Much discussion has centered on the economic downturn since 2007 and its direct impact on private label brands vs national brands. The competition is only heating up.

During the past year, store brand sales have increased by 10% versus 2% for national brands. According to Nielsen, while store brands comprise just over 10% of most retailers' total product mix, they also account for over 20% of sales, while achieving a turn rate that is better than two-to-one.

Many retailers have adjusted their pricing in response to the economy. Result: their brands are delivering slimmer profit margins, but they're making up for the loss in profits with additional volume and greater market share.
 
Interestingly, IRI's research shows that the recession has also created a new "generation" of consumers. Even as the economy improves, many who have adopted more frugal, modest spending habits are likely to continue. By extension, consumers who are pleased with store brands, are likely to continue purchasing them even as the economy brightens.

Upshot: well-managed retailer brands have the power to become as important as national brands. Just look at what Kroger and Safeway are doing to confirm this. So what's a national brand to do? Strike back, of course.

Counter Attack Strategies.
National brands must employ several strategies to offset lost sales and potential loss of shelf space at retail.
1. Pricing.
2. Value-added or innovative product features.
3. Value-added or innovative package design features.
4. Innovative package design structures and sizing that are "ownable" and difficult to copy.
5. Innovative new product offerings that break new ground.
6. Use of new media channels to connect with consumers one on one.

Pricing. The first reaction is to cut pricing, and of course, many national brands have done just that. Competing on price with store brands might be a good idea in the short term, but it isn't effective as a sole or long-term strategy. Making items more competitive on price is one thing, but constant cost-cutting cheapens the brand and its image. It can also damage the long-term viability and sustainability of the brand.

Ironically, retailers themselves must likewise guard against cheapening their store brands after spending considerable time and effort to elevate them in the eyes of consumers. If anything, retailers who have experienced private label success are beginning to see opportunities to add premium products into their assortments.

Innovative product /packaging features & structures. For manufacturers, additional quality, innovation and benefits are critical components of new product offerings. These kinds of attributes make products less subject to price considerations. Caveat: innovation claims have to be real and honest, not fluff. In order to build and retain customer trust, absolute honesty is a "must" within the company and in every customer-facing touch point.

Procter & Gamble's decision to add aromatherapy fragrances to its line of concentrated Downy fabric softeners, delivered additional relevance to modern consumers. By putting its broths in cartons with recloseable lids instead of cans, Swanson's cleverly enabled home cooks the perfect package to pour and store, sans waste. By adding a grinding mechanism into its bottles of whole peppercorns, sea salt and selected spices, McCormick helped home cooks to get gourmet results without having to invest in a separate grinder.

Adding features like these might add too much cost or they might be more difficult for retailers to copy. Hence, national brands can truly differentiate themselves from retailer competition.

Brands that truly want to differentiate themselves benefit from forging ahead with innovative new features. Structural packaging is another "ownable" aspect of branding that should not be ignored. When eyeing a sea of products on shelving as far as they eye can see, consumers are always able to readily identify brand packaging with distinctive structures.

Even commodity product lines benefit from unique package structures. How many juices and beverages are there in the marketplace? Yet, Jamba Juice is unique. Unique brand in a uniquely structured, "twisted" bottle. Method broke the mold completely when it comes to packaging cleaning products. Environmentally friendly cleaning products presented in highly visible, transparent packaging makes sense after all, doesn't it?

Innovative New Products. Talk about a tough one. Breaking new ground in consumer products isn't the easiest challenge. Creating whole new categories isn't either. Understandably, an iPod isn't born every minute. But great ideas have led to revolutionary new products; sometimes in the most mundane, commodity categories.

OXO redesigned the most mundane of objects: the measuring cup, and had a hit on its hands. Finding that people often craned their necks while measuring dry iingredients and liquids in measuring cups while having to make constant adjustments, OXO simply positioned the measurement marks on the inside of their cups. Who knew it could be so simple?

The Apple iPhone is a marvel, too. In spite of the fact Apple was late in the game against behemoth competitors like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, the company's killer apps made consumers lust for the iPhone. The best part: many of the available apps were suggested by and designed by end users. Connectivity and community building should now be part of the equation for product innovations to be successful.

New Media Channels. Manufacturers have not had the opportunity for direct interface with consumers in the past. Retailers acted as "middle men" between manufacturer and consumers. This relationship has helped savvy retailers glean information to develop strong store brands.

Now manufacturers can use their web sites to foster direct communication with consumers as never before. Smart marketers are engaging their customers in direct communications, via active email correspondence, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. They are actively soliciting feedback and gaining new insights, as a result.

Negative comments can be used to rectify product issues and reassure customers, building trust. Positive comments can lead to constructive dialogue and ideas for product innovations. This interaction should be leveraged to develop and maintain a loyal customer base, just as brand loyalty is beginning to slip away.

Engagement, connectivity and community building will work to reverse this trend and help keep national brands front and center with consumers as retailers seek greater sales and share with their own brands.

National brands have a choice: they can conduct business "as usual" and prepare themselves for additional lost sales and brand erosion, or they can strike back, adding strength and vitality to the entire marketplace.




Why Packaging Matters More than Ever
By Ted Mininni

Marketing researchers of note, Forrester and McKinsey & Company, recently conducted studies on the nature of consumerism today. Their results are important because they point to a shift away from the classic "consumer purchasing funnel".

This classic marketing theory holds that consumers develop awareness of branded products thanks to numerous, traditional advertising impressions. Familiarity leads to eventual purchasing consideration for a limited choice of brands. When entering a retail environment, consumers center their attention on those few choices, and purchase one. Throughout the process, the funnel obviously keeps narrowing. With consistent delivery on the brand promise, loyalty develops over time.

This classic marketing theory holds that consumers develop awareness of branded products thanks to numerous, traditional advertising impressions. Familiarity leads to eventual purchasing consideration for a limited choice of brands. When entering a retail environment, consumers center their attention on those few choices, and purchase one. Throughout the process, the funnel obviously keeps narrowing. With consistent delivery on the brand promise, loyalty develops over time.

However, new research demonstrates consumer purchasing patterns no longer fit this model. So could the wrong marketing emphasis be one of the reasons, along with a soft economy, for real shifts in consumer spending and overall loyalty? Given the data, it's likely.

According to the latest consumer research, there's a new paradigm. Constant exposure via traditional and interactive media continues to create brand awareness. When consumers make the decision to purchase a product, they evaluate their choices by conducting Internet research. They participate in word of mouth exchanges, seeking information from social media contacts.

This is a crucial juncture for brands in the pre-purchasing process; the reason they must have a strong online presence. Marketers need to invest dollars on independent web sites--not only their own--that they've identified as the places consumers are seeking information about products like theirs, and buying them. Ditto for interactive media sites - online and mobile - since these core constituencies will endorse and spread the word about their products.

Due to a virtual explosion of social media outlets as well as new brands, consumers are actually not narrowing their options now. Rather, they are expanding their possible list of choices. Thus, the narrowing consumer funnel model is now obsolete.

Marketing in the New Paradigm.

Armed with this information, why would product companies execute the usual old budget cuts when consumer spending slows down? If the consumer has fundamentally changed, doesn't this call for a serious restructuring of marketing focus, initiatives, spending?

Consumers are no longer passive, so spending the lion's share of the marketing budget on TV, radio, newspaper and magazine ads - simply isn't efficient. Yet, when the economy sours, marketers pull back and retrench to "tried and true" traditional outlets.  They cut new media spending. They cut customer service personnel. They hold off on new product packaging. These might seem like natural decisions, but do they make sense?

Many companies have dabbled in interactive media in a limited way; not always meaningfully or for long, so they have little ROI data on their marketing efforts. As a result, they're likely to be cut down or cut out. This is a mistake. While one-way communication still delivers impressions, today's consumer is empowered by information gleaned from the Internet, mobile devices and conversations on social media sites. They pursue online connections to family, friends and blogging communities. These new media influencers have increased in importance since the last economic downturn. So, logically speaking, does it make sense to make deep budget cuts here?

Let's not forget that consumers also converse directly with companies via customer service online, via phone and email. Here is an often under-mined opportunity to interface directly with consumers; a golden opportunity to rectify problems, address issues quickly and satisfactorily, tweak product features and find out what consumers respond to best when purchasing category products. So should customer service be the recipient of deep budget cuts?

Lastly, with brand loyalty flagging as consumers scour retail shelves before making their final purchase decisions, how can deep budget cuts on packaging be justified?

Instead: why not work smarter and get more from fewer resources? Cutting back on traditional marketing to some degree and reallocating resources on social media, Internet web sites and customer service makes sense. Reallocating resources on packaging is vital since final purchase decisions are made at the retail shelf. Aligning marketing communications among all of these consumer-facing initiatives is priority #1.

Packaging for the New Paradigm.

The current diminishment in loyalty as consumers are open to more choices can work to the benefit of a brand, or to its detriment. Smart marketers will use this knowledge to address their presence at retail. Packaging has actually gained in importance in the marketing mix as consumers closely scrutinize more products on the retail shelf before purchasing. Given this, it's a wise idea to conduct an assessment of current packaging and make needed changes.

Packaging has to deliver more than ever in the current economic and competitive environment. If it doesn't decisively refer back to the brand, doesn't quickly and simply communicate its value and preferability to consumers, doesn't definitively leverage the brand and product's key assets, it fails to win the consumer's vote to purchase the product. It's vitally important to make sure one simple, overriding message resonates on packaging. Why? According to research, the average consumer scans the retail shelf in 20 seconds or less.

So what is the most important thing to communicate in that span of time? Tapping into consumers' compelling reasons to choose one brand over the rest in a category, by honing in on consumer statements and conversations, WOM and interactive media comments, meaningful insights can be gleaned. How about leveraging that most relevant thing - that one overriding message - consumers themselves care most about as the lead package communication?

Ultimately, packaging has the power to affect consumer purchasing behavior if utilized correctly. If packaging isn't a huge asset in selling the product and brand on the retail shelf, it simply isn't being maximized as a marketing tool. Now, while consumers are clearly open to more brands than ever, there's a chance to win more business now and potentially more brand loyalty when the economy improves.

So here are the questions that must be answered now: How can marketing initiatives be used to get closer to consumers and better understand what their needs are? How can two-way communications be used to increase brands' relevance to the consumer? How can aligned messaging be utilized for all consumer-facing marketing initiatives? Lastly, how can all of this help produce the most compelling packaging in the category?




Understanding Green Demographics: the Implications for Packaging
By Ted Mininni

I've been ruminating about the tough economy like everyone else. Rather than lamenting what is, I think this downturn affords businesses a rare opportunity to slow down, rethink and reset.

Consumer product companies that innovate, will insulate their brands to a higher degree from the current downturn while positioning them for future growth. Tip: it's time to research sustainability measures that can begin to be implemented - now. If there's ever been a time and a place to allocate tight marketing budgets, this is it.

Why sustainability and why now? Sustainability practices are increasingly important to consumers. Interestingly, they have not pulled back from buying green, slow economy, decreased purchasing power, or not. That goes for products as well as packaging. IRI (Information Resources Inc.) recently released an informative report that CPG companies really need to take heed of, titled: "Sustainability: CPG Marketing in a Green World".

With more and more consumers consciously choosing to live greener lives, sustainable product packaging is no longer an afterthought. Rather, it should be adopted and integrated as part of an overall brand repositioning in sync with an overall environmentally responsible plan. Company brand values need to be tweaked and realigned with today's consumer values more than ever, if they are going to succeed over the long haul.

IRI's report tracked consumer behavior in eight distinct demographic segments and the following green segments: organic, Fair Trade commodities, and eco-friendly products. While sales to hard-core eco-centric consumers fell 6.6% in 2008 largely due to price increases, "respectful stewards" increased spending on environmentally friendly products by 15.5% and "proud traditionalists" by 8.4%. This helped buoy sales up 4.1% for the year, signifying that previously less green consumers are climbing what IRI refers to as "the green adoption curve".

IRI's eight green consumer groups:
- Eco-centrics. "Green" is the chosen way of life for these consumers; they are well-informed, active and ardent supporters of green products.
- Respectful stewards. Idealistic, community-focused consumers who see value in paying more for products that are green.
- Proud traditionalists. Hard-working, family-focused consumers who focus on having environmentally-conscious homes and experiment with green products.
- Frugal earth mothers. Lower income female consumers who look for savings while also looking for more prudent, wholesome products for their families.
- Skeptics. Men who are highly educated and earn high incomes; who are also skeptical about the benefits of purchasing green products.
- Eco-chics. Young adult consumers who think being green is hip. They'll buy on impulse; they're early adopters but haven't delved deeply into environmental issues.
- Green naives. Younger, lower income consumers who haven't made the correlation between cause/effect and environmental responsibility.
- Eco-villains. Middle income male consumers; couldn't care less about any environmental issues and dismiss environmental concerns outright.

The key for marketers is to understand which segments of consumers are prevalent within their own constituencies so that their companies can offer the right kind of innovations and messaging that is relevant to them. This will take some resource investments of time, capital and research on the part of the marketing department, but the returns are too important to ignore.

Green Packaging: Why Now?

There are few consumer goods that are 100% green, natural and organic, but there are more and more products with at least some components that are green, natural or organic. There is no such thing as 100% green packaging. However, that does not mean companies can't make commitments now and into the future to conduct business as environmentally soundly as possible. Nor does it mean they cannot find innovative new ways to develop and integrate greener components in their products and packaging. Right?

Why would companies invest in this now, when budgets are getting slashed? Consider this: research demonstrates that while sustainable packaging isn't the primary consumer purchase motivator, it has become important enough to make consumers opt for one brand over another within a product category if one company embraces good environmental practices and a competitor doesn't.

The Hartman Group's "Sustainability Outlook: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility" shares some significant findings concerning packaging attitudes in a recent survey among 1,600 consumers:
• The highest rating - 75% of respondents stated the importance of packaging that could be recycled as most important to them.
- 71% indicated biodegradability in packaging an important asset.
- 67% cited packaging made from recycled content important to them.
- 63% like to purchase packaging that is refillable.
- 62% felt that minimal packaging was important.
- 60% of respondents look for packaging that can be repurposed for other uses.
- 51% indicated compostable packaging was important to them.

Bottom line: with so much talk focused on myriad environmental issues over the past few years, and growing impetus in recent months, the consumer is increasingly aware. There is growing concern about packaging and what becomes of it after it has served its purpose. The three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have hit home with greater numbers of consumers now.

Consumer product companies ought to consider: what better way is there to sell sustainable values than through that most important of marketing initiatives—packaging? Utilizing the three R's in updated packaging design sends a powerful message. Better yet, using the packaging itself as a communications platform about the company's commitment to sustainability gives marketers a powerful tool to reach consumers. Targeting that messaging to the company's proper green demographic(s) becomes meaningful. Tying that messaging in to the company website, advertising and every other marketing initiative it uses, will further educate targeted consumers.

Contrary to the belief that consumers are increasingly skeptical due to widespread green-washing, The Hartman Group's survey yielded an eye-opening statistic. 82% of those surveyed thought most companies' green claims "mostly true". Of course, it is important to maintain trust with consumers by being honest about all of the company's sustainability practices, including those made on and about packaging. It is better to say nothing, than it is to make claims that stretch the truth; the latter can do considerable damage to the brand, precisely when building consumer trust has never been more important.

Consumers are not only looking to niche companies that have made sustainability a cornerstone of their brands. They're also expecting established mass market companies to move in this direction, and rewarding those that do. Being responsible stewards of the environment by adopting better business practices is step one. Offering more sustainable products and continuing product innovations is step two and that necessarily leads to sound packaging.

Sustainable packaging should be used to push the values of "reduce, reuse and recycle" and as the ultimate platform to reach the target consumer with the company's overall sustainable positioning. Here is a terrific opportunity to further differentiate brands in a meaningful way—right now and for the future. Seizing this golden opportunity will lead to green in more ways than one.




Cutting Packaging Down to Size
By Ted Mininni

There's nothing like a slowing economy to force companies to address customer issues. Pushing more innovative consumer products into the pipeline, lowering prices to increase value perception and to counter competitive pricing and making customer service improvements are all typical responses. Yet, working on a couple of customer touch points is an inadequate approach.

Companies' focus ought to be on designing the total customer experience, aligning every customer touch point and cementing greater loyalty to their brands, in the process. Isn't it time to develop a comprehensive, top to bottom customer experience strategy?
Think of all the touch points customers interact with. Designing and aligning the web site, customer service call center, IVR system, product literature, advertising and packaging to deliver consistent, positive customer experiences is crucial to a company's success. Of these, packaging is arguably the most important customer touch point, since it delivers brand and product into the customer's hands. It's the tangible representation of both.
Designing Packaging that Delivers.
While capital expenditures are being cut these days, investing in experiential packaging ought to be considered. By taking a short-term loss in marketing ROI vis-a-vis packaging now, companies can position themselves to retain customers and market share for the long-term. It's important to keep loyal customers for the present, while positioning to gain new customers when the economy improves, yielding higher ROI in the future.

Strategy and design are the tools that enable companies to design packaging that delivers a great experience; one that is emotionally connecting to the targeted customer. To do that successfully, research must answer key questions.
- Who is the customer and how has that customer evolved?
- How can the company match the customer's goals?
- What are the customer's expectations?
- What does the customer value?

Too often packaging is as commoditized as the products they contain. Without unique brand characteristics, structure and a communications hierarchy that make product and brand relevant to the target consumer; that meets their goals and expectations, packaging is not the effective sales closer it should be. If packaging was designed from an experiential perspective it would be far more compelling to consumers.

McCormick, manufacturer of spices and seasonings, elevates commodity products through experiential packaging. Even though consumers' busy lifestyles have made it difficult to cook as much as they used to, McCormick has remained relevant to consumers since its founding in 1889.

Over time, the company has quietly updated its line with proprietary seasoning blends, sauces, marinades—and new packaging. Economic down-turns have consumers turning to McCormick in increasing numbers, as they eat out less and cook at home more. McCormick's business is booming as a result.

Hot new additions have been getting a lot of buzz. McCormick still offers its basic line of herbs and spices packaged with its famous red label and cap, updated, yet retaining its heritage brand identity. Responding to trends well, McCormick offers additional lines of new products. A gourmet line of more exotic selections, including some organic selections, is packaged with distinctive sage green cap and black and gold labels, depicting natural herb plants and spices. The line is marketed to people who "cook with love and passion".

