” reaction in consumers’ minds.

Savvy consumer packaged goods companies know their brands and their consumers intimately. Package designers and food photographers alike must have an equally intimate knowledge of the brand, the brand’s competition, and the target consumer as they develop the visual “feel” of a brand’s packaging. All elements must stay within the brand’s “character.” Depending on the character, photography can be fun and playful, warm and inviting, light and fresh, or sinfully indulgent.

Who are your consumers? What types of magazines do they read? What do they watch? If your audience is composed of people who read Gourmet, Bon Appetit, or Food and Wine, and who watch the Food Network, then thay may be open to contemporary or cutting-edge images. On the other hand, these images might not appeal to the “meat-and-potatoes” crowd.

Consumers who buy organic products usually read magazines that show food in more natural environments. Backgrounds are photographed out of focus and with natural styling. Pro-organic consumers relate this style of photography to healthful, natural products.

Who is your competition? How are you different? Can you show that through your package? Call attention to your product by creating images that are more appetite appealing than those for competing brands. You can also add simple props and backgrounds that correlate to your brand’s essence.

Consider Steak House Choice Pub Style Burgers (an Albertson’s private-label brand). These are expensive, high-quality products, and the photograph is the key asset on the package that communicates this quality difference to consumers. The packaging photography features rich, dark, wood backgrounds that consumers associate with a premium steakhouse.

Complementary lighting amplifies the texture and the moistness of the meat while also creating dark shadows to make the product seem bolder. The angle of the light focuses attention on the product while illuminating enough background to provide a sense of place.

Read on for more of Teri Campbell’s thoughts on mouthwatering food-packaging photography.

Teri Campbell is a former photographer for Procter & Gamble’s in-house creative group. His studio handles packaging photography for companies including P&G, Kellogg’s, HJ Heinz Co., Campbell’s, and Kroger.

- By Teri Campbell Creative Leader, Teri Studios

In recent televised interviews, separate groups of progressive younger children were shown logos or icons of some of the country’s best-know brands. As the moderator displayed cards Showing each image, she asked the children sitting before her to respond with the name of the brand.

Mountain Valley Spring Co., Hot Springs, AR, returned to its historic roots to improve the presence of its Mountain Valley Spring Water brand in the crowded bottled water category. Working with Flowdesign, the marketer redesigned the entire brand communications for its bottled water.

A retro bottle shape and graphics hint of those used in the brand’s original bottle style in the 1800s. The glass bottle’s shoulder bears the words “Since 1871” embossed three times around the bottle and “America’s Premium Water” embossed two times around. Retro-looking fonts and graphic spirals embellish the brand’s signature oval in the middle of the label. Custom illustrations of trees and mountains provide the backdrop for the label, printed in a light green ceramic ink that wraps 180 degrees around the front of the bottle. The design includes a slimmer bottle neck.

Getting the logo bright red proved challenging in applied ceramic labeling, because bright red ceramic inks require lead, which is banned in some areas of the United States. Vitro Glass, the bottle manufacturer, solved the challenge by using a ceramic label application process that doesn’t require lead-based ink.

Time Direct Ventures found a way to “dress up” the experience of receiving a magazine subscription as a gift. “Our goal was to develop an innovative gift subscription product that consumers would be proud to give and that recipients would be delighted to receive,” says Deede Dickson, Vice President, Business Development, Time Inc.

First, Time created Giftscriptions, a gift subscription program that takes the form of a collectible guide describing 50 magazines and including redemption directions.

Then Time, working with brand consultancy TippingSprung, created a festive red gift carton in which to display the subscription guide.

An in-store point-of-purchase display repeats the graphic scheme on the cartons and signals a holiday-season impulse buy.

In the facial tissue wars, packaging is increasingly emphasizing convenience with a focus on the car. According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database, which has identified this trend, a new round of convenience packaging either enables the driver to grab a tissue more easily or the packaging is slimmer and more discreet in size to fit into a car cup-holder. A new focus of attention with convenience-size packaging is the storage well in the car door.

The following packages reflect this trend:

• In Canada, Irving Tissue markets tissue under the Royale brand that comes packaged in a plastic, cup-holder-friendly container. The container’s snap-off lid provides the convenience of refills. The container’s 50 two-ply tissues dispense through a hole in the lid. The container carries a suggested U.S. retail price of $1.45.

Glidden raises the bar in value-added paint packaging with a polypropylene Quick Roll container. The container permits do-it-yourselfers to mix, paint, and store paint in a single container.

