In This Issue

Major retailers set the pace for packaging High-volume retailers are beginning to operate as brands rather than places, and this shift is profoundly impacting consumer packaged goods.

Break the rules by thinking in new dimensions 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.

Package Gallery

INTELLIGENCE ON DESIGN Color means... By Donna J. Sturgess, Global Head of Innovation, GlaxoSmithKline

With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.

—Henri Matisse

For the savvy marketer, as for the artist, color holds a mysterious power to connect deeply with people. Color is the first impression a package makes. Color sets the tone for your thinly sliced expectations in the marketplace. And, as the saying goes, you don't have a second chance to make a first impression.

If the color of a package first strikes the consumer as loud or somehow "off," the consumer might just reject it. What the package "says" won't matter.

Even before we consider names, logos, and brands—or see them, for that matter—we consider color. Literally it's the frequency of light waves bouncing off a given surface, but the optics of color perception give marketers and package designers very little to work with. Sure, bright colors advance more quickly, or have greater visibility at a distance. These factors do not shape the deeper and more valuable connections that should concern brand managers and designers.

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These deeper connections are often purely symbolic and based on personal memory or the tacit elements of cultural code. Take, for instance, the idea of "Night Laundry." It's a liquid laundry detergent sold in Japan and packaged in a bright lavender bottle. I was recently doing ethnography in Tokyo and discovered this product in the laundry section while shopping with a consumer. The chemistry of consumers 12,000 miles away removing stains is the same, but the cultural practices and habits of those doing the cleaning is light-years from our own considerations in the United States.

In the U.S., the notion of "night laundry" is perhaps as alien as the product's use of pink and purple bottle colors to connote a night product. The translation I sought from my Japanese colleagues involved the constraints of doing laundry in Tokyo. First, consider that for spatial economy, very few people in Tokyo own dryers; there just isn't enough room in homes and apartments of that densely packed city. In Tokyo, they air-dry clothing—often the clean-but-wet laundry is hung to dry in one's apartment. The Night Laundry product I found delivered a scent that lasted through the drying time as a way to deliver scent to the home!

Marketers and package designers need to look deeply into the motivational areas behind a consumer's actions, into what makes them tick. Color can be a powerful tool to trigger awareness, navigate in a sea of sameness, and connect where it matters most—at the level of the consumer's image of him or herself.

Major retailers set the pace for packaging

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

High-volume retailers are beginning to operate as brands rather than places, and this shift is profoundly impacting consumer packaged goods.

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When it comes to retail packaging, this new retailer mind-set has transferred the "power dynamic" from CPG companies to the high-volume retailers, says John Helferich, Executive in Residence at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University, and formerly Vice President of University Research at Masterfoods. Retailers now demand products and packaging that support both their brand and the shopping experience they want to create. "What retailers like Wal-Mart are now trying to do is create the demand, rather than fulfill the demand," says Helferich. "This is a fundamental shift in the way retailers think about themselves."

Insight Pharmaceuticals LLC has made a dramatic change in packaging to meet one national retailer's sustainability requirements. The retailer asked Insight to reduce the amount of shelf space allotted for Insight's products and to eliminate the product's unit carton for its new Anacin Advanced Headache Formula. Insight changed to vertically configured cartons; its aspirin products traditionally had been presented horizontally in cartons.

"For the retailer, moving our product to a vertical position enables them to slot a broader selection of products," says Larry Freedman, Director of Business Innovation for Insight.

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To make up for the space lost for copy, Insight specified the EasyTab® extended-text label from WS Packaging Group. A pre-curve in the top panel enables the label to wrap around tight-diameter surfaces.

Club stores, on the other hand, speak a different "language" than other high-volume retailers. Costco provides a more premium selection than Sam's Club. A stunning example of the type of product available at Costco is a sleeved six-pack of Premium Skinless & Boneless Wild Alaskan Salmon from Bear & Wolf Salmon Co., Seattle, WA. The multipack uses the entire sleeve as a branding billboard and was developed specifically for Costco, which specified a format of six cans stacked upon one another and bundled with a shrink label.

Unlike most cans used for tuna and salmon, the Bear & Wolf brand uses a tapered can from Crown. This approach enables Bear & Wolf to ship empty, nested cans to Alaska, where product is filled fresh.

Giordano Kearfott Design selected elegant artwork, including a white background, a silver banner for the logo, and tasteful product photography, after considerable market research finding the need for the product to attract women, who buy most canned salmon.

Read more about branding at high-volume retailers.

STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING Break the rules by thinking in new dimensions By Jim George, Editor

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 you want kids to embrace your brand, heed what Jirka learned, because it really opened her eyes. Jirka's focus at Tyson is the schools channel, and recently, after observing kids in this setting, she came to the following conclusion: It's no longer school as you remember it. Even if you're a very young associate brand manager or designer. To her surprise, socialization takes precedence in today's school cafeteria, because more demanding curriculums are squeezing lunch periods. With lunchtimes now more abbreviated, fun trumps food.

Certainly, the kids eat, but the act is a more perfunctory one in the context of catching up with friends in the middle of the school day. Among the insights Jirka picked up from that visit to the school lunchroom: Understand how they socialize. Elementary school-age kids don't want pancakes served on a plate that require a knife and fork to eat. They prefer a portable package of pancake sticks they can dip in a small tub of syrup and munch on while they move about with friends.

"That was a real eye-opener for me, and I've been in kids' school nutrition programs for 25 years," Jirka told the conference.

Could other unexplored types of cause and effect be true in the home as well with regard to packaging? It's worth considering, if your job is marketing brands to kids and moms in retail channels. How can you package products in new ways that increase product usage occasions for youngsters?

If you're a brand manager or a design manager, it may be worth visiting with your channel managers down the hall to kick around ideas that break the rules. Armed with fresh insights, you just might think about your brand in a whole different dimension and unlock new possibilities for sales.

Coming to a city near you: Shelf Impact!'s workshops on trends and package design

You've got limited education budget and time, yet you want the essential information about trends driving packaging that gets results with today's demanding retailers and consumers. If this describes you, Shelf Impact!'s Package Design Workshops are just for you.

Shelf Impact!'s Package Design Workshops series is a roll-up-your-sleeves, fast-paced event in a fun and interactive setting that will give you need-to-know packaging information on retail trends, consumer preferences, and marketing and design strategies. In less than a day, you'll walk away with forward-thinking ideas galore for what works in making the package an effective part of a marketing program.

Facilitated by Shelf Impact! Editor Jim George and Shelf Impact! Publisher Jim Chrzan, the workshop series will kick off April 2 in Jacksonville, FL, and repeat at five other locations around the country through August.

Registration is open now! Seating is limited. The workshop will cover:

• Current packaging design trends in stores
• The latest consumer wants and needs in packaging
• Proven packaging tactics with branding muscle—the roles of emotion, sensory cues, and sustainability
• Steps for managing the creative process effectively

Each workshop will include plenty of time for interaction, including group discussion of packages from around the world. Attendees are invited to send their packaging for a special critique session.

We hope you'll join us for an educational day in a fun-filled environment!