Pretentious packaging

Let your packaging not be pretentious, as it will in turn make your Brand pretentious and ultimately fail to gain consumer loyalty. The biggest challenge that packaging faces is to come out the way the brand is supposed to be. If your packaging is trying to say all that , which the Brand perhaps is not, the chances of Brand failure is likely to be high.

If your Brand is positioned in the Popular segment, do not try to make it overtly Premium, let there be some kind of a 'This belongs to me and my world feel'. Consumers may look at the pack and conclude that the Brand is pricey , may not pick it off the shelf and may not even look at the price. It is always better to be what you are and thus come across as a meaningful and trustworthy Brand.

Imagine a Packaging very young in its look and character but talking about the values which develop over the years e.g perfection, heritage etc. The Brand will not appeal to the younger audience and the matured profile may consider the claim not reliable just by the look of it.

So what does one do and what controls one must build in the Packaging idea and execution. Off course there has to be abundant clarity on the kind of positioning for the Brand and the kind of target audience the Brand offer is. The packaging needs to draw parallels accordingly, right from the way the Graphics are worked out , to the substrate/ materials used , the size and the overall feel. It is always a great idea to use the packaging to make the Brand aspirational but it should ensure that it does not give the feel of being beyond reach.

The trick lies in how to use cost effective materials and inputs and yet make the Packaging give the right feel for the Brand. The creativity lies in how to build in features which the consumer will value and feels comfortable about paying for. It is this kind of optimization that reflects the developers understanding, which ensures that the packaging reflects honesty of purpose and not be pretentious.

YouR pack, your Model in advertising

Yes indeed, packaging has played a significant role as a model in so many successful Advertising campaigns and will continue to do so. A terrific camera shot of the pack ,with the product showing could work wonders for a Brand as very often the consumers feel reassured and indeed look forward to seeing the similarity between the advertising and what is on the shelf.

Your pack can be your model and the hero in your campaign and to several advantages. The first and perhaps the biggest advantage is the linking of the Brand personality with the Packaging and thus establishing easy connect with the consumer. The next one being the building up of curiosity and desire. By using the pack as the hero , we are building upon the consumer psychology of wanting to try what looks good and what is being talked about.

The challenge here is to how to make the pack look appealing in the print media and yet capture the look and feel of the real life product. If the Print media is over the top, it may create a different level of expectation and could be detrimental to the brand.

The other aspect is that we need to ensure that the Packaging captures the essence of the Brand personality and that comes out clearly in the campaign.

Some Brands have used it beautifully as a means of an ongoing consumer dialogue and showing how well the Brand can integrate with a wide variety of consumers and continue to be in times.

The question remains asto when one should decide to use packaging as the hero, or what leads one to consider this option. There are no clear answers, but one would assume in all those cases where the packaging is adding significantly to the Brand imagery or where seeing the pack and the product will influence the buying behaviour, one could take this route. Infact this option is available always, for all product categories, one has to try it to realise the advantages.

Packaging - The Consumer Magnet

One needs to answer the question, can Packaging play the role of getting new consumers into a Brand, or putting it differently, will non consumers of a product category start using a Brand because they find the packaging appealing. Does packaging work as a magnet to get in new consumers and ensure that they stay with the Brand, this can be a matter of endless debate.

The answer to this will lie in the understanding of why the consumers buy a product and ultimately choose a Brand. The consumers most definitely and without a doubt buy a product to satisfy a clear need and the Brand choice comes in based upon the price, availability, off course the packaging appeal and the information it imparts.

Very often Marketers believe that to get in new consumers , one must modernize the packaging and make it more appealing. However this will most likely work in those cases wherein the consumers are already using the product and one is merely trying to make them switch into a Brand. However incase the consumers are not into that product category and one is also trying to bring them into a Brand then just a pack change will not be of much help. This is linking into the fact that consumers buy into the product first for a felt need and then make a conscious and informed choice for a brand.