The striking "Grinders" line, gives consumers a touch of "gourmet" for their home-cooked meals. By designing bottles with inset grinders, consumers are offered the ultimate freshness. They can grind just the right amount of black peppercorns, sea salt or blended seasonings. No need to spend more money on expensive spices and mills from a specialty store or catalog.

Ethnic seasoning blends, Grill Mates, Slow Cooker Soups and Crusting Blends are all designed to help the time-strapped home cook make flavorful, home-cooked meals in a short period of time. All are packaged to effectively deliver a short, targeted message at a glance.

The company offers great recipes, tips and ideas for the home cook in a highly navigable web site and invites customers to join the site to share their own favorite recipes and tips with other readers, forming a community for cooking enthusiasts in the process.

Result? McCormick maintains its position as the largest spice company in the world with $2.9 billion in sales in 2007; 10% of that volume coming from the introduction of its new products. The company has elevated customer perception with gourmet style products and met the critical threshold of cooks' expectations while offering greater value. Why buy competitors' products or cheaper generics?

How about Method's packaging? Method's environmentally-safe home and personal use cleaning products feature beautifully-designed, clear packaging on many of its products. Packaging for the entire Method line has the look and feel of upscale cosmetic packaging. Talk about experiential!

An examination of environmental cleaning products shows that there's a great deal of similar bill-board-type packaging in the category. Only Method's packaging is strikingly different. Contemporary, clean, refreshing. As Method's web site states: "(co-founder) Eric (Ryan) knew people wanted cleaning products they didn't have to hide under their sinks". Not only does this product claim cleaning effectiveness and safety, it's meant to be seen. What a concept for commodity products!

While a number of eco-conscious cleaning products are on the market now, why is it that Method has garnered nearly a whopping $100 million in sales in a slow-growth category? Why is it that the brand has also created a community of avid brand loyalists? Products that are made to be seen, are obviously grabbed and used more. More product used, faster repeat sales. Since there are myriad cleaning products on the market, including eco-friendly options, it's apparent that Method's experiential packaging accounts for part of the brand's stunning success.

Let's face it: packaging that delivers a great experience is enjoyable and memorable to consumers. Removing customer frustration, and potential sources of disappointment, while unlocking the relevant drivers around branded products that fulfill customer expectations and help them reach their goals, can best be delivered by packaging. It can-and should-seal the deal, leading to that elusive brand loyalty.



Upcycling Packaging: A New Business Concept
By Ted Mininni

Entrepreneurialism is alive and well in America. Just ask Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle.
His big idea: a commercialized liquid plant food made from biological waste-or as Szaky calls it "worm poop", in reused soda bottles from school recycling programs, after making donations for them. Cleaning the bottles, slapping homey labels on them, and fitting them with trigger sprays other manufacturers couldn't use, or didn't want, enabled Szaky to finally bring his product to market. 

In a recent Brand Packaging article dubbed: "Spinning Garbage into Gold", Szaky shares some terrific ideas that ought to inspire a new generation of business owners. View additional information

Szaky dropped out of Princeton and worked at the new business for three years until finally securing some retail distribution, thanks to Wal-Mart and The Home Depot. He hasn't looked back. His philosophy: constantly finding ways to develop consumer products and consumer product packaging from consumer waste. Even better: refusing to price his green products at the high end of the spectrum, as some of his competitors are. "Since we're not doing it, we're gaining a lot", Szaky is quoted as saying.

TerraCycle now enjoys distribution as a staple in thousands of retail lawn and garden departments, adding products like deer repellant and compost bins to their original plant food product. According to the Brand Packaging article, the company is now developing consumer products in many categories: household cleaners, reusable totes, office products, and even Christmas ornaments.

On the packaging front, a Stonyfield Farm challenge to TerraCycle to find an alternative use for the company's polypropylene yogurt cups (since they aren't recycled much), yielded the invention of planting pots, with Stonyfield funding the entire collection program, thank you very much.

When Honest Tea began funding TerraCycle to reuse its used drink pouches, Kraft's Capri Sun and Kool Aid brands likewise, joined the effort. Net result? Recycled drink pouches manufactured into accessories now being sold at Target. As Szaky pointed out, for brands like Capri Sun, his reuse of their packaging solves a major problem since their packaging isn't recyclable, and would end up in landfills.

High volume consumer brands: Balance Bar, Clif Bar, South Beach diet bars, Chips Ahoy and Oreos have subsequently come aboard. What TerraCycle is doing isn't recycling in the classic sense. The company refers to its reuse of packaging as "upcycling". Definition: 'creative use of the shape and characteristics of existing packaging instead of crushing, mulching, melting it down or reforming it'.

Szaky loves what he refers to as his "Sponsored Waste" initiative. "You get paid for your raw materials and then you're paid for your finished product." While TerraCycle still sponsors collection programs in schools and churches, the company sees Sponsored Waste as its future. Apparently there's money in collecting and repurposing packaging for new products: TerraCycle has posted a 300% growth rate for the past four years.

Questions:
- What other kinds of consumer products would you like to see made from recycled waste and repurposed packaging?
- Do you think more businesses will emerge based on the TerraCycle model?
- Do you think we can eventually eliminate most of our garbage by thinking in these terms?

I'd love to hear from you.




The Retailer's New Role: CPG Marketer
By Ted Mininni

Retailers love their private labels. Especially in a challenging economy.

As successful as some of these brands are, many retailers have barely scratched the surface of private label's potential. By its very nature, private label offerings recast retailers as more than conduits of manufactured products to consumers. More than branded environments.

If retailers are doing more than paying lip service to the idea of creating positive consumer experiences within their store environments, private label lines afford them a great opportunity to further solidify their overall store brands in the minds of consumers.

To accomplish this, retailers will have to be willing to invest the proper resources and business acumen into this viable segment of their business. In essence, they will have to become actively engaged as CPG marketers. That means hiring crackerjack CPG marketers outside the company, unless the retail operation has homegrown talent in place.

Why would retailers make capital investments in private label during an economic downturn? When retailers consider the sheer number of private brands and skus within those brands in their stores, the amount of dedicated shelf space and the inventory dollar investment, why wouldn't they? When retailers analyze the volume they're doing—and how much more they could be doing-as well as the profit dollars involved, why wouldn't they?

Lastly, and most importantly, when retailers, intent on creating great experiential environments for their customers, factor in the additional benefit of presenting highly desirable store brands to heighten consumer perception, why wouldn't they?

The right assortments of private label merchandise, well-positioned, packaged and marketed should be a great differentiator for retailers. They can also go a long way to locking up consumer mindshare. Question: how much is it worth to retailers to reverse the erosion of brand loyalty these days?

The Safeway Model. . .
It's always nice to have a model when it comes to breaking new ground. California supermarket chain Safeway is blazing a trail with an enlightened view of private label brand management. Better yet: their ideas in the food business can be applied to any other consumer product category.

As is the case with many retailers, Safeway had a pantheon of 70 private label brands that it had developed over time. The retailer made the gut-check decision to pare down to 10 so it could focus on turning them into super brands.

Safeway then made a substantial commitment to private label with the hiring of James White as its SVP-Consumer Brands, who came armed with expertise gleaned from his work at top-notch CPG companies. A complement of CPG marketers were then hired to assist White in managing these consumer brands.

Two top focus brands: Safeway's "O Organics" private label food line, generated $300 million in volume in 2007, and is expected to bring in $400 million in 2008. The chain's "Eating Right" private label line which debuted last spring, is expected to generate $200 million in sales for 2008, as well.

By integrating internal marketing talent with the expertise of outside advertising and design consultants, in a collaborative manner, Safeway has taken the Procter & Gamble approach to managing its brands. P&G has enjoyed notable success since orienting itself in this manner, so why not take a page from the world's largest CPG company? Why not apply the strategic thinking P&G does for its brands to retail private label brands?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 1: Consumer-centric Solutions.
By operating like a CPG company within a retail environment, Safeway has taken a unique approach to supporting their brands with extensive research, enabling them to improve flavor profiles of existing products, as a result. By studying emerging consumer trends it can also position new product offerings that ensure a greater rate of return.

The food retailer wisely taps into creative consultancies to develop sophisticated package designs and dedicated advertising for its house brands. As a result, both have become more targeted and sophisticated.

Positioning for Safeway's Eating Right brand: "Uniting Flavor and Nutrition" is reflected in a clean, updated packaging system.  Key messaging effectively reaches consumers in a simple communications hierarchy. A system of colored spheres refer to specific health benefits Eating Right foods delivered in universally understood terms: "Low Fat", "Vitamins", "High in Fiber", among others.

Consumers are invited to "spot your needs" on the dedicated Eating Right web site and can browse numerous food and beverage selections by category. This comprehensive marketing that ties packaging, messaging and website together is "spot on".

In the case of the O Organics brand, Safeway's collaboration with an outside design consultancy also bore fruit. Infusing the brand's color palette with natural elements: sun, water, light and earth was no accident. Nor is the large signature "O" in the brand mark. Photography depicts products as close as possible to their natural settings. Message: purity and authenticity; less-processed, organically sourced foods.

Some of the packaging still shows the quintessential backdrop of farm scenes, from grazing cows to pristine fields. Still, the orientation of brilliant color is a far cry from the muted earth-toned packaging most organic product manufacturers seem to favor. The message of O Organics: "wholesomeness for the whole family". Implied message: "from farm to fork". Everything is certified USDA Organic. Again, Safeway has developed a dedicated website for O Organics to speak directly to consumers.

The assets of good quality, excellent taste, better nutrition and "in-demand" selections add tremendously to consumer value perception for these brands. And what's not to love about being able to buy organic food at lower prices besides?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 2: Taking it to the Streets.
To many retailers, Safeway's latest strategy may seem strange. The Better Living Brands Alliance was formed so that Safeway could market O Organics and Eating Right to foreign markets and institution such as school cafeterias. That makes sense.

However, the food retailer also wants to take its well-managed, high-growth private label brands and market them to other grocery chains, competitors included? Tantalizing, but radical idea, isn't it?

Then again, think about it. Research demonstrates Safeway's success: these labels are viewed by consumers as stand-alone brands. While they add to the overall value of the Safeway brand in consumer perception, they've also become viewed at the same level as national brands. A rare and important point.

Then why not do as all major CPG brands do, and market O Organics and Eating Right nationally? If competitors are less satisfied with their own store brands see enough incentive for adding brands that have been well-researched, marketed, packaged-and supported by national TV and print advertising—why not?

Will this work? We'll have to wait and see. But look at it this way: we live in unprecedented times. Consumer product manufacturers and retailers are increasingly confronted by a complex marketplace, fast-changing consumers and eroding brand loyalty. Part one of Safeway's strategy is a success. Part two? Well-calculated risks, based on solid data might be just what is needed today. No risk, no reward.



Packaging for the Planet
By Ted Mininni

Worldwide, the packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and employs more than five million people globally. And sustainable packaging is now a necessity.

Everything in our society is packaged. With the huge increase in global consumer goods consumption comes a large increase in packaging waste. This has created stress in community landfills around the globe, making it more incumbent on companies to use biodegradable as well as recycled materials as much as possible. Sustainable packaging should be embraced, not only for marketing leverage, but because it's the right thing to do.
It's great to see that many companies are behaving like responsible corporate citizens when it comes to sustainable packaging. Much has been made of this topic in professional journals. While important to the discussion, much of this is too scientific to be easily grasped by most of us. So what is sustainable packaging all about?

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition cites that according to conservative estimates, the worldwide packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and gives employment to more than five million people globally. In the US alone, consumer purchases of durable and non-durable goods and services account for 70% of the GDP. That makes product packaging a big deal!
With a finite amount of nonrenewable natural resources, ever-rising energy costs, and rapidly filling landfills, sustainable packaging is becoming an increasing necessity.
Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers are embracing eco-friendly packaging as never before. Wal-Mart, for example, has instituted a Sustainable Packaging Scorecard. The retail giant expects its 60,000 suppliers to fill in substantial information concerning their packaging. This information is shared so that suppliers can see how they "stack up" against all of Wal-Mart's other suppliers.

Employing what Wal-Mart refers to as "The 7 Rs of Packaging - remove, reduce, recycle, renew, revenue, and read" - the company feels it is moving in the right direction with its supplier partners.
This kind of initiative has an understandably large ripple effect throughout the CPG industry. It also provides a catalyst that spurs many companies to take action. Understandably, sustainable packaging is new to many companies and it isn't possible or reasonable to do all of these things at once, if ever. Yet, whatever measures companies can implement will have a direct impact on our environment.
The point is to have a "win-win" proposition: save on energy, natural resources, and environmental waste, while doing it profitably. With some smart thinking and planning, these measures can have a positive impact on corporate revenue streams.

For many decades, products and packaging have both been designed in a "cradle to grave" system; that is, they have ended up in landfills at the end of their useful life cycles. While some product components and packaging have been made biodegradable, a substantial amount is not. The best scenario avoids damaging the ecosystem altogether.
Numerous organisations have been formed to assist companies in reorienting their product and packaging development into a new "cradle to cradle" system. Products and packaging created in this manner feature materials that are perpetually circulated and reused in what industry experts refer to as "closed loops." This extracts maximum value from materials already in use without ever ending up in landfills, damaging ecosystems.

There are various aspects that make packaging sustainable. Manufacturers can institute some, if not all, of these environmentally friendly packaging solutions for their products:
- Cut down on excess product packaging. By creating packaging that is the right size for products, and not adding any extraneous material inside of packaging, there are huge savings in costs and waste.
- Use materials from renewable resources sourced from well-managed eco-systems. There are alternative resources for environmentally safe packaging components and packing materials.
- Use recycled materials to reduce the environmental impact of virgin materials that must be manufactured (the latter uses additional energy and natural resources). Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and FedEx all use 100% recycled paperboard. Companies can get information at the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance.
- Use non-toxic lead-free plastic packaging. Examples include Cargill Dow's NatureWorks PLA plastic packaging, which is made entirely from field corn, and NatureFlex biodegradable and compostable film, which is made from wood pulp.
- Use biodegradable materials and soy or water-based inks that will not do damage to the environment. • Purchase packaging materials that have been made with as little energy consumption as possible and that have emitted the fewest greenhouse gases in manufacture.
- Use packaging that has shifted away from petro-based chemicals to corn and potato starch components in biodegradable resins. These starches actually compost when degraded. Starch-based biodegradable foams are available from KTM Industries.
- Use biodegradable cornstarch peanuts as packing material in cartons rather than foam peanuts or packing pellets made from starch-based cereal grains.
- Find out about cradle-to-cradle product and packaging components and use them whenever possible.
Added to packaging issues are myriad supply chain issues. Getting packaged products to the retail marketplace is a huge area of focus at present. According to a report in the ProLogis Supply Chain Review, more logistics experts are working to maximize cube utilization better than ever before, given transportation costs. Better cube utilization simply means that manufacturers and retailers are seeking more efficiencies in trucking their products to consumer channels. By optimizing carton to pallet space ratios and filling trucks to capacity, transportation and energy costs are cut down.
Many companies are also teaming with other companies as "partners" in trucking, ensuring that once trucks unload their cargo, they pick up additional cargo and make additional drops on the way back so that they aren't returning empty, consuming additional energy. Smart thinking by smart logistics managers.

By consciously choosing products that are packaged in recycled or renewable materials, consumers not only support the companies that are eco-conscious, but also do their part to lessen energy use, the stripping of our precious natural resources and environmental waste.




The Public Face of Private Label
By Ted Mininni

Private label has come a long way in the past few years. Once perceived by customers as cheap, shoddy alternatives to national brands, private labels have slowly but surely come into their own. Having said that, the branding and packaging of private label products has yet to fully mature in business thought and practice.

Thus, largely untapped potential exists for private label brands. Especially in economic down-turns when consumers look for more VALUE for their money.

Retailers that have committed to developing private labels, from Wal-Mart to Walgreen's to Costco, have made substantial investments in the quality, marketing and packaging of their private brands. At least, enough so that the consumer has a more favorable image of private label product lines. According to A.C.Nielsen, approximately 85% of consumers have favorable views of private label brands, and almost 60% of their survey respondents felt the quality of private label products are "just as good" as those of national brands.
 
Supermarkets, drug chains, department store chains, discounters and wholesale clubs all have a stake in further developing their private label businesses. The fact is: private labels are here to stay and they should compete with national brands in such a way as to bring out the best in all concerned. When both national brands and store brands strive to offer uncompromising quality, strong brand identities and differentiated packaging, the customer is the ultimate beneficiary. There are enough consumer dollars to support both, and both should be marketed to build relationships and trust with the customer as a means to further growth.

Private Label Challenges.
Interestingly, many retailers continue to struggle to make their private labels desirable to consumers. Many still cling to the old pricing formulas for private label products. A minimum 10% to 20% below national brands has been a long-established industry standard for private label pricing. A major collaborative study by A.C.Nielsen, Daymon Worldwide and DemandTec released this past spring, shows that products that are priced too low may be passed over by consumers for fear that the quality may not be as good as that of the national brands. Conversely, if priced too closely to major brands, customers have reported they will likely pay a little extra and purchase the perceived "better" products instead.

The same research study points to assortment issues. The retail tendency to constantly expand offerings with too many varieties and redundant products, whether under the umbrellas of national or private brands, tend to put off consumers who are confronted with too many choices, and too little time, to figure out their best options. In fact, over assortments are perceived as clutter and routinely frustrate consumers. Retailers are not reacting to this by narrowing their merchandise mix for fear of losing business to competitors with broader mixes. Both national and private brands would fare better if routinely culled of their slowest-moving skus.

Recent findings clearly indicate that retailers must research and implement better pricing and merchandising strategies if they are to represent discernible value to the consumer with their own brands. Again: that means the right product mix at the right prices. They also make the case for retailers to better brand, position and package their private label product mix as never before. Investing a little bit of research to define consumers' current needs, wants and desires can pay big dividends. Taking the more sophisticated approach of CPG companies, and marketing to consumers based on lifestyle, and their desires, makes the latter a secondary issue.

