Packaging As A Marketing Tool
Thousands of new products are introduced every year, more than 15,000
to be exact. How can your product compete, not only with established
brands but with the plethora of new products that are being
introduced? The answer of course is THE PACKAGING. The right packaging
with the right message will rise above the competitive landscape. But
how many companies understand the value behind packaging as a
marketing tool? Most just look at as a way to convey the product or
recycle tired images and product packaging that doesn’t work.
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I Was Attacked By Predatory Packaging
Predatory packaging it’s out there -- and it’s everywhere. It could
be targeting you, your family, -- your loved ones. We have heard those
terms bandied about, but just what exactly is predatory packaging?
It seems everyone has a different perception what this means.
Similar nomenclature could include the terms misleading or deceptive
packaging or packaging that promises one thing and delivers another.
But simply put it’s when any group or person deems a package is using
unsavory marketing/advertising practices to lure consumers to purchase
their products -- and it has been going on for a long time.
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Is What's On The Outside Of Your Packaging What is Inside?
The Prevention Institute, a nonprofit health advocacy group out of
California, studied 37 heavily marketed foods with pictures of fruit
on the packaging. Fifty-one percent of the products contained
absolutely no fruit, a few had minimal amounts! Yikes, you have to be
vigilant on all of these fruit claims. Just take a stroll down the
fruit juice isle and try to figure out which product is real 100%
juice.
We all have had that experience of buying something based up its
package or label and then find out what is inside is not what we
expected.
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How To Avoid Costly Packaging Mistakes
You invest so much time and money in product development, why not
invest a little more and protect yourself from making a bad packaging
mistake? It is easy to make a packaging error that comes back to haunt
you after you have packaged the product and sent it on its way to the
retailer’s shelf.
We think about bad packaging when they hit the news. For example "Ecoli
Outbreak Attributed to Packaging." Packaging that on the surface seems
like a good idea but then backfires due to some unforeseen
circumstance that takes place. Why wait until it becomes an issue?
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Packaging Valentine's Day for Profit
Holidays are a great time to market new packaging innovations.
Consumers look for that special something to celebrate the occasion
and prowl the isles for that unique gift that means you are special to
someone. Valentine's Day is one of the best holidays because it’s
emotionally connected to the heart; and the heart is at the crux of
what connects product packaging to consumers. If your product
packaging cannot "connect" to the consumer, then it will never make
its way out of the door.
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Ten Packaging To Do’s In 2007
Well, we are into the New Year and everyone is making resolutions
on how to improve in 07. It’s time to think about your product and
it’s packaging too. Just like we do with our mental, emotional and
physical aspects of our lives, think about improving and updating your
packaging. You want it to mesh with consumer wants and needs.
Consumers are a moving target and what worked last year may not work
in the years to come.
Here are 10 simple things you can do to ensure your product
packaging is on target and delivers the right message to the right
audience.
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10 Packaging Trends That Will Make Consumers Buy In 07
People are sick of conventional advertising. Let’s face it, most
of today’s ads aren't working or, at best, aren't generating sales.
So marketers need other methods of communicating the product’s worth
to the consumer. The package becomes an obvious and valuable means
to that end. The point is if someone doesn't pick up your product
they are never going to buy it. That's where the packaging as an
advertisement comes into play. How can you engage the consumer at
the beginning of the product relationship? The package is your
silent salesperson and it better have the right message delivered to
the right audience -- no matter what product is inside. It's all
about the package (or should be) and who buy's it and why is it
purchased.
Understanding and cultivating the consumer is an ongoing task.
Consumer preferences can change on a whim. When it comes to product
packaging, it’s important to understand the mindset behind consumer
decisions. Each year new trends move into the foreground. Yet, while
some are here to stay others move on as quickly as the came in to
being. Some trends become mainstream across all industries,
ethnicities, and generations. Trends have power. Use them wisely and
you will reap the rewards. Here are 10 packaging trends that will
impact whether the consumer will purchase your products or not.
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Politically Packaged Packaging by JoAnn Hines Packaging Diva
I know I promised my trends piece this week, but I just read an
article about polar bears and how they may be placed on the
endangered species list. Do you know that there are more polar bears
now than there were 20 years ago? You wouldn't know it if you
listened to the news. According to the media, polar bears are on the
brink of extinction. That premise got me thinking about political
spin and how it relates to what happens in the packaging industry.
How packaging initiatives with the right spin can become "political"
issues.
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7 Packaging Resolutions for the New Year
I'd like you to take a moment to reflect on the past year from a
packaging perspective. There were lots of stories in the news both
good and bad about the role packaging has to play in our society. One
thing that most consumers will think of is the "spinach crisis and
plastic clamshells."
But let's think about how we can positively promote our industry in the
minds of the consumer for 07.
Set your sites on a few resolutions to create a more lasting impression
with the ultimate market for your products: the customer.