Thus incase you wish to bring in new consumers into the category, into your Brand and not just expecting a brand switch, the complete marketing mix plays a role and in such cases the role of packaging is much lesser than the other Ps of Marketing.

There are numerous successful cases wherein Brand switching happens if the Packaging is made more appealing and has a congruent fit with the consumer expectations. Here the role the packaging has played is that of a re - positioner for a Brand and making it more relevant for the consumers who are users of a certain product. Thus a packaging modernisation and or upgradation comes in as a very useful tool for the marketers.

Incase your company is selling similar products under different brand names, you can hope to switch in consumers from one Brand to the other by a pack change but to hope to increase overall sales by getting in altogether new consumers to switch into your product category by itself may be wishful thinking.

Very often when the sales are stagnant and your product category is not growing , the answer lies in serious examination of our role as true Marketers. Are we working towards identifying latent needs, how are we educating consumers on the usage of a product and the distinct advantages for them. Once we have done that we can make packaging work as a salesman and in some cases as a consumer magnet as well.

Branding the Pack- Tip to toe

A very key and integral aspect in packaging design is the way Branding is displayed on the Pack and the way it is arranged on all the panels. Logically the most important panel is the front panel and getting the Branding right is off course the first step in packaging art. In terms of the layout the best arrangement is the Branding followed with the Product descriptor and then the Product variant indicating the key benefit of the product. Very often some designers have tried out an arrangement, where the top element is the product variant and then comes the Branding. While this may also work, but one needs to ensure that the top fonts do not become too big or heavy. On the other hand if one were to follow the classical approach, there is a scope to make the descriptor fairly large and visible.
The challenge is to ensure that one gets the Branding on all the panels , top, bottom, left and right without compromising on the mandatories and design graphics. Very often the packs are stored sideways and hence the Branding on the side panels becomes critical. The key principle in this is that the Branding should be arranged in a consistent manner all across. In case the design is that of a vertical branding, let it be the same way all across, on the other hand if it is horizontal it should be horizontal all across. Let your pack branding be seen by the consumer in the same manner no matter how constraining the space is. In case your designer is recommending taking liberties in this regard , be sure that he/she is definitely not putting in the best of efforts.
Do not ignore the top and the bottom panels, if the space is available, it is always better to place the branding in a suitable size there as well. Some Brands have very effectively used subtle treatments like sheer embossing to keep the Branding in all locations.
At the super premium end it may be felt that the more underplayed and minimalistic the Branding is the better is the appeal. While this is one approach, it may be worthwhile exploring the incorporation of the Branding in some subtle manner on all the panels, specially because there is an element of image display and showoff related to this segment.
If one wants to dress up your Brand suitably, there is one and only one key principle, get the Branding right , in the appropriate size, location , arrangement and on all the panels as far as possible, right from the tip to the toe.

Synergy of Packaging Engineering

It is a fact and beyond doubt that packaging structures developed on the drawing board and on your Apple Macs would remain as designs only if the synergy between the Designers, Engineers and the Machine developers does not happen.

Whatever is on the design concept needs to be put into measurements and functional elements needs to be configured. The opening and closing mechanism are specially critical in packaging as far as the consumer interfacing is concerned. While the Designers can create the concept the mechanisms have to be worked out by the Engineers. However the Engineers need the Machine Manufacturers to work out if a machine packing is possible or not in the specified mechanism.

Machine Manufacturers may come up with a lot of changes,suggesting that to make the machining possible those changes are inevitable. Very often these changes may not be palatable and may start impinging upon the design itself. This is the time that the Designers have to start thinking on how to find a mid way to the problem, what can be done so that the concept is retained and yet the worries of the Machine manufacturers are worked upon. For this the approach that one has to take is how to work upon the suggestions from one another and how to build upon synergistically.

The best way to visualize and discuss is to work out the mockups and try to make them as functional as possible. Often because of the paucity of time one may be tempted to go ahead without the mocking up and re mocking up. However there are significant advantages as only a mock up brings out the issues which often get missed out if seen only on the paper.