Too many private label product lines are still being branded and packaged to look like "knock offs" of their nationally branded counterparts. Whether positioning and packaging national brands or private label lines, the same rules apply. There are no short-cuts to success with this.
- A unique brand identity must be developed; one that is clearly differentiated from its competitors. And one that has a clearly delineated added value over its competitors; offering consumers more perceived bang for their buck.
- A tight, relevant product mix that makes the private label brand easy to shop within each category. By offering customers the products they truly want, in the right sizes and varieties at value pricing, without a huge proliferation of choices, the retailer makes the private label relevant to the customer.
- The brand promise must be fulfilled. There has to be a perception of quality that is as good as, or even better than that of national brands. Private label products must perform as promised, every single time.
- Co-branding is a viable option in some categories. Think Costco and its Kirkland private label co-branded with Michelin in its tire assortment. Think Michael Graves for Target's home products division or Isaac Mizrahi for Target fashions. Co-branding like this conjures up images of quality, value pricing and great style for the consumer's dollar.
- Lastly, the retailer must actively market the private label brand and its differentiated assets to its customers. Again, Target markets its co-branded lines of apparel and home products as chic; there's a lot of style to be had for the money. Even the rich love to find great buys at Tarzhay. . .

Since huge marketing budgets are not in place to support most private label brands, packaging is a crucial aspect of promoting these lines. Packaging must tell the brand story in compelling fashion. In fact, since point of sale is the place where so many consumers make their decision to buy or not to buy, packaging has to be considered the most important element of private label marketing. In-store advertising via signage and TV can be a low cost way to promote the private label brand where there is no budget to do radio and TV advertising in local markets, and can and should be utilized as well.

Brand Packaging Criteria for Private Label Lines.
Since private label brands appeal to consumers across all social and financial strata today per the latest industry data, the tendency to brand and package these lines for a blue collar audience is an idea that should be retired, once and for all.
- Packaging must truly refer back to the brand and become perceived as part of the total experience with the retail brand: excellent customer service, a quality environment and a sense of community and social responsibility serve to make private label offerings very attractive in the consumer's eyes. Think: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's.
- Packaging must deliver a hierarchy of specific communications to the customer. No extraneous information that consumers can't or won't take the time to read, only meaningful communications. Think: BJ's Wholesale Club's Berkley & Jensen product packaging for food and non-food products alike.
- Packaging should be as distinctive in structure and execution as the brand it refers to. It shouldn't mimic the dominant national brands in category after category; even worse: it should never look generic. How can a unique, differentiated brand image be built if the private label is part of a "sea of sameness" on the retail shelf? Think: Ahold's Nature's Promise line of organic food products.
- Brand identity and packaging should form an umbrella, as a national brand does, over products in many diverse categories. Most retailers have not enjoyed notable consumer recognition and sales success with private label brands that have spanned numerous categories and they must focus on resolving this problem. Think: Costco's Kirkland Signature brand and packaging.

Large retailers, that have launched and manage successful private label branded programs, have set up separate business units to package, market and advertise these brands. Smaller and mid-sized operations usually opt to employ creative consultancies to assist them in the branding, packaging and promoting of their private labels. Regardless, management of private label is critical to its success, and it should not be treated as an adjunct to retailers' core business, with little investment in the way of dedicated time and human capital. Without focus and nurturing, private label product lines will not realize their potential, and that is a lose-lose proposition for retailers and consumers.




Creating Interactive Consumer Packaging
By Ted Mininni

Interactive packaging. To many in the marketing and design businesses, this denotes images of soon-to-be-realized nanotechnologies. Futuristic barcodes. New substrates. Even more imaginative take-offs on the "Try Me" concepts of today. Better clamshells that make entire products or key product attributes clearly visible to consumers. While these ideas have great merit, some of them are unattainable at present. Yet, marketers know that all of their initiatives, including packaging, must engage consumers. So how can we get packaging to "speak" to consumers today?

The very idea of engagement or formation of a relationship between consumer and brand implies an emotional connection. Packaging helps deliver a brand with emotion when structure, color, imagery and copy come together effectively. Aspects of brands that leverage the highly-charged emotions surrounding enjoyment, for example, resonate with the consumer. Making a consumer pause, and maybe smile, due to an unexpected element, a sense of whimsy, fun or fantasy, a promise of enjoyment, an engaging story, a sense of nostalgia, a promise of luxury, indulgence or a bit of self pampering -- all of these elicit profound emotions. Packaging cues can bring these emotions to the fore. Used with lifestyle imagery, they can deliver a story and become powerful motivators.

Beyond imagery, emotive and lifestyle cues, packaging must still deliver a specific hierarchy of information. But this needn't be a dry exercise. Consumers are human beings, and as such, they respond to stories. When a brand has a human face, sharing stories connects consumers to it on an emotional level. This is far more compelling than dry features/benefits.

I've gone on record in the past stating that "Products come alive in packaging that speaks to the consumer. As one of the most important consumer touch points, packaging has the power to move an audience." It is the only marketing tool that delivers products into consumers' hands. Experts know that packaging must be a synergistic part of the overall brand expression continuum. Packaging isn't a one-off marketing initiative, living in a vacuum.

Merging Packaging with New Communication Platforms.
The time has come to utilize packaging to engage consumers in an even deeper manner. Since today's consumers are inundated with product choices, advertising, multi-media messaging, direct mail and special offers—most of which, they tune out, maybe there's another way to engage them. Knowing that consumers prefer to use new communications like the Internet and their cell phones should clue us in to tying our packaging in to these new platforms.

Maybe besides posting the brand's web site on the package somewhere, we could integrate more ingenious devices onto packaging to invite consumers to either "join the conversation" about our products on a new blog. Or invite them to register online to become part of a consumer consultant panel (with a reward, of course). Or even ask them to test a new product or new flavor, to solicit their feedback.

When it comes to kids, how about giving them a couple of fun reasons to come to a web site loaded with games and adventure? Suggest they bring their friends into the games via IM or Twitter?

Why can't special offers or invitations be used to form an exclusive "club" via social media among brand devotees? Why can't they be geared to the Internet and to mobile phones? If these are the communications platforms consumers are using the most, why shouldn't brand packaging tie neatly into those vehicles?

Simply printing a web site onto the back or side panel of packaging isn't sufficient. A device that is part of package design, but is clearly visible with the most casual observation will create curiosity, and spark interest. Why not invite consumers to check in via their cell phones on the spot to avail themselves of some special information? An exclusive promotion? A special invitation?

Sound far-fetched? Take a look at what Nickelodeon has done for various kids' demographics. For adults, take a look at the Dell or Apple communities. And all of this leads me to think there is a great opportunity to do much more. The fact is: packaging has been under-utilized as a driver for consumer connectivity. Certainly great package design has helped forge relationships between consumers and brands, one on one. But by thinking outside the box—what else can be done to use packaging as a driver of conversation between brand and consumer?

Forging relationships, alliances and exchanging ideas are all happening at warp speed—thanks to new communications platforms and social media. Packaging needs to work more closely with them. If used optimally, this is one of the ways brands and branded products will continue to have relevance for consumers. New applications of social media are unfolding. What other kinds of tools are emerging, or have yet to appear? The opportunities might be only limited by our imaginations or our ability to create the tools we will need to interact with consumers. By providing additional impetus for interaction, packaging can create a more vital link between brand and consumer. Great ideas can be solicited as customers interface more closely with companies. The advantage: to speak directly with the customer one on one. Consumers can also be encouraged to interface with each other and out of that, a sense of "belonging" will emerge. Better yet: consumers will feel empowered and become evangelists and spread the love -- yes love, the most powerful of human emotions -- for the brand far and wide.

And that is the power of leveraging today's connectivity isn't it? Time to think of packaging in relation to the new communications platforms consumers have already embraced. If we do that, the consumers will be engaged at a deeper, more meaningful level. Communities will be built around brands. That is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn't it? 




Packaging that Delivers at the Second Moment of Truth
By Ted Mininni

Consumer culture is in transition. Today, consumers are less interested in purchasing products to meet their basic needs. They are much more interested in engaging with brands whose values satisfy them on an emotional level.

Brand managers are beginning to understand that and they are positioning and packaging their products to meet this new consumer mandate. While many are successful at meeting consumers at the retail shelf in the FMOT—first moment of truth, as evidenced by their ability to move them to make initial purchases, they haven't always thought it through to meet the SMOT-second moment of truth. Not yet. If they did, there would be absolute loyalty-even fanatical devotion--to brands.

To be fair, the first order of business marketers and design consultants are charged with is to get the consumer to pick up their product in the scant few seconds they're scanning the many choices they have on the retail shelf. But what happens after that? Forget that we're marketers, packaging designers, retail experts. Let's put ourselves in the consumer's place. Faced with a plethora of choices in virtually every product category, to the point of saturation, what's compelling? What's engaging or exciting? Consumers are bored now. They want to be entertained, or engaged on an emotional level. Consumers aren't responding to being marketed to in the conventional sense. Why? They don't want to be spoken to; they want to be spoken with and engaged.

When standing in front of the retail shelf, a structurally unique package looks interesting to the consumer. The signature color, brand mark, and unique characteristics denote that this a product from a recognized, trusted brand. So far, so good. Even better: the packaging evokes something on an emotional level. It plays to a lifestyle fit. It promises enjoyment, or fulfills another emotional desire. Perhaps it offers a bit of promised pampering. Maybe it offers some kind of security. Or it promises to be a healthier, more natural choice. Why not take it home and try the product? Great. Then what? Have we given the consumer the potential for any "aah" moments? Now that they have arrived precisely at the point where they are actually interacting with the package, by opening it up to reveal its contents, what then? Here is the best and greatest opportunity to engage the consumer. Have we succeeded in doing that? Have we, in this second moment of truth, delivered the brand in such a way as to engage the consumer completely?

If not, we have just squandered the moment when we could have delivered the single most satisfying interaction between consumer and brand. By delivering the ultimate experience with attributes to excite the senses-touch, smell, sound or taste-as well as the intangibles of well-being, luxury or pampering, fun or enjoyment in that moment, we can cement the relationship between consumer and brand in the most meaningful way. Heightening the consumers' anticipation in an exciting manner as they are opening well-conceptualized packaging to reach the object of their desire-the product-will deliver the most memorable of experiences. If we are all intent on delivering a great brand experience, shouldn't packaging be the centerpiece of our efforts? This is the touch point that makes our products tangible to consumers. It should deliver the ultimate experience.

How Packaging Can Deliver that SMOT.
When Apple packages its products like the iMacs, new generation iPods or the iPhones, the company does so with great deliberateness. Unwrapping the packaging reveals the products and their components in stages, increasing the consumer's excitement every step of the way. This creates such an impact, many Apple devotees keep the packaging, and even integrate it into their home or work space decor. It is obvious that Apple uses every opportunity it has at its disposal to create brand ambassadors, not mere consumers of its products.

A new frozen dessert line in the U.K., dubbed The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile "skin" that is strikingly unique. The tagline: "Obsessed by Pleasure" hangs from the logo. Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered via the packaging in a memorable way. Even mundane, commodity products can be packaged with great SMOT assets that are memorable and exciting to consumers. And the packaging doesn't have to be over the top to accomplish this, either. For example, the new Bird's Eye frozen vegetable packaging is excellent. Strong fresh graphics on bags that enable consumers to perfectly, evenly steam their vegetables in the microwave sans mess make this packaging so pleasurable, consumers will quickly become adherents of these products.

P&G's Tide Simple Pleasures and sister brand Downy Simple Pleasures tout four, long-lasting aromatherapy fragrance combinations that are delighting consumers in color-coded packaging. Guaranteed: consumers take the caps off to take a whiff of these newest, best-received products in the laundry care sections of supermarkets. Touting that "Clean never smelled so good"; offering four unique fragrances that promise "A change of mood", using 'naturally-derived essential oils', all promise the consumer a sensuous, delicious experience. Then, there's the promise that the wonderful scents will go on and on as garments are worn. . .

Campbell Soup Company has augmented its packaging for its "Soup at Hand"products. Always marketed as "a great way to eat right when you're on the run", Campbell's has thought its packaging for these products through a bit more. The sides of the packaging have been slimmed halfway down to fit the consumer's hand more comfortably. But that isn't all. For ease of use, Campbell's has added a plastic over-cap lid that pops off easily and features holes for sipping. Under the lid, a peel-able foil comes off easily and the plastic over-cap goes back on after the soup is heated, so that consumers can enjoy sipping it on the go, sans mess. Online graphic feature these simple instructions: "1. Pop the top. 2. Microwave. 3. Grab n' go".

The Point of It All. . .
By reorienting our thinking about packaging and going beyond designing it to merely meet consumers' FMOT; by stretching the brand's emotive and lifestyle assets further, into a SMOT, we will have accomplished more than a sale. We will have engaged consumers in a more meaningful way that begins to build enduring relationships.

Research has divulged 80% of consumers are satisfied with the products they buy, but those 80% are not fanatically devoted to the brands they purchase. That data demonstrably points to the fact consumers are not engaged enough by the brands they are satisfied with, to the point of loyalty, and devotion. Those consumers would just as easily purchase another brand, in that case. By designing packaging that leads to a SMOT, we will have decidedly given the consumer a much deeper experience with our brands. One that will make them not only loyal, but turn them into brand evangelists.




Designing Sticky Packaging at Retail
By Ted Mininni

Chip and Dan Heath's ideas, derived from their research in a recently published book: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" have made them the darlings of the marketing world. For good reason. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail.

The onus is squarely on marketers to find a way to make their brands and products stick. According to the Heath brothers, being sticky means that: ". . .your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact—they change your audience's opinions or behavior." Consider the questions posed by these sticky thinkers carefully:
- How can brands and products deliver a powerful message, simply and concisely expressed, that deliver the essential core successfully?
- How can the brand message be made concrete and memorable?
- How can the brand be expressed in such a way as to hold the consumer's attention long enough to deliver that core message?
- How can a brand capture the consumer's attention by doing something unexpected? 
- How can the brand be made credible? How can we get the consumer to believe and trust in the brand?
- How can the brand appeal to consumers on a deeper, emotional level?
- How can we use storytelling to motivate the consumer to act?

What does all of this have to do with packaging? Everything. Packaging makes both brand and product tangible to the consumer. We could argue that it is the singularly most important touch point because it delivers both into consumers' hands. Not only should brands be sticky; packaging should be, as well.

The fact that so many brands and brand packaging struggle in the marketplace, is evidence that neither have been sticky enough to consumers. So what do we need to do to address that issue? If effective, packaging delivers brand and product to the consumer in an experiential manner. That is, it engages the consumer on an emotional, rather than merely an intellectual level. It communicates the brand message quickly and effectively. It delivers the brand's core assets in an emotive manner. When the brand promise is fulfilled in the consumer's mind, after purchasing the product, loyalty will begin to develop based on trust.

If great, packaging helps to raise brand and product to iconic status. It transcends an entire category to become the clear product of choice. The brand and product the consumer closely identifies with and aligns with. Iconic consumer brands are the stickiest in our culture. Iconic brands don't have to appeal to everyone, either. They do have to command absolute allegiance from their consumer base, however. How can packaging help elevate brands and products to that level?

Putting Packaging in Retail Context.
Great packaging is the result of extensive research. Consumer research, category and competitive research all play a role in developing superior packaging. But these aren't the end-all and be-all. An understanding of our culture and trends is paramount. In order to be viable, living and growing, consumer brands and products cannot exist in a vacuum and remain grounded in their own values without consideration of the modern society we live in. Otherwise, they lose their relevance.

What we're saying: for packaging to be put into meaningful retail context, it must simultaneously be developed in human context. What do consumers relate to in an emotional manner? What kinds of deeply ingrained cultural cues do they respond to? What are the stories that bind consumers to brands? What is relevant to today's consumer? What kinds of experiences is the consumer seeking at retail?

People, from time immemorial, have responded to storytelling. Marketers understand that, and many seek to deliver stories about their brands in their packaging, advertising and web sites. But how about the brands that connect their own brand stories with richer, deeper human stories? Or the brands that use cultural cues that consumers recognize and respond to?

Brands like Tazo Tea tell two kinds of stories, and these aren't separate entities. They are tightly woven together and appear seamless. Tazo Tea tells its story of tea leaves sourced from all over the world, blended into unique combinations. But it goes further. The story tells of cultural roots, long-held local traditions and how tea has a distinctive place in 5000 years of human history. With highly textured "paper" surfaces, some of which resemble sandstone, Tazo packaging features unusual ornamentation and archaic-looking iconic script as background to the typography. The Tazo logo prominently displays ancient-looking symbols. All of this points to the timeless traditions, social and spiritual connections people the world over have to the drinking of tea. The branding and product packaging bring all of this together in a breathtaking way, making Tazo a standout among premium tea brands.

Pepsi has always positioned itself the cola of choice for a young, hip generation. . .for each successive generation of youth. Now the packaging unites with the brand as Pepsi rolls out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work all retains the brand flagship colors--blues with red and white. The brand identity has retained its heritage but has been contemporized for the newest Pepsi Generation. As packaging expert Peter Arnell, whose firm realized the project, stated in an interview: "Product innovation today must be driven by deep consumer meaning and connectivity." Exactly. Pepsi, the brand, stands for "fun" and "effervescence" the world over. Why not use strong contemporary graphics to connect to kids in today's culture?

Start-up Stickiness.
Start-up brands face a major challenge. They also have a unique opportunity to tell a compellingly different story in the marketplace. The fact that failure rates are so high among new brands, points to their inability to deliver a compelling, sticky story to consumers. Yet some brands break through to do just that.

A new chocolate dessert manufacturer in the U.K. has generated considerable buzz among consumers and bloggers. While only available at British grocery chain, Sainsbury's thus far, its fame is growing quickly, and consumers are openly asking for product availability online. How often do consumers get that excited over another new brand? Dubbed "Filthy" by The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile skin-what else-is strikingly unique. The tagline literally hangs from the logo: "Obsessed by Pleasure". Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to act; that is, to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. How about that for a sticky idea in a crowded product category? Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered with a new twist. The brand delivers its message simply and directly. It is concrete and memorable. It delivers the element of surprise--it's unexpected.

Now the Filthy brand has to deliver the pleasure and enjoyment it promises the consumer. If it does, and there's no reason to believe it won't, it will have earned trust and loyalty. Better yet, consumers themselves will assist in further building this brand through Word of Mouth. What is WOM worth to marketers? A great deal in today's world of highly connected consumers who are in constant discussion among themselves.

