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No matter what materials are selected for your package, Printpack has a "Matte Finish" option for you. Create the look of your choice with different inner substrate selections.
Printpack
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Fort Dearborn offers a variety of options to support your packaging related innovation efforts. The kit also contains various label samples highlighting innovative ink, coating and substrate examples.
Fort Dearborn Company
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Packaging: an off-the-cuff, frank Q&A interview with Gregg Miller about what's wrong with today's package designs at grocery. Find out if your design is part of the problem.
Eight Marketing Communications
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New white paper explains how to expand your sales pipeline in a down economy through Web-based lead-generation campaigns. Special emphasis on targeting packaging designers, packaging development engineers and packaging R&D professionals.
Shelf Impact!
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Shelf Impact! Advisory
Board
Eric Ashworth
Chief Strategic Officer
Anthem Worldwide
Laura Bix, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Packaging
Michigan State University
Will Burke
CEO and Creative Director
Brand Engine
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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Exclusive study results: achieving
attention-getting innovation
By Eric Zeitoun, President
Dragon Rouge USA
In any economic environment, innovation is key to growth. But, during a recession, many companies are tempted to reduce spending on innovation to save money. Luckily, this is not an absolute rule. Daring brands still pushed the boundaries of packaging innovation in 2009.
Earlier this year, Shelf Impact! and international brand consultancy Dragon Rouge formed a partnership to ask branding and packaging professionals to evaluate recent product and packaging innovations. Each quarter, we asked a sample of hundreds of Shelf Impact! readers, from brand managers to designers to materials suppliers, to rate a selection of packages on matters of innovation. To view an image and brief description of each of the 10 packages reviewed this quarter, go to www.shelfimpact.com/go/4.
During 2009, a total of 39 packages were rated throughout the year, in terms of the following five criteria:
- The product concept's ability to provoke new ways of thinking about a category.
- The product structure's ability to present new ways of interacting with a product type.
- The packaging graphics' innovative cues that help bring the product positioning to life.
- The packaging's use of innovative materials.
- The relative effectiveness of the packaging production process
For each of those five areas, respondents were asked to evaluate the designs on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 signified that the packaging innovation delivered poorly and 5 meant that it performed extremely well.
We've shared preliminary findings each quarter with Shelf Impact! readers. This article ties it all together.
The intent of this article is not a beauty contest with proclaimed "winners." Shelf Impact! randomly selected a representative sample of what it considered to be innovative packages across categories, and certainly other innovative packages were introduced in 2009. The primary objective is to gain insights on how consumers perceive innovation.
Each package was assigned a score for every one of the five evaluation criteria and also a total score. A composite score then was calculated for each package by averaging the scores for each criteria area.
With a composite score ranging from 3.8 to 4 out of a maximum of 5, the five packaging innovations that rate highest among the 39 selected packages are GE's Caulk Singles, Hammerite Products' Hammerite Metalmaster, Rising Beverage Co.'s Activate drinks, Target's Archer Farms cereals, and Dole's Squish'ems. All the packages in this year's survey have their strengths, but the common trait that nudges these five packages a little higher is a strong product concept that redefines product categories through breakthrough structure and graphics. A novel choice of materials supports those strengths.
View the complete article and tables.
View third-quarter survey results.
View second-quarter survey results.
View first-quarter survey results. |
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| Rochelle Fainstein |
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INTELLIGENCE ON DESIGN
Why you should become pallet-able with retail-ready packaging
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| Anna Roseberry |
As a woman, there is always a great desire to be both strong and beautiful. We want to carry the contents and associated weight of each day on our shoulders, including information, expectation, encouragement, and fulfillment with a knowing style and grace. It's the ultimate, desirable "package deal."
Similarly, a package delivered to retailers that is ready for the charge of shoppers, that wills the consumer to take a second glance, and is able to carry the product from warehouse direct to shelf, has become highly valued.
Yes, we've just drawn an analogy between "retail-ready" packaging (RRP) and women. The analogy makes sense when you view a woman in her innate role as collaborator, able to mitigate emotional situations, and help weigh important decisions. And so, RRP meets consumers and retailers in the middle, finding a solution that satisfies both of their fundamental needs. The recent spike of RRP makes it an important tool for all consumer brands to consider in their marketing strategy.
First, let's define RRP. It increasingly is a retailer requirement of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies in which products are shipped in shelf-ready cartons. The objective is to reduce in-store labor costs. For the retailer, RRP serves as a great key to efficiency by speeding up the restocking process, doubling as storage space for the stock, and reducing personnel and shipping costs. Store labor and the associated hiring and training of staff undoubtedly are the highest operating cost for any retailer.
Plain and simple, with RRP, the shelves nearly stock themselves and need to be stocked less often, requiring less labor. Considering the super-thin profit margins on CPG companies, expect retail stores to continue to look the way of RRP and find "her" more and more attractive.
In turn, consumers like RRP because she makes them a smarter shopper, offering authentic products and the lowest product pricing, straight from the manufacturer. Consumers also fancy the look of retail-ready because her elegant simplicity, minus the individual packaging, indicates a smart, eco-friendly mind-set. The less packaging, the less trash for both retailers and consumers.
A good example of an RRP that has been on display for years in your neighborhood pharmacy is the entire gum and candy shelf at checkout. Those paperboard cartons that cradle your favorite candy bar and chewing gum are shipped to retailers, who simply pop the top, making them ready to slide them directly into our impulse-buying hands.
