GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) operates in healthcare products, which the design community considers to be possibly the last remaining section of the store in which packaging is generally falling short of its potential for impacting sales. GSK is one of the healthcare community's design leaders. A recent example: Packaging for its new alli over-the-counter (OTC) weight-loss brand provides some of the emotional support women need to get through a weight-loss program.

Maybelline New York wanted a distinctive package that connotes style for its new Dream Matte Powder compact product, so it went beyond color and special effects and also selected a sophisticated packaging structure.

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

How can packaging raise the bar for exclusive salon products? By positioning them as "lifestyle brands" to drive the overall marketing strategy, both in salons and in homes. Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas offers an engaging example of how to do it in exclusive, personal-care products.

Salon Selectives is returning to store shelves after a four-year hiatus with new products and updated formulas among its 18-product line of shampoos, conditioners, and styling and treatment products. Packaging also updates the brand.

Today's savvy consumers have a wealth of information at their fingertips. The Internet provides some of the most in-depth analysis and reviews of almost anything offered in the marketplace -including new products and packaging.

"If you've ever searched a cluttered cabinet for one elusive spice and felt as if you are conducting an archeological dig, then you're ready for 'spice enlightenment,'" say Katie Luber and Sara Engram, self-proclaimed "cardaMoms" and Founders of TSP Spices Inc., Atlanta, GA.

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.

If kids and moms are core audiences for your brand, IQPC’s Kid & Mom Power Food & Beverage 2008 conference is for you, This is the 9th annual conference, and the theme is Creating Winning Campaigns for Moms that Excite Kids in Today’s Modern Health Age.
The event will be Jan. 29 through Feb. 1, 2008, at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel, Boston, MA. Shelf Impact! is a media partner for the conference.

Innovation brings women to an aisle in the store—auto care—they don’t normally frequent, and integration of a network of vendors gives Honeywell a ‘virtual factory.’

By Terri Goldstein, Strategy Principal, and Missy Anapolsky, Chief Creative Officer The Goldstein Group

Women make or influence 85% of all purchases. Courting her takes more savvy than pink and a celebrity endorsement.

During one recent month, three California vineyards introduced wine product lines targeted to women. The product offerings bear intriguing names such as “White Lie,” “Mad Housewife,” and “Working Girl White.”

These wine companies deliver the same message: a wine just for women. Demographics drive each of these new product offerings. Why? Women make or influence 85% of all purchases, according to Marketing to Women’s Fast Facts.

Here are three ideas for enticing women with packaging.

1. See the product though her eyes. Women want convenience, ease of storage, and female-friendly elements such as the size of package and handles for carrying.

2. Consider how and where the product will be purchased. Recent studies show that women on average no longer make one big “stock-up” trip to the store. Rather, they make numerous short trips to get the essentials for the moment.

The Curve brands of men's and women's fragrances reflect the rectangular tin cans that hold every product in the line. The newest line extensions in metal “tin” containers, from Independent Can Co., seek to entice a younger audience than earlier packaging in the flagship Curve line, which launched in 1996.

Liz Claiborne uses pastel hues, razor-sharp images, and shimmer on the store shelf, explains Paul McLaughlin, Liz Claiborne Creative Director. Under bright fluorescent store lighting, the colors seem luminous. The shiny surface also reflects shadows of nearby darker objects.

Your brand risks failure in many product categories if you continue to think in exclusionary terms such as “male” or “female.” That’s because women are making more of the purchase decisions in many categories long thought of as male-oriented.

Links: Gerresheimer Group

Perfume artist Ulric de Varens debuted Lily Sweet in a stylish flacon, from Gerresheimer. The packaging combines two circular shapes plus a delicate pastel shade of the perfume itself.

These tactics create the perception of a brand with an individual, young, feminine, and modern “personality.”

The body of the glass package resembles a lens with a crescent-shaped shoulder piece of clear Plexiglas. The tailored glass creates a “dance of attractive light reflections” in which the package materials interact. A metallic atomizer completes the design.