What do the three brand packaging examples cited have in common? They're stand-outs among competitive products. Unique and instantly recognizable. They're simple, direct, concrete, memorable, emotive to consumers. They tell strong, compelling stories in cultural context. Best of all: they do it in a totally unexpected way. Bottom line: brands like Tazo, Pepsi and Filthy can't be commoditized. They're too unique and memorable. Their stories and cues are too culturally significant. In short, they're far too sticky. As we begin another year, let's cast a critical eye over our brands and packaging and ask ourselves a fundamental question: what we can do to make and keep them sticky with our targeted consumer?



Advertising is Dead. Long Live Packaging
By Ted Mininni

It's no secret that most conventional advertising isn't cutting it. When marketers think about how to allocate their budgets, maybe they ought to be spending less on advertising. Why not take those dollars that aren't going to be spent on advertising, and invest them in packaging instead? The rationale for this argument is simple. With consumers increasingly tuning out of mainstream media channels and tuning into their iPods, mobile phones and social networks instead, most advertising is going to a dead letter office. At the same time, consumerism continues to flourish. Shopping is a pastime for many Americans and a team sport for Tweens, teens and young adults. 

We are experiencing a downturn in the economy and tighter wallets due to substantial rises in living expenses. While softer at present, consumer sales will rebound just as soon as the economy shows signs of picking up again. We ought to get ready for that-now.

This brings us back to investing in packaging. Many marketers would scratch their heads and say that they already do invest substantially in product packaging. If that is so, why does a plethora of category packaging out there look so boring, so similar, so uninspiring? Remember that consumer packaging may be the only opportunity many brands have to "sell" consumers, since so much advertising is lost on them. Stand in the aisle of any major supermarket or mass retailer in America and notice in numerous product categories, many brands are indistinguishable from each other. If your brand looks like the rest of the product brands in the category, an overhaul is in order. To wit: do we need one more pasta sauce with a red and green label? Can you discern one brand of sauce easily from another?

Given this, is it enough to leverage brand assets on product packaging?  Implement proper communication hierarchy and the use of signature brand colors? Design a unique, "ownable" structure to help establish brand differentiation? Apparently not. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail. New product introductions are growing exponentially and the pressure of increasing competition is only making the problem more acute.

Packaging before Product.
What does the consumer interface with first, the product, or the package the product comes in? The package. So, it is expected to do a great deal. Get the consumer's attention in 3 seconds flat. Stand out from competitors' products. Hold the consumer's attention long enough to identify with the message, lifestyle and emotive cues in the imagery and communications prompting them to pick up the product. Make an all-important connection. Take it home. 

Now be honest and ask yourselves whether your packaging is doing the job. Even if your products represent category leaders, is your packaging really selling the brand? Given the mercurial nature of fast-changing consumer desires and today's retail environments, a change may be in order. That change might be subtle, yet make a huge difference, while requiring a fairly modest investment. If packaging isn't doing the job, it's time to reinvest in this most crucial element in your marketing mix in a significant manner. That might even involve-gulp-radical new thinking. That takes courage. But look at it this way: it's less risky to break new ground if a brand has little equity or market share, and it might be just what the doctor ordered.

A new departure in packaging might create some real excitement and WOM buzz. . .what marketer wouldn't love that? So, if you're convinced your new brand of gourmet pasta sauce is the best ever, why package it with red and green labels? Why not give serious thought to revolutionizing the category with stand-out, stand-alone packaging? Pom Wonderful did just that in the juice category. Pringles did it in the high volume snack category. These package designs are now iconic, easy to identify and firmly rooted in consumers' minds.

Even with established brands, a leap of design faith can yield dramatic results. Pepsi recently rolled out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work retains the brand flagship colors-blues, red and white. The brand identity and heritage are intact, but they've been contemporized for a new Pepsi Generation. This new "Choregraphy" campaign has elevated Pepsi in consumer consciousness, especially for its target audience: youth.

Procter & Gamble's Downy brand is another category leader. Yet, P&G has launched a new Radiance collection of three "fabric enhancers" in distinct, "perfume" fragrances. The packaging looks like anything but stolid, old stand-by Downy. Sophisticated fragrances and sensuous, curvy packaging with metallic colors cued to each fragrance, delivering a fashion statement. Who would have equated Downy with fashion and sophistication in the past? So why can't established brands launch exciting new packaging for line extensions?

Bottom line: brands demanding unique positioning in the consumer's mind demand unique packaging. Whether the challenge is to market heritage brands to newer generations of consumers or to launch new brands to the marketplace, the packaging focus has to be the same: owning mindshare. Packaging may be marketers' first and only opportunity to make that vital connection with the consumer. If your products are lost in the retail shuffle, or you're about to jump into the marketplace foray, you've got a big challenge on your hands. Now tell me there's a better way to allocate marketing funds than trail-blazing new packaging.

POPON - Point of Purchase Online Network Featuring Ted Mininni - Design Force, Inc

This classic marketing theory holds that consumers develop awareness of branded products thanks to numerous, traditional advertising impressions. Familiarity leads to eventual purchasing consideration for a limited choice of brands. When entering a retail environment, consumers center their attention on those few choices, and purchase one. Throughout the process, the funnel obviously keeps narrowing. With consistent delivery on the brand promise, loyalty develops over time.

However, new research demonstrates consumer purchasing patterns no longer fit this model. So could the wrong marketing emphasis be one of the reasons, along with a soft economy, for real shifts in consumer spending and overall loyalty? Given the data, it's likely.

According to the latest consumer research, there's a new paradigm. Constant exposure via traditional and interactive media continues to create brand awareness. When consumers make the decision to purchase a product, they evaluate their choices by conducting Internet research. They participate in word of mouth exchanges, seeking information from social media contacts.

This is a crucial juncture for brands in the pre-purchasing process; the reason they must have a strong online presence. Marketers need to invest dollars on independent web sites--not only their own--that they've identified as the places consumers are seeking information about products like theirs, and buying them. Ditto for interactive media sites - online and mobile - since these core constituencies will endorse and spread the word about their products.

Due to a virtual explosion of social media outlets as well as new brands, consumers are actually not narrowing their options now. Rather, they are expanding their possible list of choices. Thus, the narrowing consumer funnel model is now obsolete.

Marketing in the New Paradigm.

Armed with this information, why would product companies execute the usual old budget cuts when consumer spending slows down? If the consumer has fundamentally changed, doesn't this call for a serious restructuring of marketing focus, initiatives, spending?

Consumers are no longer passive, so spending the lion's share of the marketing budget on TV, radio, newspaper and magazine ads - simply isn't efficient. Yet, when the economy sours, marketers pull back and retrench to "tried and true" traditional outlets.  They cut new media spending. They cut customer service personnel. They hold off on new product packaging. These might seem like natural decisions, but do they make sense?

Many companies have dabbled in interactive media in a limited way; not always meaningfully or for long, so they have little ROI data on their marketing efforts. As a result, they're likely to be cut down or cut out. This is a mistake. While one-way communication still delivers impressions, today's consumer is empowered by information gleaned from the Internet, mobile devices and conversations on social media sites. They pursue online connections to family, friends and blogging communities. These new media influencers have increased in importance since the last economic downturn. So, logically speaking, does it make sense to make deep budget cuts here?

Let's not forget that consumers also converse directly with companies via customer service online, via phone and email. Here is an often under-mined opportunity to interface directly with consumers; a golden opportunity to rectify problems, address issues quickly and satisfactorily, tweak product features and find out what consumers respond to best when purchasing category products. So should customer service be the recipient of deep budget cuts?

Lastly, with brand loyalty flagging as consumers scour retail shelves before making their final purchase decisions, how can deep budget cuts on packaging be justified?

Instead: why not work smarter and get more from fewer resources? Cutting back on traditional marketing to some degree and reallocating resources on social media, Internet web sites and customer service makes sense. Reallocating resources on packaging is vital since final purchase decisions are made at the retail shelf. Aligning marketing communications among all of these consumer-facing initiatives is priority #1.

Packaging for the New Paradigm.

The current diminishment in loyalty as consumers are open to more choices can work to the benefit of a brand, or to its detriment. Smart marketers will use this knowledge to address their presence at retail. Packaging has actually gained in importance in the marketing mix as consumers closely scrutinize more products on the retail shelf before purchasing. Given this, it's a wise idea to conduct an assessment of current packaging and make needed changes.

Packaging has to deliver more than ever in the current economic and competitive environment. If it doesn't decisively refer back to the brand, doesn't quickly and simply communicate its value and preferability to consumers, doesn't definitively leverage the brand and product's key assets, it fails to win the consumer's vote to purchase the product. It's vitally important to make sure one simple, overriding message resonates on packaging. Why? According to research, the average consumer scans the retail shelf in 20 seconds or less.

So what is the most important thing to communicate in that span of time? Tapping into consumers' compelling reasons to choose one brand over the rest in a category, by honing in on consumer statements and conversations, WOM and interactive media comments, meaningful insights can be gleaned. How about leveraging that most relevant thing - that one overriding message - consumers themselves care most about as the lead package communication?

Ultimately, packaging has the power to affect consumer purchasing behavior if utilized correctly. If packaging isn't a huge asset in selling the product and brand on the retail shelf, it simply isn't being maximized as a marketing tool. Now, while consumers are clearly open to more brands than ever, there's a chance to win more business now and potentially more brand loyalty when the economy improves.

So here are the questions that must be answered now: How can marketing initiatives be used to get closer to consumers and better understand what their needs are? How can two-way communications be used to increase brands' relevance to the consumer? How can aligned messaging be utilized for all consumer-facing marketing initiatives? Lastly, how can all of this help produce the most compelling packaging in the category?




Understanding Green Demographics: the Implications for Packaging
By Ted Mininni

I've been ruminating about the tough economy like everyone else. Rather than lamenting what is, I think this downturn affords businesses a rare opportunity to slow down, rethink and reset.

Consumer product companies that innovate, will insulate their brands to a higher degree from the current downturn while positioning them for future growth. Tip: it's time to research sustainability measures that can begin to be implemented - now. If there's ever been a time and a place to allocate tight marketing budgets, this is it.

Why sustainability and why now? Sustainability practices are increasingly important to consumers. Interestingly, they have not pulled back from buying green, slow economy, decreased purchasing power, or not. That goes for products as well as packaging. IRI (Information Resources Inc.) recently released an informative report that CPG companies really need to take heed of, titled: "Sustainability: CPG Marketing in a Green World".

With more and more consumers consciously choosing to live greener lives, sustainable product packaging is no longer an afterthought. Rather, it should be adopted and integrated as part of an overall brand repositioning in sync with an overall environmentally responsible plan. Company brand values need to be tweaked and realigned with today's consumer values more than ever, if they are going to succeed over the long haul.

IRI's report tracked consumer behavior in eight distinct demographic segments and the following green segments: organic, Fair Trade commodities, and eco-friendly products. While sales to hard-core eco-centric consumers fell 6.6% in 2008 largely due to price increases, "respectful stewards" increased spending on environmentally friendly products by 15.5% and "proud traditionalists" by 8.4%. This helped buoy sales up 4.1% for the year, signifying that previously less green consumers are climbing what IRI refers to as "the green adoption curve".

IRI's eight green consumer groups:
- Eco-centrics. "Green" is the chosen way of life for these consumers; they are well-informed, active and ardent supporters of green products.
- Respectful stewards. Idealistic, community-focused consumers who see value in paying more for products that are green.
- Proud traditionalists. Hard-working, family-focused consumers who focus on having environmentally-conscious homes and experiment with green products.
- Frugal earth mothers. Lower income female consumers who look for savings while also looking for more prudent, wholesome products for their families.
- Skeptics. Men who are highly educated and earn high incomes; who are also skeptical about the benefits of purchasing green products.
- Eco-chics. Young adult consumers who think being green is hip. They'll buy on impulse; they're early adopters but haven't delved deeply into environmental issues.
- Green naives. Younger, lower income consumers who haven't made the correlation between cause/effect and environmental responsibility.
- Eco-villains. Middle income male consumers; couldn't care less about any environmental issues and dismiss environmental concerns outright.

The key for marketers is to understand which segments of consumers are prevalent within their own constituencies so that their companies can offer the right kind of innovations and messaging that is relevant to them. This will take some resource investments of time, capital and research on the part of the marketing department, but the returns are too important to ignore.

Green Packaging: Why Now?

There are few consumer goods that are 100% green, natural and organic, but there are more and more products with at least some components that are green, natural or organic. There is no such thing as 100% green packaging. However, that does not mean companies can't make commitments now and into the future to conduct business as environmentally soundly as possible. Nor does it mean they cannot find innovative new ways to develop and integrate greener components in their products and packaging. Right?

Why would companies invest in this now, when budgets are getting slashed? Consider this: research demonstrates that while sustainable packaging isn't the primary consumer purchase motivator, it has become important enough to make consumers opt for one brand over another within a product category if one company embraces good environmental practices and a competitor doesn't.

The Hartman Group's "Sustainability Outlook: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility" shares some significant findings concerning packaging attitudes in a recent survey among 1,600 consumers:
• The highest rating - 75% of respondents stated the importance of packaging that could be recycled as most important to them.
- 71% indicated biodegradability in packaging an important asset.
- 67% cited packaging made from recycled content important to them.
- 63% like to purchase packaging that is refillable.
- 62% felt that minimal packaging was important.
- 60% of respondents look for packaging that can be repurposed for other uses.
- 51% indicated compostable packaging was important to them.

Bottom line: with so much talk focused on myriad environmental issues over the past few years, and growing impetus in recent months, the consumer is increasingly aware. There is growing concern about packaging and what becomes of it after it has served its purpose. The three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have hit home with greater numbers of consumers now.

Consumer product companies ought to consider: what better way is there to sell sustainable values than through that most important of marketing initiatives—packaging? Utilizing the three R's in updated packaging design sends a powerful message. Better yet, using the packaging itself as a communications platform about the company's commitment to sustainability gives marketers a powerful tool to reach consumers. Targeting that messaging to the company's proper green demographic(s) becomes meaningful. Tying that messaging in to the company website, advertising and every other marketing initiative it uses, will further educate targeted consumers.

Contrary to the belief that consumers are increasingly skeptical due to widespread green-washing, The Hartman Group's survey yielded an eye-opening statistic. 82% of those surveyed thought most companies' green claims "mostly true". Of course, it is important to maintain trust with consumers by being honest about all of the company's sustainability practices, including those made on and about packaging. It is better to say nothing, than it is to make claims that stretch the truth; the latter can do considerable damage to the brand, precisely when building consumer trust has never been more important.

Consumers are not only looking to niche companies that have made sustainability a cornerstone of their brands. They're also expecting established mass market companies to move in this direction, and rewarding those that do. Being responsible stewards of the environment by adopting better business practices is step one. Offering more sustainable products and continuing product innovations is step two and that necessarily leads to sound packaging.

Sustainable packaging should be used to push the values of "reduce, reuse and recycle" and as the ultimate platform to reach the target consumer with the company's overall sustainable positioning. Here is a terrific opportunity to further differentiate brands in a meaningful way—right now and for the future. Seizing this golden opportunity will lead to green in more ways than one.




Cutting Packaging Down to Size
By Ted Mininni

There's nothing like a slowing economy to force companies to address customer issues. Pushing more innovative consumer products into the pipeline, lowering prices to increase value perception and to counter competitive pricing and making customer service improvements are all typical responses. Yet, working on a couple of customer touch points is an inadequate approach.

Companies' focus ought to be on designing the total customer experience, aligning every customer touch point and cementing greater loyalty to their brands, in the process. Isn't it time to develop a comprehensive, top to bottom customer experience strategy?
Think of all the touch points customers interact with. Designing and aligning the web site, customer service call center, IVR system, product literature, advertising and packaging to deliver consistent, positive customer experiences is crucial to a company's success. Of these, packaging is arguably the most important customer touch point, since it delivers brand and product into the customer's hands. It's the tangible representation of both.
Designing Packaging that Delivers.
While capital expenditures are being cut these days, investing in experiential packaging ought to be considered. By taking a short-term loss in marketing ROI vis-a-vis packaging now, companies can position themselves to retain customers and market share for the long-term. It's important to keep loyal customers for the present, while positioning to gain new customers when the economy improves, yielding higher ROI in the future.

Strategy and design are the tools that enable companies to design packaging that delivers a great experience; one that is emotionally connecting to the targeted customer. To do that successfully, research must answer key questions.
- Who is the customer and how has that customer evolved?
- How can the company match the customer's goals?
- What are the customer's expectations?
- What does the customer value?

Too often packaging is as commoditized as the products they contain. Without unique brand characteristics, structure and a communications hierarchy that make product and brand relevant to the target consumer; that meets their goals and expectations, packaging is not the effective sales closer it should be. If packaging was designed from an experiential perspective it would be far more compelling to consumers.

McCormick, manufacturer of spices and seasonings, elevates commodity products through experiential packaging. Even though consumers' busy lifestyles have made it difficult to cook as much as they used to, McCormick has remained relevant to consumers since its founding in 1889.

Over time, the company has quietly updated its line with proprietary seasoning blends, sauces, marinades—and new packaging. Economic down-turns have consumers turning to McCormick in increasing numbers, as they eat out less and cook at home more. McCormick's business is booming as a result.

Hot new additions have been getting a lot of buzz. McCormick still offers its basic line of herbs and spices packaged with its famous red label and cap, updated, yet retaining its heritage brand identity. Responding to trends well, McCormick offers additional lines of new products. A gourmet line of more exotic selections, including some organic selections, is packaged with distinctive sage green cap and black and gold labels, depicting natural herb plants and spices. The line is marketed to people who "cook with love and passion".

The striking "Grinders" line, gives consumers a touch of "gourmet" for their home-cooked meals. By designing bottles with inset grinders, consumers are offered the ultimate freshness. They can grind just the right amount of black peppercorns, sea salt or blended seasonings. No need to spend more money on expensive spices and mills from a specialty store or catalog.

Ethnic seasoning blends, Grill Mates, Slow Cooker Soups and Crusting Blends are all designed to help the time-strapped home cook make flavorful, home-cooked meals in a short period of time. All are packaged to effectively deliver a short, targeted message at a glance.

The company offers great recipes, tips and ideas for the home cook in a highly navigable web site and invites customers to join the site to share their own favorite recipes and tips with other readers, forming a community for cooking enthusiasts in the process.

