Shelf Impact! Advisory
Board
Laura Bix, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Packaging
Michigan State University
Marie Curi
Brand Consultant
Curiousity, LLC
Dennis Furniss
Vice President, Strategic Branding
BrandScope
Robert Hall
Vice President of Brand Development
Boston Beer Co.
Michael Livolsi
Brand Identity and Packaging Design Consultant
Brian Wagner
Vice President and COO
Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions
Rob Wallace
Managing Director
Wallace Church, Inc. |
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Color, graphics put Dial's RGX on masculinity's softer side
 Can a package in the self-grooming aisles really influence which product a guy buys?
Definitely, says Brian Houck, Director of Package Design at Dial Corp., Scottsdale, AZ. He cites Dial's RGX body spray, marketed under the Right Guard brand, as an example.
Men's body sprays are becoming more prominent in the deodorant aisle, but many having strong scents lacking general appeal for all guys. Dial created RGX as a niche product with a softer scent in a decidedly masculine-looking package.
Before designing the package, Dial and Wallace Church spent time talking with young men about to graduate from high school, learning about how their dreams and aspirations might affect their attitudes toward personal grooming and style. Out of those talks emerged multiple package design concepts.
"It was important to the guys that we spoke with that RGX was aligned with Right Guard, but to not be the Right Guard brand. They said, 'If you just make it look like Right Guard and I don't use Right Guard, I'll pass you by,' " Houck recalls.
Rather than deliver RGX in a "me-too" package with black containers and abstract or suggestive imagery, Dial markets RGX as refined, with clean graphics and colors on brushed aluminum cans to appeal to a more mature consumer, Houck says.
Dry offset printing enhances the graphic sharpness. Color distinguishes each of the four fragrances on the polypropylene spray closures from Seaquist Closures. |
Coming to you more often, in a modified format
With this issue, Shelf Impact! begins a more inclusive era in dissecting the marketing strategies and trends driving packaging decisions today.
 The most obvious change is that we have discontinued the screen-to-screen format of our e-newsletter and replaced it with a more universally accessible format.
Since Shelf Impact! began publishing more than 2.5 years ago, we have received many compliments on our distinctive look and the useful content. We really do appreciate your feedback. So why change? To put it in packaging terms, if people everywhere can't open your package, they can't use your product. By moving to a more traditional html-based e-newsletter format, Shelf Impact! becomes fully accessible to our readers whose computers are unable to navigate Flash Web sites.
These changes also bring other benefits. Most important, we can publish more often while actually sending you less e-mail. We are pleased to announce that beginning with this issue, Shelf Impact! will be coming to your inbox twice each month. We'll drop the weekly e-mail reminders.
These changes result from a lot of discussion about branding and just plain good business sense. As Shelf Impact! transitions into our new format, we have retained and even expanded on those visual equities that define our brand's distinctive personality—cues that underscore the essence of any brand.
Our content will continue to be archived at www.shelfimpact.com.
I welcome your comments. Please call me at 630/897-7158 or contact me by e-mail.
P.S. -- Click on any of the package thumbnails in this newsletter to take a sneak peak at something new we're working on just for you. |
Unlocking core brand assets in packaging...and doing it with emotion.
 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?
Before developing any package for a new branded product or a repackaged product, research has to be done to uncover the underlying brand's core attributes. Research is conducted in a number of phases, and one very important research element is not only about unearthing corporate brand values but also consumer brand perceptions, since the two should be, but are not always in complete alignment.
Research is always conducted in the pre-packaging phase, of course. But shifts have occurred in recent years because of our evolution in understanding about the consumer, as well as our desire to better quantify packaging's delivery on core brand assets.
In his book "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," Malcolm Gladwell cites that humans hone in more strongly on visual brand messages that get their attention at the emotional level. Hence, packaging presents companies with one of their strongest visual branding opportunities.
 How, then, to package emotion? Savvy brands do not sell specific products. They sell the intangibles, and these are the emotional needs consumers seek to fulfill most.
Procter & Gamble has integrated aromatherapy essential oils into its latest Tide and Downy fabric care product offerings in a clever marketing move. The branding of Tide Simple Pleasures products adds to the enjoyment of wearing garments or placing linens on the bed that have been laundered and softened with favorite aromatherapy combinations.
