Establishing Identity
Imagine this: You're driving through your hometown and passing the neighborhood McDonald's. But something's different. Those golden arches have been replaced with a giant Helvetica-style M. There's no doubt you'd notice the change, and you'd most likely want to know what in the world was going on.
Branding takes many forms and in the highly competitive retail world, is essential to bringing in revenue and establishing your place in the market. With customers spending mere seconds glancing at an item, how do you convince them to take your product to the cash register? Do you ingrain an iconic image in their mind, the way McDonald's has? Do you grab them with flashy colors? Do you use sharp photography?
We reached out to branding experts to explain trends, strategies, and how converters play an essential role in the branding process.
Reel them in
In the age of big box stores, how do customers select a product from one company that is shelved next to a product that serves the same purpose from another company? Price is certainly a factor, as is brand loyalty, but appearance is also essential in having that customer reach for a product.
According to J. Scott Hosa, the associate director of graphic technology for Landor Associates, there are cues that indicate certain elements of a product. In a recent example, he worked on a new line of premium Febreze air fresheners, which needed packaging to differentiate the product line as a premium offering.
Hosa says the products used enticing photography on their various packages, but also implemented a gold color to quickly catch customers' eyes.
"It's the kind of thing during the holidays, when a consumer is shopping and says, 'I'm having people over, that's something I want to keep out on my countertop or on the shelf in my bathroom,'" Hosa explains. "That works in our favor. If you put it under the counter, you're going to forget it's there, not use it and not have to re-buy it. If it's this beautiful, enticing package, you have it visible and you're using it."
While in this instance the packaging expressed "premium" as the key indicator for what the Febreze product offered, packaging should be doing this to express all product benefits. According to Jim Lucas, director of global insights and strategy for SGK (formerly Schawk!), packaging should express a benefit and provide a choice.
"If a product is organic or has a retro theme, the packaging needs to clearly identify that," says Lucas. "It should also specify what type of customer should be using it." For example, there are seemingly endless choices of cold and flu medicine. Yet if the packaging indicates that one of those choices is for those who are constantly on the go, versus designed for home use, customers will be drawn toward the medication that best suits their lifestyle.
Communication with converters
Creating a successful and identifiable brand involves many moving parts, namely the branding company, the brand owner, and the converters who will be creating the packaging for the company's various products. Hosa recalls that in the most successful projects this entire supply chain began its communication early in the process and kept it up throughout the project.
This eliminates problems with print feasibility, otherwise known as fit for use. One of the worst things that can occur in this process, Hosa says, is having a brand owner become enamored with a design, only to find out the converter cannot realistically replicate it on a package.
"If they want a design that's very mechanical, very precise, that has a lot of small lines interacting and a very tight register, we need to know that before they're starting to develop that design and get a love for it," Hosa relates. "As soon as the client has a heart for it, that's what we want to happen. That's a success story. But we first want to make sure they're not falling in love with something that can't be done."
Ideally Hosa says, print feasibility will be established prior to the supply chain establishing "design lock," and if all goes according to plan, those dates will occur very close to one another. That way, there will be no surprises when a converter starts the printing process, and no disappointment from brand owners that their planned design cannot be accomplished.
Hosa says part of his job with Landor is to communicate early with printers and quickly engage with new ones. He needs to understand their capabilities and make sure those are communicated to brand owners early in the process to ensure they are aware of what the printer can provide.
"It's an important task for us to stay up to date on what converters can and can't do," Hosa says. "There needs to be early and consistent communication of what's in the pipeline. Right now I'm talking to printers every day and we have active projects that have already been approved and are ready to have a timeline."
Consistency is key
As converters are well aware, different substrates lend themselves to different kinds of printing. Creating brand consistency across multiple products can become a significant challenge when branding a product line.
For example, Hosa says that if the brand owner wants a focus on photography for the product line's packaging, trouble may arise when it comes to corrugated board. This is a problem that can be resolved, but again comes back to communication.
"That allows us to have a contingency for that element and say, 'Okay, that's great. The corrugated is not going to have that image, but we'll flood it with color,'" Hosa explains. "That's how we're going to relate what is inside that corrugated carton."
Consistency in branding is also important when launching a new product or package in an already well known product line. Lucas says that when Oreos celebrated its 100th anniversary, the packaging was effective because it was both fresh and familiar at the same time.
"The challenge is between maintaining the right balance between family resemblance, while providing enough differences to improve shopability, and minimize confusion," Lucas says. "Highlighting the difference becomes important. Oreos did this well as they celebrated their 100th Anniversary. You knew it was different, you knew it was from Oreos."
Keep it fresh
While consistency is important when establishing branding through packaging, it is also a good practice to update packaging periodically so a product doesn't appear to be dated.
Lucas notes that the rate at which packaging is being updated is increasing. He cites the Mintel Global New Products Database in stating that there were 326,000 product and packaging launches last year, a 20 percent increase from 2011. Some 48 percent of these were new product introductions. New variety and line extensions were 30 percent, new packaging made up 15 percent, and relaunches contributed to 5 percent.
There are instances however, when companies will scale back their packaging, particularly as cost saving measures. Hosa says that when companies launch products, they'll frequently go all out in the beginning. Then, once a product is established on the market, the packaging reductions can begin.
"They'll do things like launch and leverage, where we might launch with a foil, which is a great attention getter, then back off and leverage that over time with a metallic ink that may be less expensive," Hosa explains.
The cost of doing business
An elaborate packaging strategy can be costly. And while Hosa says there isn't necessarily a hard and fast rule when it comes to how the cost of packaging should relate to the cost of the product, competition can be a driving factor.
As long as it's within reason, Hosa explains, anything that can be added to a package that will catch a customer's eye and lead to a purchase is worthwhile.
"If there's a packaging effect or change in design that will cause a customer to choose my product over that of a competitor, that's how I justify my choices when we come up with decoration choices for packaging," Hosa says.
As technology improves, so does packaging, and Hosa says that can lead to further innovation in branding. Whether it's converters or brand owners, allowing a package to reach its full potential is crucial when it comes to locking in that final sale.
"If you are engaged, put yourself out there," Hosa urges. "Show these consumer goods companies and design agencies what you can do and be ready to push the limits." pP
Cory Francer is an Analyst with NAPCO Research, where he leads the team’s coverage of the dynamic and growing packaging market. Cory also is the former editor-in-chief of Packaging Impressions and is still an active contributor to its print magazines, blogs, and events. With a decade of experience as a professional journalist and editor, Cory brings an eye for storytelling to his packaging research, providing compelling insight into the industry's most pressing business issues. He is an active participant in many of the industry's associations and has played an essential role in the development of the annual Digital Packaging Summit. Cory can be reached at cfrancer@napco.com