Result? McCormick maintains its position as the largest spice company in the world with $2.9 billion in sales in 2007; 10% of that volume coming from the introduction of its new products. The company has elevated customer perception with gourmet style products and met the critical threshold of cooks' expectations while offering greater value. Why buy competitors' products or cheaper generics?

How about Method's packaging? Method's environmentally-safe home and personal use cleaning products feature beautifully-designed, clear packaging on many of its products. Packaging for the entire Method line has the look and feel of upscale cosmetic packaging. Talk about experiential!

An examination of environmental cleaning products shows that there's a great deal of similar bill-board-type packaging in the category. Only Method's packaging is strikingly different. Contemporary, clean, refreshing. As Method's web site states: "(co-founder) Eric (Ryan) knew people wanted cleaning products they didn't have to hide under their sinks". Not only does this product claim cleaning effectiveness and safety, it's meant to be seen. What a concept for commodity products!

While a number of eco-conscious cleaning products are on the market now, why is it that Method has garnered nearly a whopping $100 million in sales in a slow-growth category? Why is it that the brand has also created a community of avid brand loyalists? Products that are made to be seen, are obviously grabbed and used more. More product used, faster repeat sales. Since there are myriad cleaning products on the market, including eco-friendly options, it's apparent that Method's experiential packaging accounts for part of the brand's stunning success.

Let's face it: packaging that delivers a great experience is enjoyable and memorable to consumers. Removing customer frustration, and potential sources of disappointment, while unlocking the relevant drivers around branded products that fulfill customer expectations and help them reach their goals, can best be delivered by packaging. It can-and should-seal the deal, leading to that elusive brand loyalty.



Upcycling Packaging: A New Business Concept
By Ted Mininni

Entrepreneurialism is alive and well in America. Just ask Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle.
His big idea: a commercialized liquid plant food made from biological waste-or as Szaky calls it "worm poop", in reused soda bottles from school recycling programs, after making donations for them. Cleaning the bottles, slapping homey labels on them, and fitting them with trigger sprays other manufacturers couldn't use, or didn't want, enabled Szaky to finally bring his product to market. 

In a recent Brand Packaging article dubbed: "Spinning Garbage into Gold", Szaky shares some terrific ideas that ought to inspire a new generation of business owners. View additional information

Szaky dropped out of Princeton and worked at the new business for three years until finally securing some retail distribution, thanks to Wal-Mart and The Home Depot. He hasn't looked back. His philosophy: constantly finding ways to develop consumer products and consumer product packaging from consumer waste. Even better: refusing to price his green products at the high end of the spectrum, as some of his competitors are. "Since we're not doing it, we're gaining a lot", Szaky is quoted as saying.

TerraCycle now enjoys distribution as a staple in thousands of retail lawn and garden departments, adding products like deer repellant and compost bins to their original plant food product. According to the Brand Packaging article, the company is now developing consumer products in many categories: household cleaners, reusable totes, office products, and even Christmas ornaments.

On the packaging front, a Stonyfield Farm challenge to TerraCycle to find an alternative use for the company's polypropylene yogurt cups (since they aren't recycled much), yielded the invention of planting pots, with Stonyfield funding the entire collection program, thank you very much.

When Honest Tea began funding TerraCycle to reuse its used drink pouches, Kraft's Capri Sun and Kool Aid brands likewise, joined the effort. Net result? Recycled drink pouches manufactured into accessories now being sold at Target. As Szaky pointed out, for brands like Capri Sun, his reuse of their packaging solves a major problem since their packaging isn't recyclable, and would end up in landfills.

High volume consumer brands: Balance Bar, Clif Bar, South Beach diet bars, Chips Ahoy and Oreos have subsequently come aboard. What TerraCycle is doing isn't recycling in the classic sense. The company refers to its reuse of packaging as "upcycling". Definition: 'creative use of the shape and characteristics of existing packaging instead of crushing, mulching, melting it down or reforming it'.

Szaky loves what he refers to as his "Sponsored Waste" initiative. "You get paid for your raw materials and then you're paid for your finished product." While TerraCycle still sponsors collection programs in schools and churches, the company sees Sponsored Waste as its future. Apparently there's money in collecting and repurposing packaging for new products: TerraCycle has posted a 300% growth rate for the past four years.

Questions:
- What other kinds of consumer products would you like to see made from recycled waste and repurposed packaging?
- Do you think more businesses will emerge based on the TerraCycle model?
- Do you think we can eventually eliminate most of our garbage by thinking in these terms?

I'd love to hear from you.




The Retailer's New Role: CPG Marketer
By Ted Mininni

Retailers love their private labels. Especially in a challenging economy.

As successful as some of these brands are, many retailers have barely scratched the surface of private label's potential. By its very nature, private label offerings recast retailers as more than conduits of manufactured products to consumers. More than branded environments.

If retailers are doing more than paying lip service to the idea of creating positive consumer experiences within their store environments, private label lines afford them a great opportunity to further solidify their overall store brands in the minds of consumers.

To accomplish this, retailers will have to be willing to invest the proper resources and business acumen into this viable segment of their business. In essence, they will have to become actively engaged as CPG marketers. That means hiring crackerjack CPG marketers outside the company, unless the retail operation has homegrown talent in place.

Why would retailers make capital investments in private label during an economic downturn? When retailers consider the sheer number of private brands and skus within those brands in their stores, the amount of dedicated shelf space and the inventory dollar investment, why wouldn't they? When retailers analyze the volume they're doing—and how much more they could be doing-as well as the profit dollars involved, why wouldn't they?

Lastly, and most importantly, when retailers, intent on creating great experiential environments for their customers, factor in the additional benefit of presenting highly desirable store brands to heighten consumer perception, why wouldn't they?

The right assortments of private label merchandise, well-positioned, packaged and marketed should be a great differentiator for retailers. They can also go a long way to locking up consumer mindshare. Question: how much is it worth to retailers to reverse the erosion of brand loyalty these days?

The Safeway Model. . .
It's always nice to have a model when it comes to breaking new ground. California supermarket chain Safeway is blazing a trail with an enlightened view of private label brand management. Better yet: their ideas in the food business can be applied to any other consumer product category.

As is the case with many retailers, Safeway had a pantheon of 70 private label brands that it had developed over time. The retailer made the gut-check decision to pare down to 10 so it could focus on turning them into super brands.

Safeway then made a substantial commitment to private label with the hiring of James White as its SVP-Consumer Brands, who came armed with expertise gleaned from his work at top-notch CPG companies. A complement of CPG marketers were then hired to assist White in managing these consumer brands.

Two top focus brands: Safeway's "O Organics" private label food line, generated $300 million in volume in 2007, and is expected to bring in $400 million in 2008. The chain's "Eating Right" private label line which debuted last spring, is expected to generate $200 million in sales for 2008, as well.

By integrating internal marketing talent with the expertise of outside advertising and design consultants, in a collaborative manner, Safeway has taken the Procter & Gamble approach to managing its brands. P&G has enjoyed notable success since orienting itself in this manner, so why not take a page from the world's largest CPG company? Why not apply the strategic thinking P&G does for its brands to retail private label brands?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 1: Consumer-centric Solutions.
By operating like a CPG company within a retail environment, Safeway has taken a unique approach to supporting their brands with extensive research, enabling them to improve flavor profiles of existing products, as a result. By studying emerging consumer trends it can also position new product offerings that ensure a greater rate of return.

The food retailer wisely taps into creative consultancies to develop sophisticated package designs and dedicated advertising for its house brands. As a result, both have become more targeted and sophisticated.

Positioning for Safeway's Eating Right brand: "Uniting Flavor and Nutrition" is reflected in a clean, updated packaging system.  Key messaging effectively reaches consumers in a simple communications hierarchy. A system of colored spheres refer to specific health benefits Eating Right foods delivered in universally understood terms: "Low Fat", "Vitamins", "High in Fiber", among others.

Consumers are invited to "spot your needs" on the dedicated Eating Right web site and can browse numerous food and beverage selections by category. This comprehensive marketing that ties packaging, messaging and website together is "spot on".

In the case of the O Organics brand, Safeway's collaboration with an outside design consultancy also bore fruit. Infusing the brand's color palette with natural elements: sun, water, light and earth was no accident. Nor is the large signature "O" in the brand mark. Photography depicts products as close as possible to their natural settings. Message: purity and authenticity; less-processed, organically sourced foods.

Some of the packaging still shows the quintessential backdrop of farm scenes, from grazing cows to pristine fields. Still, the orientation of brilliant color is a far cry from the muted earth-toned packaging most organic product manufacturers seem to favor. The message of O Organics: "wholesomeness for the whole family". Implied message: "from farm to fork". Everything is certified USDA Organic. Again, Safeway has developed a dedicated website for O Organics to speak directly to consumers.

The assets of good quality, excellent taste, better nutrition and "in-demand" selections add tremendously to consumer value perception for these brands. And what's not to love about being able to buy organic food at lower prices besides?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 2: Taking it to the Streets.
To many retailers, Safeway's latest strategy may seem strange. The Better Living Brands Alliance was formed so that Safeway could market O Organics and Eating Right to foreign markets and institution such as school cafeterias. That makes sense.

However, the food retailer also wants to take its well-managed, high-growth private label brands and market them to other grocery chains, competitors included? Tantalizing, but radical idea, isn't it?

Then again, think about it. Research demonstrates Safeway's success: these labels are viewed by consumers as stand-alone brands. While they add to the overall value of the Safeway brand in consumer perception, they've also become viewed at the same level as national brands. A rare and important point.

Then why not do as all major CPG brands do, and market O Organics and Eating Right nationally? If competitors are less satisfied with their own store brands see enough incentive for adding brands that have been well-researched, marketed, packaged-and supported by national TV and print advertising—why not?

Will this work? We'll have to wait and see. But look at it this way: we live in unprecedented times. Consumer product manufacturers and retailers are increasingly confronted by a complex marketplace, fast-changing consumers and eroding brand loyalty. Part one of Safeway's strategy is a success. Part two? Well-calculated risks, based on solid data might be just what is needed today. No risk, no reward.



Packaging for the Planet
By Ted Mininni

Worldwide, the packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and employs more than five million people globally. And sustainable packaging is now a necessity.

Everything in our society is packaged. With the huge increase in global consumer goods consumption comes a large increase in packaging waste. This has created stress in community landfills around the globe, making it more incumbent on companies to use biodegradable as well as recycled materials as much as possible. Sustainable packaging should be embraced, not only for marketing leverage, but because it's the right thing to do.
It's great to see that many companies are behaving like responsible corporate citizens when it comes to sustainable packaging. Much has been made of this topic in professional journals. While important to the discussion, much of this is too scientific to be easily grasped by most of us. So what is sustainable packaging all about?

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition cites that according to conservative estimates, the worldwide packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and gives employment to more than five million people globally. In the US alone, consumer purchases of durable and non-durable goods and services account for 70% of the GDP. That makes product packaging a big deal!
With a finite amount of nonrenewable natural resources, ever-rising energy costs, and rapidly filling landfills, sustainable packaging is becoming an increasing necessity.
Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers are embracing eco-friendly packaging as never before. Wal-Mart, for example, has instituted a Sustainable Packaging Scorecard. The retail giant expects its 60,000 suppliers to fill in substantial information concerning their packaging. This information is shared so that suppliers can see how they "stack up" against all of Wal-Mart's other suppliers.

Employing what Wal-Mart refers to as "The 7 Rs of Packaging - remove, reduce, recycle, renew, revenue, and read" - the company feels it is moving in the right direction with its supplier partners.
This kind of initiative has an understandably large ripple effect throughout the CPG industry. It also provides a catalyst that spurs many companies to take action. Understandably, sustainable packaging is new to many companies and it isn't possible or reasonable to do all of these things at once, if ever. Yet, whatever measures companies can implement will have a direct impact on our environment.
The point is to have a "win-win" proposition: save on energy, natural resources, and environmental waste, while doing it profitably. With some smart thinking and planning, these measures can have a positive impact on corporate revenue streams.

For many decades, products and packaging have both been designed in a "cradle to grave" system; that is, they have ended up in landfills at the end of their useful life cycles. While some product components and packaging have been made biodegradable, a substantial amount is not. The best scenario avoids damaging the ecosystem altogether.
Numerous organisations have been formed to assist companies in reorienting their product and packaging development into a new "cradle to cradle" system. Products and packaging created in this manner feature materials that are perpetually circulated and reused in what industry experts refer to as "closed loops." This extracts maximum value from materials already in use without ever ending up in landfills, damaging ecosystems.

There are various aspects that make packaging sustainable. Manufacturers can institute some, if not all, of these environmentally friendly packaging solutions for their products:
- Cut down on excess product packaging. By creating packaging that is the right size for products, and not adding any extraneous material inside of packaging, there are huge savings in costs and waste.
- Use materials from renewable resources sourced from well-managed eco-systems. There are alternative resources for environmentally safe packaging components and packing materials.
- Use recycled materials to reduce the environmental impact of virgin materials that must be manufactured (the latter uses additional energy and natural resources). Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and FedEx all use 100% recycled paperboard. Companies can get information at the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance.
- Use non-toxic lead-free plastic packaging. Examples include Cargill Dow's NatureWorks PLA plastic packaging, which is made entirely from field corn, and NatureFlex biodegradable and compostable film, which is made from wood pulp.
- Use biodegradable materials and soy or water-based inks that will not do damage to the environment. • Purchase packaging materials that have been made with as little energy consumption as possible and that have emitted the fewest greenhouse gases in manufacture.
- Use packaging that has shifted away from petro-based chemicals to corn and potato starch components in biodegradable resins. These starches actually compost when degraded. Starch-based biodegradable foams are available from KTM Industries.
- Use biodegradable cornstarch peanuts as packing material in cartons rather than foam peanuts or packing pellets made from starch-based cereal grains.
- Find out about cradle-to-cradle product and packaging components and use them whenever possible.
Added to packaging issues are myriad supply chain issues. Getting packaged products to the retail marketplace is a huge area of focus at present. According to a report in the ProLogis Supply Chain Review, more logistics experts are working to maximize cube utilization better than ever before, given transportation costs. Better cube utilization simply means that manufacturers and retailers are seeking more efficiencies in trucking their products to consumer channels. By optimizing carton to pallet space ratios and filling trucks to capacity, transportation and energy costs are cut down.
Many companies are also teaming with other companies as "partners" in trucking, ensuring that once trucks unload their cargo, they pick up additional cargo and make additional drops on the way back so that they aren't returning empty, consuming additional energy. Smart thinking by smart logistics managers.

By consciously choosing products that are packaged in recycled or renewable materials, consumers not only support the companies that are eco-conscious, but also do their part to lessen energy use, the stripping of our precious natural resources and environmental waste.




The Public Face of Private Label
By Ted Mininni

Private label has come a long way in the past few years. Once perceived by customers as cheap, shoddy alternatives to national brands, private labels have slowly but surely come into their own. Having said that, the branding and packaging of private label products has yet to fully mature in business thought and practice.

Thus, largely untapped potential exists for private label brands. Especially in economic down-turns when consumers look for more VALUE for their money.

Retailers that have committed to developing private labels, from Wal-Mart to Walgreen's to Costco, have made substantial investments in the quality, marketing and packaging of their private brands. At least, enough so that the consumer has a more favorable image of private label product lines. According to A.C.Nielsen, approximately 85% of consumers have favorable views of private label brands, and almost 60% of their survey respondents felt the quality of private label products are "just as good" as those of national brands.
 
Supermarkets, drug chains, department store chains, discounters and wholesale clubs all have a stake in further developing their private label businesses. The fact is: private labels are here to stay and they should compete with national brands in such a way as to bring out the best in all concerned. When both national brands and store brands strive to offer uncompromising quality, strong brand identities and differentiated packaging, the customer is the ultimate beneficiary. There are enough consumer dollars to support both, and both should be marketed to build relationships and trust with the customer as a means to further growth.

Private Label Challenges.
Interestingly, many retailers continue to struggle to make their private labels desirable to consumers. Many still cling to the old pricing formulas for private label products. A minimum 10% to 20% below national brands has been a long-established industry standard for private label pricing. A major collaborative study by A.C.Nielsen, Daymon Worldwide and DemandTec released this past spring, shows that products that are priced too low may be passed over by consumers for fear that the quality may not be as good as that of the national brands. Conversely, if priced too closely to major brands, customers have reported they will likely pay a little extra and purchase the perceived "better" products instead.

The same research study points to assortment issues. The retail tendency to constantly expand offerings with too many varieties and redundant products, whether under the umbrellas of national or private brands, tend to put off consumers who are confronted with too many choices, and too little time, to figure out their best options. In fact, over assortments are perceived as clutter and routinely frustrate consumers. Retailers are not reacting to this by narrowing their merchandise mix for fear of losing business to competitors with broader mixes. Both national and private brands would fare better if routinely culled of their slowest-moving skus.

Recent findings clearly indicate that retailers must research and implement better pricing and merchandising strategies if they are to represent discernible value to the consumer with their own brands. Again: that means the right product mix at the right prices. They also make the case for retailers to better brand, position and package their private label product mix as never before. Investing a little bit of research to define consumers' current needs, wants and desires can pay big dividends. Taking the more sophisticated approach of CPG companies, and marketing to consumers based on lifestyle, and their desires, makes the latter a secondary issue.

Too many private label product lines are still being branded and packaged to look like "knock offs" of their nationally branded counterparts. Whether positioning and packaging national brands or private label lines, the same rules apply. There are no short-cuts to success with this.
- A unique brand identity must be developed; one that is clearly differentiated from its competitors. And one that has a clearly delineated added value over its competitors; offering consumers more perceived bang for their buck.
- A tight, relevant product mix that makes the private label brand easy to shop within each category. By offering customers the products they truly want, in the right sizes and varieties at value pricing, without a huge proliferation of choices, the retailer makes the private label relevant to the customer.
- The brand promise must be fulfilled. There has to be a perception of quality that is as good as, or even better than that of national brands. Private label products must perform as promised, every single time.
- Co-branding is a viable option in some categories. Think Costco and its Kirkland private label co-branded with Michelin in its tire assortment. Think Michael Graves for Target's home products division or Isaac Mizrahi for Target fashions. Co-branding like this conjures up images of quality, value pricing and great style for the consumer's dollar.
- Lastly, the retailer must actively market the private label brand and its differentiated assets to its customers. Again, Target markets its co-branded lines of apparel and home products as chic; there's a lot of style to be had for the money. Even the rich love to find great buys at Tarzhay. . .

