In This Issue

Mega-brands achieve sameness sleight of hand through 'glocalization' Let's face it. We have all done it: Cited a revered "global" brand in a presentation or a design meeting to make a point and, at the same time, sound more worldly and intelligent.

A co-packer's perspective: Design with downstream in mind As the packaging and displays that designers create move downstream toward the store shelf, they are increasingly stopping off at a contract packager's facility for pack-out.

Package Gallery

A 25% premium through design? P&G hopes to clean up in dish detergent

By Jim George, Editor-in-Chief

Can design help bring a 20% to 25% sales premium at retail over competing brands? Procter & Gamble thinks so, and it is using a packaging strategy that's consistently proven to be one of the most engaging topics at Shelf Impact!'s Package Design Workshops: the need to understand your consumer and then to look beyond your own category for adaptable packaging ideas.

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P&G does just that in communicating the cleaning power of its reformulated Cascade Complete All in 1 ActionPacs automatic dishwasher detergent. The product is being introduced nationally in August. P&G leverages the brand's blue and green product colors in both the product gel and on the label. The clear polypropylene container—it offers a different look amid the category's paperboard containers and opaque bottles—lets consumers see the product.

The packaging, which P&G designed by working with LPK, draws inspiration from beauty care products by leveraging a "jewelry box" design to make the Cascade detergent a more exclusive brand.

"Women who purchase Cascade already buy premium products in other categories," says Keara Schwartz, P&G Design Manager, citing the company's consumer research. "She values performance and experiences, and that translates across categories."

The pressure-sensitive label (suppliers not disclosed) exudes performance by using the brand's signature blue and green colors in a swirling, vortex shape to convey the product's ability to get dishes sparkling clean. This soft, feminine shape gives women confidence that the product will get their dishes clean in one cycle through the dishwasher, and provides the package with the visual impact that can make it a decorative item on kitchen countertops, says Ryan Dullea, Assistant Brand Manager for Cascade.

The detergent gel is filled in a vortex shape inside the ActionPacs dissolvable pouches to extend the branding approach. The package "sells the quality" elsewhere as well. When using a thumb to depress the pop-up PP lid, consumers can feel the Cascade logo, which is embossed onto the lid.

P&G is the forefront of engaging consumers through design, and Cascade Complete is its latest package designed to elevate a commodity product into a lifestyle brand.

INTELLIGENCE ON DESIGN Mega-brands achieve sameness sleight of hand through 'glocalization' By Dyfed "Fred" Richards, Executive Creative Director, North America, Interbrand

Let's face it. We have all done it: Cited a revered "global" brand in a presentation or a design meeting to make a point and, at the same time, sound more worldly and intelligent.

Those brands we most frequently banter about are Apple (iPod), Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and McDonald's. You can't seem to avoid any one of these (worse still, all four!) in a client presentation these days. The rationale for constantly referencing these brand beacons is that—and I quote from many occasions—"they are always the same no matter where you go in the world."

Really? Not from my experience! While it is easy to admire these brands and their unparalleled market success, their local versions are not as uniform as you might believe, particularly when it comes to their packaging. In fact, what makes these brands so wildly successful globally is their ability to master market nuances locally.

Launching, growing, and sustaining a worldwide mega-brand such as these best-in-class examples is a major undertaking. It's fraught with logistical, legal, and cultural complications. Brands that have managed to negotiate subtle market differences and adapt (quickly) are the ones that, on the surface, appear to be "the same." Why? Because there are enough visual cues on their packaging to reassure a consumer in a market away from home that this is still the original product, and it's also safe to purchase or consume. However, if you compare a product's packaging from one country to the next, you would be amazed at the slight—but important—differences.

		The world's growing political, religious, and cultural fragmentations are requiring more and more "global" brands to employ a "glocal" approach to their packaging design. The minor differences in packaging could be anything, from the package size to a change in materials used to regionalized graphics. In other words, these brands think locally while acting globally. The key to "glocal" success is embracing local cultural differences while also maintaining existing brand values and equities. Coke has been executing this concept for years. Take a look at the two accompanying images. On the left, Coke celebrates life in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a festival of colorful shapes seemingly shooting out of the bottle.
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On the right, the brand gives a nod to Chinese culture through localized photography in Shanghai. Yet, both cans retain the classic "Coca-Cola red" and the familiar red-and-white color scheme that consumers worldwide so readily associate with Coke.

Admittedly, the speed and reach of today's communications media are making the world feel smaller and more connected. However, most consumers feel comfortable with a product that reinforces local ties even as it expands their horizons. A brand's ability to "glocalize" its packaging can help consumers travel the world from the comfort of their own back yards.

STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING A co-packer's perspective: Design with downstream in mind By Jim George, Editor

As the packaging and displays that designers create move downstream toward the store shelf, they are increasingly stopping off at a contract packager's facility for pack-out. Brand owners are turning to co-packers with increasing frequency to assemble multipacks and kits, and to build point-of-purchase and pallet displays. Brand-owner thinking today is to shift the "packaging department" outside their walls so they can focus on creating and marketing products.

Though this approach can get products into stores with lightning speed and some cost-efficiencies, there are challenges, too. And that's where design comes in. Listen to Joe Jaruszewski, who believes that designers don't communicate with co-packers early enough or often enough, and it's unnecessarily costing brand owners money.

Jaruszewski is President of Market Resource Packaging, a contract packager that handles hundreds of primary, secondary, and display packaging jobs each month for customers from Victoria's Secret to Johnson & Johnson to Pfizer. I recently visited his sprawling plant in Cranbury, NJ.

Designers, Jaruszewski says, pay too little attention to the impact of their work as their packages move downstream into operations, warehousing, and distribution. Jaruszewski sees examples with astonishing frequency of packaging that creates downstream problems which are easily avoided.

"For example, you're designing for 4,000 pallet displays of Listerine. If you can't stack them, you're going to have a facilities-need issue and cost your company money," he says. "You may have to spend a little more on the display to make it sturdier. These are things that are not always apparent on a designer's desk."

Or consider that your choice of board to get just the right visual branding effect might be ideal graphically speaking, but it also might wilt structurally in the extremely humid air of a co-packing facility in Dallas, TX. Such considerations might be lost on a designer who's creating in the chill of a New York City or Chicago spring.

"Call that co-packer and don't assume anything," Jaruszewski advises. What Jaruszewski means is that good design goes beyond on-brand graphics and effective colors and shapes. A good package has to be pleasing to look at and hold, and also has to function structurally.

Mistakes made in the creative phase might not affect a designer's budget directly, but they certainly impact the company's bottom line when damaged or ruined packages and displays are returned. Future consequences of lost revenue could include tighter design budgets.