The 1.85-gal tub-like container, from Superfos, is slightly smaller than competing 2.5-gal paint cans, increasing user convenience on ladders. Quick Roll, carrying a suggested retail price of $30, requires a four-step process:

1. Stirring the paint thoroughly in the container.

2. Dipping a roller in the paint at the open end of the container.

3. Rolling away excess paint on the grid inside the container. Unused paint drips through gaps in the grid and back into the container.

4. Start painting.

Studies on consumer behavior are finding that distinguishing your product can be a dual-sided effort. Consumers often act differently outside of the store than they do when shopping inside.

In-store triggers that can alter consumer behavior fall into two categories: habit and environment. Both are equally influential in shaping consumers’ shopping habits. Habit triggers are just that—habit. Consumers continue to buy the same brands until something makes them change their mind. Environmental triggers have the power to break habits and begin new purchasing patterns. For example, a child standing in the cookie aisle could remind someone of cookies they used to eat.

Piedmont Distillers, Madison, NC, wanted a distinctive bottle design to introduce its Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine regional brand with special appeal for Jägermeister consumers. It opted for a modern interpretation of a ceramic moonshine jug, created by Flowdesign.

The amber glass on the 750-mL bottle’s domed neck flows downward into a ridge to emulate a moonshine jug. Triple Xs are embossed on the glass below the ridge, and the brand logo is embossed in the label area on the glass.

The wraparound label is a ceramic material that’s sprayed and baked onto the glass. Text is screen-printed onto the label in two colors plus a blended color for the cream background.

Link: Flowdesign

How can a regional brand of honey spread gain national distribution? Position it as a healthful and less-fattening alternative to butter and cream cheese.

That’s what Mel-O Honey Inc., Cannon Falls, MN, has done. It restaged its Mel-O-Crème brand of honey spread by altering the package size and materials, and expanding the package’s available color palette to intensify taste appeal.

“We needed a new brand identity that would not only resonate in today’s market place, but also introduce new peach and raspberry SKUs,” says Curt Riess, Mel-O Honey CEO. “We needed a label that would tell consumers exactly what the product is and why they should buy it.”

Studio One Eleven designed the look of the 7-oz polypropylene tub. The container matches the size of competing low-fat/cholesterol-substitute products and places the honey spread in store coolers. The new design also:

The best packages compel consumers to sense the pleasure in using the product, giving them space to personalize meaning and build relevance.

Great packages communicate so effectively on a sensual and emotional level that a consumer can’t help but pick them up. They lend the product inside a special beauty all its own, so that consumers are drawn to the product because the package has made that product aesthetically pleasing.

Virginia Postrel, author of The Substance of Style, uses the phrase the “aesthetic imperative” to describe this dynamic between the consumer and the package. Following are three packages that reflect Postrel’s thinking.

A traditional supermarket offers 15,000 items. Let’s say the average shopper overlooks half of these during a shopping trip. That leaves 7,500 items.

The typical shopping trip requires 20 to 40 minutes. Let’s split the difference and use 30 minutes, or 1,800 seconds. Divide 1,800 seconds by the 7,500 items that are visible; each item is viewed for .24 seconds, on average.

How can a marketer compete amid all the clutter? The following five tactics can help capture short attention spans and increase sales.

• If a brand can own a color in consumers’ minds, it will easily stand out on shelf. Look at Uncle Ben’s use of orange.

• Often, an effective packaging differentiation strategy needs to transcend color. One option is to create a distinctive graphic element, such as the Tide bull’s-eye.

• Brand characters, such as Mr. Clean, can articulate a brand message and help to increase the package’s “findability.”

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

Aroma can be an intoxicating purchase motivator. Just ask NutriSystem Inc. It markets Aquascents refillable plastic water bottles with closures that release desirable aromas.

Jay Satz, NutriSystem Vice President of Product Development, says consumers willingly pay $15 for the refillable, 32-oz bottle that comes with three flavored caps and one unflavored cap, from ScentSational Technologies. “We encourage all of our customers to drink at least 10 glasses of water a day, which can get boring,” Statz says. “We thought this would be an easy way for them to consume water and enjoy different flavors.”

The caps on Aquascents bottles release both a scent of the marketer’s choosing as well as flavor into the water in the bottle.

The right package structure can help build incremental sales opportunities for a product when brand managers know how consumers use their product and they leverage that knowledge in creating new “touchpoints” with consumers.

The best packages consider needs throughout the value chain, and Pittsburgh Brewing Co.’s “Rack Pack” is a recent example of another package that succeeds. An innovative plastic-ring carrier allows a dozen 12-oz beverage cans to be joined together by one ring in a 2x6 configuration.

The ring, from ITW Hi-Cone, is made of a proprietary blend that includes low-density polyethylene. Previously, carrier rings held six cans in a 2x3 arrangement.