Solutions are never so easy and often need several iterations and corrections. To get a design concept to the engineering , to the machining and finally to the consumer is a journey and a partnership, for the ultimate advantage of the Consumer.

Cut Copy and Paste!

Very often Marketers are tempted to just copy the innovation developed by a competitor and add value to their own packaging. There are various views on this approach and one definitely needs to understand the implications of such a decision.

The Brand Group may want a quick success and may propose the 'Cut Copy Paste' as a solution to packaging upgrade and counter competitive packaging onslaught. The Legal team may oppose on account of the Copyrights and Patent issues, but may ultimately find some loophole and may agree to go forward. The Engineering team will be delighted as for them this is the easy way out, copying is easier and faster whereas finding solutions to a totally new concept has immense challenges. The Printers and suppliers have least of the worries as replication is far easier and there are no complexities to be overcome. The Packaging developers lose an opportunity for innovation but perhaps may agree as given the time pressures this may be the best alternative.

We need to take perhaps a more holistic and a broader view to such a strategy. Ultimately such an approach makes the Organization lose its appetite for Innovation, it makes the system blunt and lose its sharpness to come out with features which are the very first. It takes way the challenges that one can offer to the Talented people and makes them think of alternative roles and jobs. It makes competition laugh at you and take further pride in their own selves and achievement orientation . Infact even if the Competition may feel that they may not be able to justify their patent, they may still slap a legal case on you just to deflect and de-focus your attention.

And lastly what does it speak of your Brand to the Consumer- ' Me too '. We need to ask all those who support this strategy of quick and painless success , would you want your Brand to be 'Me too ', would you want the Consumer to think that your Brand is perhaps no different. If such a scenario emerges , does it justify the 'Cut Copy Paste ' packaging strategy. Does it justify the salaries that you pay to your Talented people, does it justify the ethics of Business and above all, does it justify the money that your consumer pays for your Brand.

Those who subscribe to such quick successes are perhaps having a very myopic view and lack a long term perspective, further they are believers in saying job done rather than taking pride in their own work and lastly they are not looking for investment in the brand or the consumer but in their own quick growth and meeting of objectives.

If you sincerely believe in Packaging Innovation and build up the Organization and your Brands on the strong foundation of Creativity then ask yourselves a hundred times what is better RE Create or Create, Re create now, or Create a little later, success immediate or success at the right time. The answer lies in creating an Organization and creating an environment that is futuristic and Innovations happen logically and in a planned manner, which not only delights your consumer but also leave Competition gasping for air.

I want a new supplier NOW !

The last thing that one must do is to go for a new Packaging Supplier right in the middle of a project or just when one is getting ready for the launch. Very often one starts with the Supplier fairly early in the day and involves them right through and through. However because of several unpredictable reasons the trials may fail and then unforeseen quality problems may emerge.It is at this time, frustration starts mounting up and one starts wondering if a new supplier should be got on board!

Truly speaking it maybe an easy decision to take to get a new supplier but an extremely difficult one to actually have him supply timely. More often than not, the new supplier may have the same issues and even if they do not have the same issues, they will need to be taken through the whole learning curve again and perhaps a lot more time maybe required to be spent. This may not only add up a lot of costs to your project but also, may be more at the terms of the Supplier, your need being more than theirs.

Perhaps the best option is to continue supporting the current supplier though it may seem painful and self defeating. However continue to support with a lot more inputs, much tighter watch on each step and perhaps a very very regular and continuous monitoring and communication. Get Specialist knowledge and support but try not to just give us till it becomes absolutely inevitable.

Yes, you may be told , Get a new supplier now! enough is enough, but exercise judgement, weigh all the pros and cons and then start scouting out for the new supplier.

Very often the time spent in getting this new supplier and developing him to reach the stage of bulk supplies may take time, costs and efforts , which if spent prudently on the current one may help you clinch the success you are looking for.