 Here are some compelling key emotional drivers to consider as you conduct your research:
- A reinforced sense of well-being, health, or wholesomeness delivered by the brand
- A reinforced sense of doing something better for one's family and loved ones delivered by the brand
- A perceived sense of enjoyment to be derived by purchasing the brand and reinforced each time the consumer purchases and uses that brand's products
- A perceived lifestyle fit, or the aspiration of a certain lifestyle as delivered by specific brands
- A sense of enjoyment reinforced by positive brand experiences over time with the brand
- A sense of status delivered by the brand
- A reminder of many past enjoyment experiences and fulfilled promises by a heritage brand.
Read more about research and unlocking core brand assets through packaging.
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Packaging Gallery
A closer look at the newest trends in today's packaging.
 Technology, brand name, and package work together
Unilever's Breyers brand created a new ice cream product based on new processing technology that swirls extra silky, smooth ice cream together with a range of indulgent toppings. Marketed under the Swirls subbrand, packaging sells the ice cream's distinctive design pattern to consumers.
Smith Design created the identity and label design for the line of quarts in six flavors. The Swirls brand name, printed in whimsical typography on the label, highlights the product's swirl effect, evident through the clear plastic container.
Mouth-watering illustrations of fruit and toppings call attention to the ice cream's "freshly made" ingredients and accentuate the product's eye appeal at the point of sale. |
 Milk steps up to the plate at the ballpark
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.
"The milk cartons are easy for kids to open, carry, and consume, which is one less thing for parents to worry about while enjoying the action during the game," says Ryan Grossman, Timber Rattlers Food and Beverage Manager.
Milk is packaged in Tetra Pak's Prisma Aseptic® recyclable, single-serve cartons. The milk does not need constant refrigeration. All that's required for consumption is chilling the milk a few hours before service.
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 Another alternative in sugar packaging
Plastic containers with handles have recently elevated convenience in the sugar aisle, which has been home to paper sacks for decades. In Canada, here is how another marketer improves convenience in sugar packaging.
Tate & Lyle Canada Ltd., Toronto, markets Redpath Half, a sweetener, in widemouth paperboard/foil composite cans from Sonoco. The cans hold either 210 g or 400 g of sugar and are made of 100% recycled paperboard with a high-barrier foil liner that locks out moisture and oxygen and keeps the granular sweetener free of clumps.
A tabbed, peelable membrane serves as both a security and freshness barrier, and adheres to the can rim.
Graphics feature gravure-printed labels.
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 Shrink label intensifies taste perception
The challenge: The Stratis Group, Caldwell, NJ, wanted to reinforce the essence of Hawaiian fruit on the label to boost sales for its Hilo Gold Noni Juice. The solution: a decorative full-sleeve shrink label to stimulate maximum purchase impact.
Stratis turned to Seal-It, a division of Printpack, for the label. Hawaiian Noni fruit, also called Morinda citrifolia, inspired the graphics.
The PET-G label is heat-shrunk around the bottle. Rotogravure printing in seven colors and the gloss of the film give the label extra visual intensity.
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 Teen skin care products pack inspiration
For Teen Everyday Skincare System skincare products, packaging is the messenger for inspirational messages and a bit of attitude.
"The products are for teens and pre-teens, and we wanted to have packaging that was both attractive and inspirational for these girls," says Susan Shand, CEO and Co-Founder of TESS, Santa Barbara, CA.
Messages printed onto various packaging components include phrases such as "dare to dream," "speak your mind," and never settle."
TESS is using 2-oz and 4-oz clear and white PET Boston Round bottles, from The Cosmetic Packaging Group, O.Berk Co., with white disc dispensing caps or fine-mist spray tops. The range of packaging also includes 4-oz clear PET wide-mouth jars with white caps. Color hues on containers and caps match brand formulations and colors.
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 Better pack for Betta Foods
Betta Foods, an Australian manufacturer of ice cream cones and specialty confectionery products, is adding convenience to candy packaging with a resealable zipper on its Natural Real Fruit Flavored Liquorice AllSorts and Liquorice Bullets varieties.
"The benefit of a resealable feature is twofold, says "John Roumelle, Marketing Manager at Betta Foods. "It serves as a visual differentiating factor at point of purchase and it allows our brands to stand out based on the added convenience."
Working with Zip-Pak, Betta Foods adds the zipper to a BOPP/CPP pouch with a trapped print lamination. The packages are flexo-printed in eight colors.
According to Zip-Pak, the zipper costs about .125 cent on a 6"-wide package, compared with 12¢ to 15¢ for comparable food storage bags.
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Coming to you more often, in a modified format
Leadership
brands: plan, capture, connect, Unlocking core brand assets in packaging...and doing it with emotion.
Packaging
Gallery