Since huge marketing budgets are not in place to support most private label brands, packaging is a crucial aspect of promoting these lines. Packaging must tell the brand story in compelling fashion. In fact, since point of sale is the place where so many consumers make their decision to buy or not to buy, packaging has to be considered the most important element of private label marketing. In-store advertising via signage and TV can be a low cost way to promote the private label brand where there is no budget to do radio and TV advertising in local markets, and can and should be utilized as well.

Brand Packaging Criteria for Private Label Lines.
Since private label brands appeal to consumers across all social and financial strata today per the latest industry data, the tendency to brand and package these lines for a blue collar audience is an idea that should be retired, once and for all.
- Packaging must truly refer back to the brand and become perceived as part of the total experience with the retail brand: excellent customer service, a quality environment and a sense of community and social responsibility serve to make private label offerings very attractive in the consumer's eyes. Think: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's.
- Packaging must deliver a hierarchy of specific communications to the customer. No extraneous information that consumers can't or won't take the time to read, only meaningful communications. Think: BJ's Wholesale Club's Berkley & Jensen product packaging for food and non-food products alike.
- Packaging should be as distinctive in structure and execution as the brand it refers to. It shouldn't mimic the dominant national brands in category after category; even worse: it should never look generic. How can a unique, differentiated brand image be built if the private label is part of a "sea of sameness" on the retail shelf? Think: Ahold's Nature's Promise line of organic food products.
- Brand identity and packaging should form an umbrella, as a national brand does, over products in many diverse categories. Most retailers have not enjoyed notable consumer recognition and sales success with private label brands that have spanned numerous categories and they must focus on resolving this problem. Think: Costco's Kirkland Signature brand and packaging.

Large retailers, that have launched and manage successful private label branded programs, have set up separate business units to package, market and advertise these brands. Smaller and mid-sized operations usually opt to employ creative consultancies to assist them in the branding, packaging and promoting of their private labels. Regardless, management of private label is critical to its success, and it should not be treated as an adjunct to retailers' core business, with little investment in the way of dedicated time and human capital. Without focus and nurturing, private label product lines will not realize their potential, and that is a lose-lose proposition for retailers and consumers.




Creating Interactive Consumer Packaging
By Ted Mininni

Interactive packaging. To many in the marketing and design businesses, this denotes images of soon-to-be-realized nanotechnologies. Futuristic barcodes. New substrates. Even more imaginative take-offs on the "Try Me" concepts of today. Better clamshells that make entire products or key product attributes clearly visible to consumers. While these ideas have great merit, some of them are unattainable at present. Yet, marketers know that all of their initiatives, including packaging, must engage consumers. So how can we get packaging to "speak" to consumers today?

The very idea of engagement or formation of a relationship between consumer and brand implies an emotional connection. Packaging helps deliver a brand with emotion when structure, color, imagery and copy come together effectively. Aspects of brands that leverage the highly-charged emotions surrounding enjoyment, for example, resonate with the consumer. Making a consumer pause, and maybe smile, due to an unexpected element, a sense of whimsy, fun or fantasy, a promise of enjoyment, an engaging story, a sense of nostalgia, a promise of luxury, indulgence or a bit of self pampering -- all of these elicit profound emotions. Packaging cues can bring these emotions to the fore. Used with lifestyle imagery, they can deliver a story and become powerful motivators.

Beyond imagery, emotive and lifestyle cues, packaging must still deliver a specific hierarchy of information. But this needn't be a dry exercise. Consumers are human beings, and as such, they respond to stories. When a brand has a human face, sharing stories connects consumers to it on an emotional level. This is far more compelling than dry features/benefits.

I've gone on record in the past stating that "Products come alive in packaging that speaks to the consumer. As one of the most important consumer touch points, packaging has the power to move an audience." It is the only marketing tool that delivers products into consumers' hands. Experts know that packaging must be a synergistic part of the overall brand expression continuum. Packaging isn't a one-off marketing initiative, living in a vacuum.

Merging Packaging with New Communication Platforms.
The time has come to utilize packaging to engage consumers in an even deeper manner. Since today's consumers are inundated with product choices, advertising, multi-media messaging, direct mail and special offers—most of which, they tune out, maybe there's another way to engage them. Knowing that consumers prefer to use new communications like the Internet and their cell phones should clue us in to tying our packaging in to these new platforms.

Maybe besides posting the brand's web site on the package somewhere, we could integrate more ingenious devices onto packaging to invite consumers to either "join the conversation" about our products on a new blog. Or invite them to register online to become part of a consumer consultant panel (with a reward, of course). Or even ask them to test a new product or new flavor, to solicit their feedback.

When it comes to kids, how about giving them a couple of fun reasons to come to a web site loaded with games and adventure? Suggest they bring their friends into the games via IM or Twitter?

Why can't special offers or invitations be used to form an exclusive "club" via social media among brand devotees? Why can't they be geared to the Internet and to mobile phones? If these are the communications platforms consumers are using the most, why shouldn't brand packaging tie neatly into those vehicles?

Simply printing a web site onto the back or side panel of packaging isn't sufficient. A device that is part of package design, but is clearly visible with the most casual observation will create curiosity, and spark interest. Why not invite consumers to check in via their cell phones on the spot to avail themselves of some special information? An exclusive promotion? A special invitation?

Sound far-fetched? Take a look at what Nickelodeon has done for various kids' demographics. For adults, take a look at the Dell or Apple communities. And all of this leads me to think there is a great opportunity to do much more. The fact is: packaging has been under-utilized as a driver for consumer connectivity. Certainly great package design has helped forge relationships between consumers and brands, one on one. But by thinking outside the box—what else can be done to use packaging as a driver of conversation between brand and consumer?

Forging relationships, alliances and exchanging ideas are all happening at warp speed—thanks to new communications platforms and social media. Packaging needs to work more closely with them. If used optimally, this is one of the ways brands and branded products will continue to have relevance for consumers. New applications of social media are unfolding. What other kinds of tools are emerging, or have yet to appear? The opportunities might be only limited by our imaginations or our ability to create the tools we will need to interact with consumers. By providing additional impetus for interaction, packaging can create a more vital link between brand and consumer. Great ideas can be solicited as customers interface more closely with companies. The advantage: to speak directly with the customer one on one. Consumers can also be encouraged to interface with each other and out of that, a sense of "belonging" will emerge. Better yet: consumers will feel empowered and become evangelists and spread the love -- yes love, the most powerful of human emotions -- for the brand far and wide.

And that is the power of leveraging today's connectivity isn't it? Time to think of packaging in relation to the new communications platforms consumers have already embraced. If we do that, the consumers will be engaged at a deeper, more meaningful level. Communities will be built around brands. That is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn't it? 




Packaging that Delivers at the Second Moment of Truth
By Ted Mininni

Consumer culture is in transition. Today, consumers are less interested in purchasing products to meet their basic needs. They are much more interested in engaging with brands whose values satisfy them on an emotional level.

Brand managers are beginning to understand that and they are positioning and packaging their products to meet this new consumer mandate. While many are successful at meeting consumers at the retail shelf in the FMOT—first moment of truth, as evidenced by their ability to move them to make initial purchases, they haven't always thought it through to meet the SMOT-second moment of truth. Not yet. If they did, there would be absolute loyalty-even fanatical devotion--to brands.

To be fair, the first order of business marketers and design consultants are charged with is to get the consumer to pick up their product in the scant few seconds they're scanning the many choices they have on the retail shelf. But what happens after that? Forget that we're marketers, packaging designers, retail experts. Let's put ourselves in the consumer's place. Faced with a plethora of choices in virtually every product category, to the point of saturation, what's compelling? What's engaging or exciting? Consumers are bored now. They want to be entertained, or engaged on an emotional level. Consumers aren't responding to being marketed to in the conventional sense. Why? They don't want to be spoken to; they want to be spoken with and engaged.

When standing in front of the retail shelf, a structurally unique package looks interesting to the consumer. The signature color, brand mark, and unique characteristics denote that this a product from a recognized, trusted brand. So far, so good. Even better: the packaging evokes something on an emotional level. It plays to a lifestyle fit. It promises enjoyment, or fulfills another emotional desire. Perhaps it offers a bit of promised pampering. Maybe it offers some kind of security. Or it promises to be a healthier, more natural choice. Why not take it home and try the product? Great. Then what? Have we given the consumer the potential for any "aah" moments? Now that they have arrived precisely at the point where they are actually interacting with the package, by opening it up to reveal its contents, what then? Here is the best and greatest opportunity to engage the consumer. Have we succeeded in doing that? Have we, in this second moment of truth, delivered the brand in such a way as to engage the consumer completely?

If not, we have just squandered the moment when we could have delivered the single most satisfying interaction between consumer and brand. By delivering the ultimate experience with attributes to excite the senses-touch, smell, sound or taste-as well as the intangibles of well-being, luxury or pampering, fun or enjoyment in that moment, we can cement the relationship between consumer and brand in the most meaningful way. Heightening the consumers' anticipation in an exciting manner as they are opening well-conceptualized packaging to reach the object of their desire-the product-will deliver the most memorable of experiences. If we are all intent on delivering a great brand experience, shouldn't packaging be the centerpiece of our efforts? This is the touch point that makes our products tangible to consumers. It should deliver the ultimate experience.

How Packaging Can Deliver that SMOT.
When Apple packages its products like the iMacs, new generation iPods or the iPhones, the company does so with great deliberateness. Unwrapping the packaging reveals the products and their components in stages, increasing the consumer's excitement every step of the way. This creates such an impact, many Apple devotees keep the packaging, and even integrate it into their home or work space decor. It is obvious that Apple uses every opportunity it has at its disposal to create brand ambassadors, not mere consumers of its products.

A new frozen dessert line in the U.K., dubbed The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile "skin" that is strikingly unique. The tagline: "Obsessed by Pleasure" hangs from the logo. Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered via the packaging in a memorable way. Even mundane, commodity products can be packaged with great SMOT assets that are memorable and exciting to consumers. And the packaging doesn't have to be over the top to accomplish this, either. For example, the new Bird's Eye frozen vegetable packaging is excellent. Strong fresh graphics on bags that enable consumers to perfectly, evenly steam their vegetables in the microwave sans mess make this packaging so pleasurable, consumers will quickly become adherents of these products.

P&G's Tide Simple Pleasures and sister brand Downy Simple Pleasures tout four, long-lasting aromatherapy fragrance combinations that are delighting consumers in color-coded packaging. Guaranteed: consumers take the caps off to take a whiff of these newest, best-received products in the laundry care sections of supermarkets. Touting that "Clean never smelled so good"; offering four unique fragrances that promise "A change of mood", using 'naturally-derived essential oils', all promise the consumer a sensuous, delicious experience. Then, there's the promise that the wonderful scents will go on and on as garments are worn. . .

Campbell Soup Company has augmented its packaging for its "Soup at Hand"products. Always marketed as "a great way to eat right when you're on the run", Campbell's has thought its packaging for these products through a bit more. The sides of the packaging have been slimmed halfway down to fit the consumer's hand more comfortably. But that isn't all. For ease of use, Campbell's has added a plastic over-cap lid that pops off easily and features holes for sipping. Under the lid, a peel-able foil comes off easily and the plastic over-cap goes back on after the soup is heated, so that consumers can enjoy sipping it on the go, sans mess. Online graphic feature these simple instructions: "1. Pop the top. 2. Microwave. 3. Grab n' go".

The Point of It All. . .
By reorienting our thinking about packaging and going beyond designing it to merely meet consumers' FMOT; by stretching the brand's emotive and lifestyle assets further, into a SMOT, we will have accomplished more than a sale. We will have engaged consumers in a more meaningful way that begins to build enduring relationships.

Research has divulged 80% of consumers are satisfied with the products they buy, but those 80% are not fanatically devoted to the brands they purchase. That data demonstrably points to the fact consumers are not engaged enough by the brands they are satisfied with, to the point of loyalty, and devotion. Those consumers would just as easily purchase another brand, in that case. By designing packaging that leads to a SMOT, we will have decidedly given the consumer a much deeper experience with our brands. One that will make them not only loyal, but turn them into brand evangelists.




Designing Sticky Packaging at Retail
By Ted Mininni

Chip and Dan Heath's ideas, derived from their research in a recently published book: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" have made them the darlings of the marketing world. For good reason. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail.

The onus is squarely on marketers to find a way to make their brands and products stick. According to the Heath brothers, being sticky means that: ". . .your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact—they change your audience's opinions or behavior." Consider the questions posed by these sticky thinkers carefully:
- How can brands and products deliver a powerful message, simply and concisely expressed, that deliver the essential core successfully?
- How can the brand message be made concrete and memorable?
- How can the brand be expressed in such a way as to hold the consumer's attention long enough to deliver that core message?
- How can a brand capture the consumer's attention by doing something unexpected? 
- How can the brand be made credible? How can we get the consumer to believe and trust in the brand?
- How can the brand appeal to consumers on a deeper, emotional level?
- How can we use storytelling to motivate the consumer to act?

What does all of this have to do with packaging? Everything. Packaging makes both brand and product tangible to the consumer. We could argue that it is the singularly most important touch point because it delivers both into consumers' hands. Not only should brands be sticky; packaging should be, as well.

The fact that so many brands and brand packaging struggle in the marketplace, is evidence that neither have been sticky enough to consumers. So what do we need to do to address that issue? If effective, packaging delivers brand and product to the consumer in an experiential manner. That is, it engages the consumer on an emotional, rather than merely an intellectual level. It communicates the brand message quickly and effectively. It delivers the brand's core assets in an emotive manner. When the brand promise is fulfilled in the consumer's mind, after purchasing the product, loyalty will begin to develop based on trust.

If great, packaging helps to raise brand and product to iconic status. It transcends an entire category to become the clear product of choice. The brand and product the consumer closely identifies with and aligns with. Iconic consumer brands are the stickiest in our culture. Iconic brands don't have to appeal to everyone, either. They do have to command absolute allegiance from their consumer base, however. How can packaging help elevate brands and products to that level?

Putting Packaging in Retail Context.
Great packaging is the result of extensive research. Consumer research, category and competitive research all play a role in developing superior packaging. But these aren't the end-all and be-all. An understanding of our culture and trends is paramount. In order to be viable, living and growing, consumer brands and products cannot exist in a vacuum and remain grounded in their own values without consideration of the modern society we live in. Otherwise, they lose their relevance.

What we're saying: for packaging to be put into meaningful retail context, it must simultaneously be developed in human context. What do consumers relate to in an emotional manner? What kinds of deeply ingrained cultural cues do they respond to? What are the stories that bind consumers to brands? What is relevant to today's consumer? What kinds of experiences is the consumer seeking at retail?

People, from time immemorial, have responded to storytelling. Marketers understand that, and many seek to deliver stories about their brands in their packaging, advertising and web sites. But how about the brands that connect their own brand stories with richer, deeper human stories? Or the brands that use cultural cues that consumers recognize and respond to?

Brands like Tazo Tea tell two kinds of stories, and these aren't separate entities. They are tightly woven together and appear seamless. Tazo Tea tells its story of tea leaves sourced from all over the world, blended into unique combinations. But it goes further. The story tells of cultural roots, long-held local traditions and how tea has a distinctive place in 5000 years of human history. With highly textured "paper" surfaces, some of which resemble sandstone, Tazo packaging features unusual ornamentation and archaic-looking iconic script as background to the typography. The Tazo logo prominently displays ancient-looking symbols. All of this points to the timeless traditions, social and spiritual connections people the world over have to the drinking of tea. The branding and product packaging bring all of this together in a breathtaking way, making Tazo a standout among premium tea brands.

Pepsi has always positioned itself the cola of choice for a young, hip generation. . .for each successive generation of youth. Now the packaging unites with the brand as Pepsi rolls out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work all retains the brand flagship colors--blues with red and white. The brand identity has retained its heritage but has been contemporized for the newest Pepsi Generation. As packaging expert Peter Arnell, whose firm realized the project, stated in an interview: "Product innovation today must be driven by deep consumer meaning and connectivity." Exactly. Pepsi, the brand, stands for "fun" and "effervescence" the world over. Why not use strong contemporary graphics to connect to kids in today's culture?

Start-up Stickiness.
Start-up brands face a major challenge. They also have a unique opportunity to tell a compellingly different story in the marketplace. The fact that failure rates are so high among new brands, points to their inability to deliver a compelling, sticky story to consumers. Yet some brands break through to do just that.

A new chocolate dessert manufacturer in the U.K. has generated considerable buzz among consumers and bloggers. While only available at British grocery chain, Sainsbury's thus far, its fame is growing quickly, and consumers are openly asking for product availability online. How often do consumers get that excited over another new brand? Dubbed "Filthy" by The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile skin-what else-is strikingly unique. The tagline literally hangs from the logo: "Obsessed by Pleasure". Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to act; that is, to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. How about that for a sticky idea in a crowded product category? Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered with a new twist. The brand delivers its message simply and directly. It is concrete and memorable. It delivers the element of surprise--it's unexpected.

Now the Filthy brand has to deliver the pleasure and enjoyment it promises the consumer. If it does, and there's no reason to believe it won't, it will have earned trust and loyalty. Better yet, consumers themselves will assist in further building this brand through Word of Mouth. What is WOM worth to marketers? A great deal in today's world of highly connected consumers who are in constant discussion among themselves.

What do the three brand packaging examples cited have in common? They're stand-outs among competitive products. Unique and instantly recognizable. They're simple, direct, concrete, memorable, emotive to consumers. They tell strong, compelling stories in cultural context. Best of all: they do it in a totally unexpected way. Bottom line: brands like Tazo, Pepsi and Filthy can't be commoditized. They're too unique and memorable. Their stories and cues are too culturally significant. In short, they're far too sticky. As we begin another year, let's cast a critical eye over our brands and packaging and ask ourselves a fundamental question: what we can do to make and keep them sticky with our targeted consumer?



Advertising is Dead. Long Live Packaging
By Ted Mininni

It's no secret that most conventional advertising isn't cutting it. When marketers think about how to allocate their budgets, maybe they ought to be spending less on advertising. Why not take those dollars that aren't going to be spent on advertising, and invest them in packaging instead? The rationale for this argument is simple. With consumers increasingly tuning out of mainstream media channels and tuning into their iPods, mobile phones and social networks instead, most advertising is going to a dead letter office. At the same time, consumerism continues to flourish. Shopping is a pastime for many Americans and a team sport for Tweens, teens and young adults. 