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The Death Of The Plastic Clamshell
Spare me, please. I'm sick of hearing about "wrap rage." It’s worse than
ever this year and it’s not even Christmas yet. Despite all the publicity
surrounding all the good things packaging does, keep the product safe and
secure, the media is on the attack. It seems that this is a subject the
public can really get in to (no pun intended). If you are into blogging,
check out the words "Wrap Rage" and you will get an earful.
I faithfully respond to the blogs with one or two of my articles
explaining the role of packaging in modern society to no avail. People just
love to rant about the problems of packaging foisted upon them by the
product manufacturers. As if we deliberately made these things difficult to
open. Are we advocating increasing the amount of pilferage so we can pay
more at retail? I guess we intuitively know what's inside because we don't
have to actually see what we are buying. But seriously, don't forget we the
"packaging people" are consumers too. Products are packaged a certain way
for a reason and its not to make it more difficult.
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I Hate Packaging
It's that time again (the holidays) when packaging will be getting
top media coverage by its detractors. Those would be the people
looking to complain about product packaging because it’s too difficult
to open or there is too much of it or they think it doesn't do its job
properly. I always read a slew of articles on how many people were
injured or had to go to the hospital trying to open a package. Raps on
the packaging industry appear in the news all year but with the
holiday and all the gifts giving it’s a natural topic to get
additional publicity. Just check out my website
www.PackagingUniversity.com to
read a few of the most infamous cases. I have been interviewed several
times to explain the other side of the story: The role packaging has
to play (the good side).
Consumer Reports just put its annual call out for the "Oyster
Awards" given to the worst packages out there. You can bet consumers
are lining up to rant about various problems with packaging and how
packaging is the bane of the public.
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How Packaging Can Transform An Industry
Some industries are keeping current with innovative packaging
technologies better than others. Packaging innovation can move your
business from a commodity driven product into a premium product
category. Not only that, it can build sales and create its own unique
niche with little or no competition. Entire new categories of product
have been created around a single niche market that may not have
existed a few years ago.
Why are so many companies not paying attention to this? They rely
on the old industry standbys or packaging campaigns that are "tired"
and "trite." Remember "Beer Profits Drop: Could It Be The Beer
Bimbos?” (Yes, I got a lot of readers who wrote to me indicating that
they liked the beer bimbos). Businesses tend to stay with the tired
campaign and then wonder why sales are in a slump, or at the best, a
status quo.
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Baby's Got Bling - You Can Package Anything
Recently I've seen a host of new product introductions and I
wondered who is going to buy that? But there are products out there
for everyone. After reviewing the items I got thinking these are great
examples of the "Power Of The Package" you know packaging as the
silent salesperson. After all its the packaging that going to sway you
or not to consider purchasing these products.
When I read about Bling H20, I initially thought what a great
marketing ploy but then I realized that primary target demographics:
boomers and women would be the ideal audience. These groups have money
to spend and are willing to spend it for the right products. The
luxury consumable market is also on the rise and product are being
created to meet the demand. (Ask me about DIVA vodka) People are
willing to invest in themselves with a little luxury spending so why
not luxury bottle water.
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Packaging: A Cause For Profit
Recently I wrote the article “How to Package a Cause to Sell More
Products.” It was one of my most popular ones. If you missed it you
can read it archived at
http://www.packaginguniversity.com/blog. As it turns out many new
companies are jumping on the "cause marketing" bandwagon in
conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Right now breast cancer is the most popular cause used at market
because it is October and it can be closely identified with marketing
to women. (80% purchaser and decision maker.)
So companies are thinking it’s a win-win to both audiences.
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The Perils of Packaging Junk Food
We all know that headlines can put a scare into manufactures and
processors, but lately it seems the food industry is being bombarded
with positioning and marketing statements about the role of food in
healthy eating and lifestyles. I, in fact, spoke about the growth and
potential of this market at the Health and Beauty America (HBA) in my
presentation "Boomers Are a Booming Business." Believe it or not,
healthy lifestyles are an important issue to Boomers.
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Marketing Showdown: Mainstream Methods 0 – Packaging 10
Mainstream marketing and advertising is dying. That's the cue for
packaging to step up to the plate and take its rightful place as a
powerful product marketing and branding tool. "Ad Age" recently
reported that a newly released book reports that 37% of all
advertising is wasted. Quite frankly, I agree. I have been studying
this issue for a while and examining advertising/marketing messages
(especially on packaging) and it is apparent that the new generation
of advertising is weak.
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Boomers Are A Booming Business-Why Boomers?
Boomers are people just like you and me.
Boomers are a prime and growing target audience. Does your product
speak to them? Does your product’s packaging compel them to buy it? If
not, you are missing a very important market segment. According to Rick
Adler, founder of The Senior Network: "Simply based on population growth
trends, if a product is marketed to the 50-plus audience and maintains its
market share, it should increase in sales by 35 to 50 percent in the next
20 years. Conversely, a brand targeted at the zero to 50 age groups will
be flat in sales."
Do you know these important facts......?
