The 4th and the 5th ' P ' of Marketing

Packaging is very often referred to as the 5th P of Marketing, Promotion being the 4th one and there are no clear answers as to which should follow the other. However one thing is clear that the two need to work in absolute congruence and the message going out to the consumer should be singular. If the two are in any way creating a dissonance, it is likely to prove a deterrent for the Brand.

Packaging is the first interface that the consumer has with the Product for a Brand and he/she definitely feels reassured if the linkages are clear with the communication that one has been exposed to or what one can recall.

The role of colors is immense in this area, the colors used in the communication and that on the packaging have to tell the same story . Successful Brands have used this linkage extremely thoughtfully and reaped the benefits accordingly. Very often for this very reason there are Brands which come out with a variant led communication rather than trying to use an umbrella communication strategy.

On the other hand the Graphics created on the packaging could become a unique tool in the communication media. A unique Graphic or a font style carries with it tremendous potential power of building bridges with the consumer and helping the brand to become iconic.

Very often we sub optimise these possibilities by our own myopic view and lose out an opportunity of building in competitive advantages for our Brand .
The issue lies in what got developed first, if it is the communication, Packaging does not want to give up its creative liberty and explore all possibilities , the same thing comes into play if Packaging gets created first and communication follows later. The solution more often than not lies in making choices ensuring a complete synthesis , so that the ultimate offer for the consumer is nothing but music to the ears.