We are experiencing a downturn in the economy and tighter wallets due to substantial rises in living expenses. While softer at present, consumer sales will rebound just as soon as the economy shows signs of picking up again. We ought to get ready for that-now.

This brings us back to investing in packaging. Many marketers would scratch their heads and say that they already do invest substantially in product packaging. If that is so, why does a plethora of category packaging out there look so boring, so similar, so uninspiring? Remember that consumer packaging may be the only opportunity many brands have to "sell" consumers, since so much advertising is lost on them. Stand in the aisle of any major supermarket or mass retailer in America and notice in numerous product categories, many brands are indistinguishable from each other. If your brand looks like the rest of the product brands in the category, an overhaul is in order. To wit: do we need one more pasta sauce with a red and green label? Can you discern one brand of sauce easily from another?

Given this, is it enough to leverage brand assets on product packaging?  Implement proper communication hierarchy and the use of signature brand colors? Design a unique, "ownable" structure to help establish brand differentiation? Apparently not. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail. New product introductions are growing exponentially and the pressure of increasing competition is only making the problem more acute.

Packaging before Product.
What does the consumer interface with first, the product, or the package the product comes in? The package. So, it is expected to do a great deal. Get the consumer's attention in 3 seconds flat. Stand out from competitors' products. Hold the consumer's attention long enough to identify with the message, lifestyle and emotive cues in the imagery and communications prompting them to pick up the product. Make an all-important connection. Take it home. 

Now be honest and ask yourselves whether your packaging is doing the job. Even if your products represent category leaders, is your packaging really selling the brand? Given the mercurial nature of fast-changing consumer desires and today's retail environments, a change may be in order. That change might be subtle, yet make a huge difference, while requiring a fairly modest investment. If packaging isn't doing the job, it's time to reinvest in this most crucial element in your marketing mix in a significant manner. That might even involve-gulp-radical new thinking. That takes courage. But look at it this way: it's less risky to break new ground if a brand has little equity or market share, and it might be just what the doctor ordered.

A new departure in packaging might create some real excitement and WOM buzz. . .what marketer wouldn't love that? So, if you're convinced your new brand of gourmet pasta sauce is the best ever, why package it with red and green labels? Why not give serious thought to revolutionizing the category with stand-out, stand-alone packaging? Pom Wonderful did just that in the juice category. Pringles did it in the high volume snack category. These package designs are now iconic, easy to identify and firmly rooted in consumers' minds.

Even with established brands, a leap of design faith can yield dramatic results. Pepsi recently rolled out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work retains the brand flagship colors-blues, red and white. The brand identity and heritage are intact, but they've been contemporized for a new Pepsi Generation. This new "Choregraphy" campaign has elevated Pepsi in consumer consciousness, especially for its target audience: youth.

Procter & Gamble's Downy brand is another category leader. Yet, P&G has launched a new Radiance collection of three "fabric enhancers" in distinct, "perfume" fragrances. The packaging looks like anything but stolid, old stand-by Downy. Sophisticated fragrances and sensuous, curvy packaging with metallic colors cued to each fragrance, delivering a fashion statement. Who would have equated Downy with fashion and sophistication in the past? So why can't established brands launch exciting new packaging for line extensions?

Bottom line: brands demanding unique positioning in the consumer's mind demand unique packaging. Whether the challenge is to market heritage brands to newer generations of consumers or to launch new brands to the marketplace, the packaging focus has to be the same: owning mindshare. Packaging may be marketers' first and only opportunity to make that vital connection with the consumer. If your products are lost in the retail shuffle, or you're about to jump into the marketplace foray, you've got a big challenge on your hands. Now tell me there's a better way to allocate marketing funds than trail-blazing new packaging.

POPON - Point of Purchase Online Network Featuring Ted Mininni - Design Force, Inc

This classic marketing theory holds that consumers develop awareness of branded products thanks to numerous, traditional advertising impressions. Familiarity leads to eventual purchasing consideration for a limited choice of brands. When entering a retail environment, consumers center their attention on those few choices, and purchase one. Throughout the process, the funnel obviously keeps narrowing. With consistent delivery on the brand promise, loyalty develops over time.

However, new research demonstrates consumer purchasing patterns no longer fit this model. So could the wrong marketing emphasis be one of the reasons, along with a soft economy, for real shifts in consumer spending and overall loyalty? Given the data, it's likely.

According to the latest consumer research, there's a new paradigm. Constant exposure via traditional and interactive media continues to create brand awareness. When consumers make the decision to purchase a product, they evaluate their choices by conducting Internet research. They participate in word of mouth exchanges, seeking information from social media contacts.

This is a crucial juncture for brands in the pre-purchasing process; the reason they must have a strong online presence. Marketers need to invest dollars on independent web sites--not only their own--that they've identified as the places consumers are seeking information about products like theirs, and buying them. Ditto for interactive media sites - online and mobile - since these core constituencies will endorse and spread the word about their products.

Due to a virtual explosion of social media outlets as well as new brands, consumers are actually not narrowing their options now. Rather, they are expanding their possible list of choices. Thus, the narrowing consumer funnel model is now obsolete.

Marketing in the New Paradigm.

Armed with this information, why would product companies execute the usual old budget cuts when consumer spending slows down? If the consumer has fundamentally changed, doesn't this call for a serious restructuring of marketing focus, initiatives, spending?

Consumers are no longer passive, so spending the lion's share of the marketing budget on TV, radio, newspaper and magazine ads - simply isn't efficient. Yet, when the economy sours, marketers pull back and retrench to "tried and true" traditional outlets.  They cut new media spending. They cut customer service personnel. They hold off on new product packaging. These might seem like natural decisions, but do they make sense?

Many companies have dabbled in interactive media in a limited way; not always meaningfully or for long, so they have little ROI data on their marketing efforts. As a result, they're likely to be cut down or cut out. This is a mistake. While one-way communication still delivers impressions, today's consumer is empowered by information gleaned from the Internet, mobile devices and conversations on social media sites. They pursue online connections to family, friends and blogging communities. These new media influencers have increased in importance since the last economic downturn. So, logically speaking, does it make sense to make deep budget cuts here?

Let's not forget that consumers also converse directly with companies via customer service online, via phone and email. Here is an often under-mined opportunity to interface directly with consumers; a golden opportunity to rectify problems, address issues quickly and satisfactorily, tweak product features and find out what consumers respond to best when purchasing category products. So should customer service be the recipient of deep budget cuts?

Lastly, with brand loyalty flagging as consumers scour retail shelves before making their final purchase decisions, how can deep budget cuts on packaging be justified?

Instead: why not work smarter and get more from fewer resources? Cutting back on traditional marketing to some degree and reallocating resources on social media, Internet web sites and customer service makes sense. Reallocating resources on packaging is vital since final purchase decisions are made at the retail shelf. Aligning marketing communications among all of these consumer-facing initiatives is priority #1.

Packaging for the New Paradigm.

The current diminishment in loyalty as consumers are open to more choices can work to the benefit of a brand, or to its detriment. Smart marketers will use this knowledge to address their presence at retail. Packaging has actually gained in importance in the marketing mix as consumers closely scrutinize more products on the retail shelf before purchasing. Given this, it's a wise idea to conduct an assessment of current packaging and make needed changes.

Packaging has to deliver more than ever in the current economic and competitive environment. If it doesn't decisively refer back to the brand, doesn't quickly and simply communicate its value and preferability to consumers, doesn't definitively leverage the brand and product's key assets, it fails to win the consumer's vote to purchase the product. It's vitally important to make sure one simple, overriding message resonates on packaging. Why? According to research, the average consumer scans the retail shelf in 20 seconds or less.

So what is the most important thing to communicate in that span of time? Tapping into consumers' compelling reasons to choose one brand over the rest in a category, by honing in on consumer statements and conversations, WOM and interactive media comments, meaningful insights can be gleaned. How about leveraging that most relevant thing - that one overriding message - consumers themselves care most about as the lead package communication?

Ultimately, packaging has the power to affect consumer purchasing behavior if utilized correctly. If packaging isn't a huge asset in selling the product and brand on the retail shelf, it simply isn't being maximized as a marketing tool. Now, while consumers are clearly open to more brands than ever, there's a chance to win more business now and potentially more brand loyalty when the economy improves.

So here are the questions that must be answered now: How can marketing initiatives be used to get closer to consumers and better understand what their needs are? How can two-way communications be used to increase brands' relevance to the consumer? How can aligned messaging be utilized for all consumer-facing marketing initiatives? Lastly, how can all of this help produce the most compelling packaging in the category?




Understanding Green Demographics: the Implications for Packaging
By Ted Mininni

I've been ruminating about the tough economy like everyone else. Rather than lamenting what is, I think this downturn affords businesses a rare opportunity to slow down, rethink and reset.

Consumer product companies that innovate, will insulate their brands to a higher degree from the current downturn while positioning them for future growth. Tip: it's time to research sustainability measures that can begin to be implemented - now. If there's ever been a time and a place to allocate tight marketing budgets, this is it.

Why sustainability and why now? Sustainability practices are increasingly important to consumers. Interestingly, they have not pulled back from buying green, slow economy, decreased purchasing power, or not. That goes for products as well as packaging. IRI (Information Resources Inc.) recently released an informative report that CPG companies really need to take heed of, titled: "Sustainability: CPG Marketing in a Green World".

With more and more consumers consciously choosing to live greener lives, sustainable product packaging is no longer an afterthought. Rather, it should be adopted and integrated as part of an overall brand repositioning in sync with an overall environmentally responsible plan. Company brand values need to be tweaked and realigned with today's consumer values more than ever, if they are going to succeed over the long haul.

IRI's report tracked consumer behavior in eight distinct demographic segments and the following green segments: organic, Fair Trade commodities, and eco-friendly products. While sales to hard-core eco-centric consumers fell 6.6% in 2008 largely due to price increases, "respectful stewards" increased spending on environmentally friendly products by 15.5% and "proud traditionalists" by 8.4%. This helped buoy sales up 4.1% for the year, signifying that previously less green consumers are climbing what IRI refers to as "the green adoption curve".

IRI's eight green consumer groups:
- Eco-centrics. "Green" is the chosen way of life for these consumers; they are well-informed, active and ardent supporters of green products.
- Respectful stewards. Idealistic, community-focused consumers who see value in paying more for products that are green.
- Proud traditionalists. Hard-working, family-focused consumers who focus on having environmentally-conscious homes and experiment with green products.
- Frugal earth mothers. Lower income female consumers who look for savings while also looking for more prudent, wholesome products for their families.
- Skeptics. Men who are highly educated and earn high incomes; who are also skeptical about the benefits of purchasing green products.
- Eco-chics. Young adult consumers who think being green is hip. They'll buy on impulse; they're early adopters but haven't delved deeply into environmental issues.
- Green naives. Younger, lower income consumers who haven't made the correlation between cause/effect and environmental responsibility.
- Eco-villains. Middle income male consumers; couldn't care less about any environmental issues and dismiss environmental concerns outright.

The key for marketers is to understand which segments of consumers are prevalent within their own constituencies so that their companies can offer the right kind of innovations and messaging that is relevant to them. This will take some resource investments of time, capital and research on the part of the marketing department, but the returns are too important to ignore.

Green Packaging: Why Now?

There are few consumer goods that are 100% green, natural and organic, but there are more and more products with at least some components that are green, natural or organic. There is no such thing as 100% green packaging. However, that does not mean companies can't make commitments now and into the future to conduct business as environmentally soundly as possible. Nor does it mean they cannot find innovative new ways to develop and integrate greener components in their products and packaging. Right?

Why would companies invest in this now, when budgets are getting slashed? Consider this: research demonstrates that while sustainable packaging isn't the primary consumer purchase motivator, it has become important enough to make consumers opt for one brand over another within a product category if one company embraces good environmental practices and a competitor doesn't.

The Hartman Group's "Sustainability Outlook: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility" shares some significant findings concerning packaging attitudes in a recent survey among 1,600 consumers:
• The highest rating - 75% of respondents stated the importance of packaging that could be recycled as most important to them.
- 71% indicated biodegradability in packaging an important asset.
- 67% cited packaging made from recycled content important to them.
- 63% like to purchase packaging that is refillable.
- 62% felt that minimal packaging was important.
- 60% of respondents look for packaging that can be repurposed for other uses.
- 51% indicated compostable packaging was important to them.

Bottom line: with so much talk focused on myriad environmental issues over the past few years, and growing impetus in recent months, the consumer is increasingly aware. There is growing concern about packaging and what becomes of it after it has served its purpose. The three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have hit home with greater numbers of consumers now.

Consumer product companies ought to consider: what better way is there to sell sustainable values than through that most important of marketing initiatives—packaging? Utilizing the three R's in updated packaging design sends a powerful message. Better yet, using the packaging itself as a communications platform about the company's commitment to sustainability gives marketers a powerful tool to reach consumers. Targeting that messaging to the company's proper green demographic(s) becomes meaningful. Tying that messaging in to the company website, advertising and every other marketing initiative it uses, will further educate targeted consumers.

Contrary to the belief that consumers are increasingly skeptical due to widespread green-washing, The Hartman Group's survey yielded an eye-opening statistic. 82% of those surveyed thought most companies' green claims "mostly true". Of course, it is important to maintain trust with consumers by being honest about all of the company's sustainability practices, including those made on and about packaging. It is better to say nothing, than it is to make claims that stretch the truth; the latter can do considerable damage to the brand, precisely when building consumer trust has never been more important.

Consumers are not only looking to niche companies that have made sustainability a cornerstone of their brands. They're also expecting established mass market companies to move in this direction, and rewarding those that do. Being responsible stewards of the environment by adopting better business practices is step one. Offering more sustainable products and continuing product innovations is step two and that necessarily leads to sound packaging.

Sustainable packaging should be used to push the values of "reduce, reuse and recycle" and as the ultimate platform to reach the target consumer with the company's overall sustainable positioning. Here is a terrific opportunity to further differentiate brands in a meaningful way—right now and for the future. Seizing this golden opportunity will lead to green in more ways than one.




Cutting Packaging Down to Size
By Ted Mininni

There's nothing like a slowing economy to force companies to address customer issues. Pushing more innovative consumer products into the pipeline, lowering prices to increase value perception and to counter competitive pricing and making customer service improvements are all typical responses. Yet, working on a couple of customer touch points is an inadequate approach.

Companies' focus ought to be on designing the total customer experience, aligning every customer touch point and cementing greater loyalty to their brands, in the process. Isn't it time to develop a comprehensive, top to bottom customer experience strategy?
Think of all the touch points customers interact with. Designing and aligning the web site, customer service call center, IVR system, product literature, advertising and packaging to deliver consistent, positive customer experiences is crucial to a company's success. Of these, packaging is arguably the most important customer touch point, since it delivers brand and product into the customer's hands. It's the tangible representation of both.
Designing Packaging that Delivers.
While capital expenditures are being cut these days, investing in experiential packaging ought to be considered. By taking a short-term loss in marketing ROI vis-a-vis packaging now, companies can position themselves to retain customers and market share for the long-term. It's important to keep loyal customers for the present, while positioning to gain new customers when the economy improves, yielding higher ROI in the future.

Strategy and design are the tools that enable companies to design packaging that delivers a great experience; one that is emotionally connecting to the targeted customer. To do that successfully, research must answer key questions.
- Who is the customer and how has that customer evolved?
- How can the company match the customer's goals?
- What are the customer's expectations?
- What does the customer value?

Too often packaging is as commoditized as the products they contain. Without unique brand characteristics, structure and a communications hierarchy that make product and brand relevant to the target consumer; that meets their goals and expectations, packaging is not the effective sales closer it should be. If packaging was designed from an experiential perspective it would be far more compelling to consumers.

McCormick, manufacturer of spices and seasonings, elevates commodity products through experiential packaging. Even though consumers' busy lifestyles have made it difficult to cook as much as they used to, McCormick has remained relevant to consumers since its founding in 1889.

Over time, the company has quietly updated its line with proprietary seasoning blends, sauces, marinades—and new packaging. Economic down-turns have consumers turning to McCormick in increasing numbers, as they eat out less and cook at home more. McCormick's business is booming as a result.

Hot new additions have been getting a lot of buzz. McCormick still offers its basic line of herbs and spices packaged with its famous red label and cap, updated, yet retaining its heritage brand identity. Responding to trends well, McCormick offers additional lines of new products. A gourmet line of more exotic selections, including some organic selections, is packaged with distinctive sage green cap and black and gold labels, depicting natural herb plants and spices. The line is marketed to people who "cook with love and passion".

The striking "Grinders" line, gives consumers a touch of "gourmet" for their home-cooked meals. By designing bottles with inset grinders, consumers are offered the ultimate freshness. They can grind just the right amount of black peppercorns, sea salt or blended seasonings. No need to spend more money on expensive spices and mills from a specialty store or catalog.

Ethnic seasoning blends, Grill Mates, Slow Cooker Soups and Crusting Blends are all designed to help the time-strapped home cook make flavorful, home-cooked meals in a short period of time. All are packaged to effectively deliver a short, targeted message at a glance.

The company offers great recipes, tips and ideas for the home cook in a highly navigable web site and invites customers to join the site to share their own favorite recipes and tips with other readers, forming a community for cooking enthusiasts in the process.

Result? McCormick maintains its position as the largest spice company in the world with $2.9 billion in sales in 2007; 10% of that volume coming from the introduction of its new products. The company has elevated customer perception with gourmet style products and met the critical threshold of cooks' expectations while offering greater value. Why buy competitors' products or cheaper generics?

How about Method's packaging? Method's environmentally-safe home and personal use cleaning products feature beautifully-designed, clear packaging on many of its products. Packaging for the entire Method line has the look and feel of upscale cosmetic packaging. Talk about experiential!

An examination of environmental cleaning products shows that there's a great deal of similar bill-board-type packaging in the category. Only Method's packaging is strikingly different. Contemporary, clean, refreshing. As Method's web site states: "(co-founder) Eric (Ryan) knew people wanted cleaning products they didn't have to hide under their sinks". Not only does this product claim cleaning effectiveness and safety, it's meant to be seen. What a concept for commodity products!