Now, let's equate this merchandising approach to larger products like soap, soup, crackers, and pet food.
Read Rochelle Fainstein and Anna Roseberry's entire article. |
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THINKING IN 360°
With metrics in hand, how will innovation evolve?
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 Throughout 2009, Shelf Impact! and international branding consultancy Dragon Rouge have collaborated on a project asking readers to evaluate dozens of recent product and packaging innovations. This project, which you can follow only in Shelf Impact!, has identified a number of metrics that seem to be present consistently in successful package innovation.
Package structure might be the best indicator of innovation, particularly when strong supportive graphics are present. Add to that the use of the right materials and the most efficient production methods, and you've mixed a cocktail that gives your brand an edge on the store shelf. You can read all the details in our lead article in this newsletter.
Our survey uncovered two additional insights. First, package-development teams at successful consumer product companies—large and small—understand the need to innovate continually, even in tough economic times. They demonstrate a commitment to making the ongoing required investment and are skilled in selling the power of packaging to senior management. Second, they understand that a holistic approach is an essential element of successful innovation. Structural and graphic design work together in each of the packages our readers judged to be the most innovative among our 39 selections. Together, they tell a brand story that supports a strong product.
We believe that if innovative packaging efforts were as strong in 2009 as our survey results show, even better things can't help but be in store for 2010 as the economy pushes toward recovery. Shelf Impact! and Dragon Rouge plan to continue tracking the path of packaging innovation, and it will be interesting to compare year-to-year findings 12 months from now.
As in 2009, we will survey our readers quarterly with new packages, and we encourage your participation and feedback. Feel free to suggest packages to include in our survey by e-mailing me.
Here's to new and innovative ideas that get results in the new year.
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Package Gallery
A closer look at the newest trends in today's packaging.
Sara Lee container speeds up men's shaving routine
One way to get consumers to pick up your product is through new formulations and packaging that save them time. Sara Lee believes it has accomplished that goal with Williams Confort Pro Mousse Crème. The product puts an advanced formulation in a distinctive container that speeds up men's grooming routine.
The mousse's formulation has improved moisturizing properties that eliminate the need for after-shave. The product comes in a shapely, ergonomic aerosol container from Crown Aerosols Europe, a division of Crown Holdings.
150-mL container is contoured to allow for convenient crème dispensing, with special ribbing on the side of the can to enhance gripping in wet hands. The package's façade is accented with metallic royal blue and red colors to present a masculine appearance.
"Our goal with Williams Confort Pro Mousse Crème was to offer male consumers an entirely new shaving experience," says Frédéric Dauba, Product Manager Men's Care, Sara Lee France. "With such an innovative formulation—it is not a traditional foam or gel—special packaging was needed to ensure it dispensed properly and would retain its properties from start to finish."
Technology inside the can includes a plastic inner bag that keeps product and propellant separate. It prevents propellant from being emitted during dispensing and keeps the crème from coming in contact with the package itself. The possibility of product drying or hardening also is eliminated, increasing its life span. |
Eco-cordial multipack lifts Bumble Bee
The terms environmentally friendly and multi-packing don't seem to go together. However, Bumble Bee Foods, San Diego, has found a way to bring them into harmony. The company multi-packs four 5-oz cans of Prime Fillet Atlantic Salmon, which are bound together in a robust shrink-sleeve label.
The sleeves use PLA plant-based, biodegradable, compostable film from Earthfirst and are printed by Printpack.
Bumble Bee had the marketing objective of supporting its commitment to sustainable packaging while also giving its multi-packs of gourmet salmon an upscale look on the store shelf. The choice of PLA film achieves those objectives and offers excellent printability, giving Bumble Bee the sharp graphic images it wanted.
Printed in seven-color rotogravure, the sleeves include nutrition facts, eye-catching graphics, and a green leaf advising of the packaging's environmental benefits.
The sleeves are slid manually over the stacked cans before entering a shrink tunnel. The steel cans also are recyclable.
"This is the first 100% biodegradable packaging that Bumble Bee has introduced, and we are very pleased with the final product," says Stephane Bardin, Bumble Bee Consumer Marketing Spokesperson. |
A gold-medal performance: Godiva trims costs, goes green
The Godiva carton is recognized worldwide as the symbol for the premium chocolate inside. Recently, the chocolatier trimmed more than 30% from the cost of printing wraps and gift containers while also retaining the brand's prestigious look. In the process, Godiva achieved its goal of a perfect gold appearance at a lower cost, while also shortening lead times in production by weeks.
Godiva accomplished that by changing from an imported specialty paper to printing with MiraFoil® metallic coating from Henkel Corp.
"Godiva asked us to match a specialty paper from Europe that was very, very expensive," says John Giusto, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing at Curtis Packaging, which played a significant role in the printing process. "Their primary motivation was cost. It was a gravure process that used expensive additives and materials from an exclusive supplier to achieve the gold color Godiva wanted."
The same look is achieved much more economically on MiraFoil for Godiva using less-expensive materials. "We put down the MiraFoil to provide the silver base," Giusto says. "Then we print transparent ink over the top. On top of that we lay an interference pearl coating. We make the mix ourselves. There's some red, some copper, some gold, and regular pearl. The reflectivity you get mimics the gold product by gravure."
Another benefit of this approach is sustainability. "The MiraFoil technology saves having foil go into the waste stream," says Curtis Packaging's Mike Simko, Director of New Business Development. |
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Package
Gallery