While a number of eco-conscious cleaning products are on the market now, why is it that Method has garnered nearly a whopping $100 million in sales in a slow-growth category? Why is it that the brand has also created a community of avid brand loyalists? Products that are made to be seen, are obviously grabbed and used more. More product used, faster repeat sales. Since there are myriad cleaning products on the market, including eco-friendly options, it's apparent that Method's experiential packaging accounts for part of the brand's stunning success.

Let's face it: packaging that delivers a great experience is enjoyable and memorable to consumers. Removing customer frustration, and potential sources of disappointment, while unlocking the relevant drivers around branded products that fulfill customer expectations and help them reach their goals, can best be delivered by packaging. It can-and should-seal the deal, leading to that elusive brand loyalty.



Upcycling Packaging: A New Business Concept
By Ted Mininni

Entrepreneurialism is alive and well in America. Just ask Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle.
His big idea: a commercialized liquid plant food made from biological waste-or as Szaky calls it "worm poop", in reused soda bottles from school recycling programs, after making donations for them. Cleaning the bottles, slapping homey labels on them, and fitting them with trigger sprays other manufacturers couldn't use, or didn't want, enabled Szaky to finally bring his product to market. 

In a recent Brand Packaging article dubbed: "Spinning Garbage into Gold", Szaky shares some terrific ideas that ought to inspire a new generation of business owners. View additional information

Szaky dropped out of Princeton and worked at the new business for three years until finally securing some retail distribution, thanks to Wal-Mart and The Home Depot. He hasn't looked back. His philosophy: constantly finding ways to develop consumer products and consumer product packaging from consumer waste. Even better: refusing to price his green products at the high end of the spectrum, as some of his competitors are. "Since we're not doing it, we're gaining a lot", Szaky is quoted as saying.

TerraCycle now enjoys distribution as a staple in thousands of retail lawn and garden departments, adding products like deer repellant and compost bins to their original plant food product. According to the Brand Packaging article, the company is now developing consumer products in many categories: household cleaners, reusable totes, office products, and even Christmas ornaments.

On the packaging front, a Stonyfield Farm challenge to TerraCycle to find an alternative use for the company's polypropylene yogurt cups (since they aren't recycled much), yielded the invention of planting pots, with Stonyfield funding the entire collection program, thank you very much.

When Honest Tea began funding TerraCycle to reuse its used drink pouches, Kraft's Capri Sun and Kool Aid brands likewise, joined the effort. Net result? Recycled drink pouches manufactured into accessories now being sold at Target. As Szaky pointed out, for brands like Capri Sun, his reuse of their packaging solves a major problem since their packaging isn't recyclable, and would end up in landfills.

High volume consumer brands: Balance Bar, Clif Bar, South Beach diet bars, Chips Ahoy and Oreos have subsequently come aboard. What TerraCycle is doing isn't recycling in the classic sense. The company refers to its reuse of packaging as "upcycling". Definition: 'creative use of the shape and characteristics of existing packaging instead of crushing, mulching, melting it down or reforming it'.

Szaky loves what he refers to as his "Sponsored Waste" initiative. "You get paid for your raw materials and then you're paid for your finished product." While TerraCycle still sponsors collection programs in schools and churches, the company sees Sponsored Waste as its future. Apparently there's money in collecting and repurposing packaging for new products: TerraCycle has posted a 300% growth rate for the past four years.

Questions:
- What other kinds of consumer products would you like to see made from recycled waste and repurposed packaging?
- Do you think more businesses will emerge based on the TerraCycle model?
- Do you think we can eventually eliminate most of our garbage by thinking in these terms?

I'd love to hear from you.




The Retailer's New Role: CPG Marketer
By Ted Mininni

Retailers love their private labels. Especially in a challenging economy.

As successful as some of these brands are, many retailers have barely scratched the surface of private label's potential. By its very nature, private label offerings recast retailers as more than conduits of manufactured products to consumers. More than branded environments.

If retailers are doing more than paying lip service to the idea of creating positive consumer experiences within their store environments, private label lines afford them a great opportunity to further solidify their overall store brands in the minds of consumers.

To accomplish this, retailers will have to be willing to invest the proper resources and business acumen into this viable segment of their business. In essence, they will have to become actively engaged as CPG marketers. That means hiring crackerjack CPG marketers outside the company, unless the retail operation has homegrown talent in place.

Why would retailers make capital investments in private label during an economic downturn? When retailers consider the sheer number of private brands and skus within those brands in their stores, the amount of dedicated shelf space and the inventory dollar investment, why wouldn't they? When retailers analyze the volume they're doing—and how much more they could be doing-as well as the profit dollars involved, why wouldn't they?

Lastly, and most importantly, when retailers, intent on creating great experiential environments for their customers, factor in the additional benefit of presenting highly desirable store brands to heighten consumer perception, why wouldn't they?

The right assortments of private label merchandise, well-positioned, packaged and marketed should be a great differentiator for retailers. They can also go a long way to locking up consumer mindshare. Question: how much is it worth to retailers to reverse the erosion of brand loyalty these days?

The Safeway Model. . .
It's always nice to have a model when it comes to breaking new ground. California supermarket chain Safeway is blazing a trail with an enlightened view of private label brand management. Better yet: their ideas in the food business can be applied to any other consumer product category.

As is the case with many retailers, Safeway had a pantheon of 70 private label brands that it had developed over time. The retailer made the gut-check decision to pare down to 10 so it could focus on turning them into super brands.

Safeway then made a substantial commitment to private label with the hiring of James White as its SVP-Consumer Brands, who came armed with expertise gleaned from his work at top-notch CPG companies. A complement of CPG marketers were then hired to assist White in managing these consumer brands.

Two top focus brands: Safeway's "O Organics" private label food line, generated $300 million in volume in 2007, and is expected to bring in $400 million in 2008. The chain's "Eating Right" private label line which debuted last spring, is expected to generate $200 million in sales for 2008, as well.

By integrating internal marketing talent with the expertise of outside advertising and design consultants, in a collaborative manner, Safeway has taken the Procter & Gamble approach to managing its brands. P&G has enjoyed notable success since orienting itself in this manner, so why not take a page from the world's largest CPG company? Why not apply the strategic thinking P&G does for its brands to retail private label brands?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 1: Consumer-centric Solutions.
By operating like a CPG company within a retail environment, Safeway has taken a unique approach to supporting their brands with extensive research, enabling them to improve flavor profiles of existing products, as a result. By studying emerging consumer trends it can also position new product offerings that ensure a greater rate of return.

The food retailer wisely taps into creative consultancies to develop sophisticated package designs and dedicated advertising for its house brands. As a result, both have become more targeted and sophisticated.

Positioning for Safeway's Eating Right brand: "Uniting Flavor and Nutrition" is reflected in a clean, updated packaging system.  Key messaging effectively reaches consumers in a simple communications hierarchy. A system of colored spheres refer to specific health benefits Eating Right foods delivered in universally understood terms: "Low Fat", "Vitamins", "High in Fiber", among others.

Consumers are invited to "spot your needs" on the dedicated Eating Right web site and can browse numerous food and beverage selections by category. This comprehensive marketing that ties packaging, messaging and website together is "spot on".

In the case of the O Organics brand, Safeway's collaboration with an outside design consultancy also bore fruit. Infusing the brand's color palette with natural elements: sun, water, light and earth was no accident. Nor is the large signature "O" in the brand mark. Photography depicts products as close as possible to their natural settings. Message: purity and authenticity; less-processed, organically sourced foods.

Some of the packaging still shows the quintessential backdrop of farm scenes, from grazing cows to pristine fields. Still, the orientation of brilliant color is a far cry from the muted earth-toned packaging most organic product manufacturers seem to favor. The message of O Organics: "wholesomeness for the whole family". Implied message: "from farm to fork". Everything is certified USDA Organic. Again, Safeway has developed a dedicated website for O Organics to speak directly to consumers.

The assets of good quality, excellent taste, better nutrition and "in-demand" selections add tremendously to consumer value perception for these brands. And what's not to love about being able to buy organic food at lower prices besides?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 2: Taking it to the Streets.
To many retailers, Safeway's latest strategy may seem strange. The Better Living Brands Alliance was formed so that Safeway could market O Organics and Eating Right to foreign markets and institution such as school cafeterias. That makes sense.

However, the food retailer also wants to take its well-managed, high-growth private label brands and market them to other grocery chains, competitors included? Tantalizing, but radical idea, isn't it?

Then again, think about it. Research demonstrates Safeway's success: these labels are viewed by consumers as stand-alone brands. While they add to the overall value of the Safeway brand in consumer perception, they've also become viewed at the same level as national brands. A rare and important point.

Then why not do as all major CPG brands do, and market O Organics and Eating Right nationally? If competitors are less satisfied with their own store brands see enough incentive for adding brands that have been well-researched, marketed, packaged-and supported by national TV and print advertising—why not?

Will this work? We'll have to wait and see. But look at it this way: we live in unprecedented times. Consumer product manufacturers and retailers are increasingly confronted by a complex marketplace, fast-changing consumers and eroding brand loyalty. Part one of Safeway's strategy is a success. Part two? Well-calculated risks, based on solid data might be just what is needed today. No risk, no reward.



Packaging for the Planet
By Ted Mininni

Worldwide, the packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and employs more than five million people globally. And sustainable packaging is now a necessity.

Everything in our society is packaged. With the huge increase in global consumer goods consumption comes a large increase in packaging waste. This has created stress in community landfills around the globe, making it more incumbent on companies to use biodegradable as well as recycled materials as much as possible. Sustainable packaging should be embraced, not only for marketing leverage, but because it's the right thing to do.
It's great to see that many companies are behaving like responsible corporate citizens when it comes to sustainable packaging. Much has been made of this topic in professional journals. While important to the discussion, much of this is too scientific to be easily grasped by most of us. So what is sustainable packaging all about?

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition cites that according to conservative estimates, the worldwide packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and gives employment to more than five million people globally. In the US alone, consumer purchases of durable and non-durable goods and services account for 70% of the GDP. That makes product packaging a big deal!
With a finite amount of nonrenewable natural resources, ever-rising energy costs, and rapidly filling landfills, sustainable packaging is becoming an increasing necessity.
Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers are embracing eco-friendly packaging as never before. Wal-Mart, for example, has instituted a Sustainable Packaging Scorecard. The retail giant expects its 60,000 suppliers to fill in substantial information concerning their packaging. This information is shared so that suppliers can see how they "stack up" against all of Wal-Mart's other suppliers.

Employing what Wal-Mart refers to as "The 7 Rs of Packaging - remove, reduce, recycle, renew, revenue, and read" - the company feels it is moving in the right direction with its supplier partners.
This kind of initiative has an understandably large ripple effect throughout the CPG industry. It also provides a catalyst that spurs many companies to take action. Understandably, sustainable packaging is new to many companies and it isn't possible or reasonable to do all of these things at once, if ever. Yet, whatever measures companies can implement will have a direct impact on our environment.
The point is to have a "win-win" proposition: save on energy, natural resources, and environmental waste, while doing it profitably. With some smart thinking and planning, these measures can have a positive impact on corporate revenue streams.

For many decades, products and packaging have both been designed in a "cradle to grave" system; that is, they have ended up in landfills at the end of their useful life cycles. While some product components and packaging have been made biodegradable, a substantial amount is not. The best scenario avoids damaging the ecosystem altogether.
Numerous organisations have been formed to assist companies in reorienting their product and packaging development into a new "cradle to cradle" system. Products and packaging created in this manner feature materials that are perpetually circulated and reused in what industry experts refer to as "closed loops." This extracts maximum value from materials already in use without ever ending up in landfills, damaging ecosystems.

There are various aspects that make packaging sustainable. Manufacturers can institute some, if not all, of these environmentally friendly packaging solutions for their products:
- Cut down on excess product packaging. By creating packaging that is the right size for products, and not adding any extraneous material inside of packaging, there are huge savings in costs and waste.
- Use materials from renewable resources sourced from well-managed eco-systems. There are alternative resources for environmentally safe packaging components and packing materials.
- Use recycled materials to reduce the environmental impact of virgin materials that must be manufactured (the latter uses additional energy and natural resources). Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and FedEx all use 100% recycled paperboard. Companies can get information at the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance.
- Use non-toxic lead-free plastic packaging. Examples include Cargill Dow's NatureWorks PLA plastic packaging, which is made entirely from field corn, and NatureFlex biodegradable and compostable film, which is made from wood pulp.
- Use biodegradable materials and soy or water-based inks that will not do damage to the environment. • Purchase packaging materials that have been made with as little energy consumption as possible and that have emitted the fewest greenhouse gases in manufacture.
- Use packaging that has shifted away from petro-based chemicals to corn and potato starch components in biodegradable resins. These starches actually compost when degraded. Starch-based biodegradable foams are available from KTM Industries.
- Use biodegradable cornstarch peanuts as packing material in cartons rather than foam peanuts or packing pellets made from starch-based cereal grains.
- Find out about cradle-to-cradle product and packaging components and use them whenever possible.
Added to packaging issues are myriad supply chain issues. Getting packaged products to the retail marketplace is a huge area of focus at present. According to a report in the ProLogis Supply Chain Review, more logistics experts are working to maximize cube utilization better than ever before, given transportation costs. Better cube utilization simply means that manufacturers and retailers are seeking more efficiencies in trucking their products to consumer channels. By optimizing carton to pallet space ratios and filling trucks to capacity, transportation and energy costs are cut down.
Many companies are also teaming with other companies as "partners" in trucking, ensuring that once trucks unload their cargo, they pick up additional cargo and make additional drops on the way back so that they aren't returning empty, consuming additional energy. Smart thinking by smart logistics managers.

By consciously choosing products that are packaged in recycled or renewable materials, consumers not only support the companies that are eco-conscious, but also do their part to lessen energy use, the stripping of our precious natural resources and environmental waste.




The Public Face of Private Label
By Ted Mininni

Private label has come a long way in the past few years. Once perceived by customers as cheap, shoddy alternatives to national brands, private labels have slowly but surely come into their own. Having said that, the branding and packaging of private label products has yet to fully mature in business thought and practice.

Thus, largely untapped potential exists for private label brands. Especially in economic down-turns when consumers look for more VALUE for their money.

Retailers that have committed to developing private labels, from Wal-Mart to Walgreen's to Costco, have made substantial investments in the quality, marketing and packaging of their private brands. At least, enough so that the consumer has a more favorable image of private label product lines. According to A.C.Nielsen, approximately 85% of consumers have favorable views of private label brands, and almost 60% of their survey respondents felt the quality of private label products are "just as good" as those of national brands.
 
Supermarkets, drug chains, department store chains, discounters and wholesale clubs all have a stake in further developing their private label businesses. The fact is: private labels are here to stay and they should compete with national brands in such a way as to bring out the best in all concerned. When both national brands and store brands strive to offer uncompromising quality, strong brand identities and differentiated packaging, the customer is the ultimate beneficiary. There are enough consumer dollars to support both, and both should be marketed to build relationships and trust with the customer as a means to further growth.

Private Label Challenges.
Interestingly, many retailers continue to struggle to make their private labels desirable to consumers. Many still cling to the old pricing formulas for private label products. A minimum 10% to 20% below national brands has been a long-established industry standard for private label pricing. A major collaborative study by A.C.Nielsen, Daymon Worldwide and DemandTec released this past spring, shows that products that are priced too low may be passed over by consumers for fear that the quality may not be as good as that of the national brands. Conversely, if priced too closely to major brands, customers have reported they will likely pay a little extra and purchase the perceived "better" products instead.

The same research study points to assortment issues. The retail tendency to constantly expand offerings with too many varieties and redundant products, whether under the umbrellas of national or private brands, tend to put off consumers who are confronted with too many choices, and too little time, to figure out their best options. In fact, over assortments are perceived as clutter and routinely frustrate consumers. Retailers are not reacting to this by narrowing their merchandise mix for fear of losing business to competitors with broader mixes. Both national and private brands would fare better if routinely culled of their slowest-moving skus.

Recent findings clearly indicate that retailers must research and implement better pricing and merchandising strategies if they are to represent discernible value to the consumer with their own brands. Again: that means the right product mix at the right prices. They also make the case for retailers to better brand, position and package their private label product mix as never before. Investing a little bit of research to define consumers' current needs, wants and desires can pay big dividends. Taking the more sophisticated approach of CPG companies, and marketing to consumers based on lifestyle, and their desires, makes the latter a secondary issue.

Too many private label product lines are still being branded and packaged to look like "knock offs" of their nationally branded counterparts. Whether positioning and packaging national brands or private label lines, the same rules apply. There are no short-cuts to success with this.
- A unique brand identity must be developed; one that is clearly differentiated from its competitors. And one that has a clearly delineated added value over its competitors; offering consumers more perceived bang for their buck.
- A tight, relevant product mix that makes the private label brand easy to shop within each category. By offering customers the products they truly want, in the right sizes and varieties at value pricing, without a huge proliferation of choices, the retailer makes the private label relevant to the customer.
- The brand promise must be fulfilled. There has to be a perception of quality that is as good as, or even better than that of national brands. Private label products must perform as promised, every single time.
- Co-branding is a viable option in some categories. Think Costco and its Kirkland private label co-branded with Michelin in its tire assortment. Think Michael Graves for Target's home products division or Isaac Mizrahi for Target fashions. Co-branding like this conjures up images of quality, value pricing and great style for the consumer's dollar.
- Lastly, the retailer must actively market the private label brand and its differentiated assets to its customers. Again, Target markets its co-branded lines of apparel and home products as chic; there's a lot of style to be had for the money. Even the rich love to find great buys at Tarzhay. . .

Since huge marketing budgets are not in place to support most private label brands, packaging is a crucial aspect of promoting these lines. Packaging must tell the brand story in compelling fashion. In fact, since point of sale is the place where so many consumers make their decision to buy or not to buy, packaging has to be considered the most important element of private label marketing. In-store advertising via signage and TV can be a low cost way to promote the private label brand where there is no budget to do radio and TV advertising in local markets, and can and should be utilized as well.

Brand Packaging Criteria for Private Label Lines.
Since private label brands appeal to consumers across all social and financial strata today per the latest industry data, the tendency to brand and package these lines for a blue collar audience is an idea that should be retired, once and for all.
- Packaging must truly refer back to the brand and become perceived as part of the total experience with the retail brand: excellent customer service, a quality environment and a sense of community and social responsibility serve to make private label offerings very attractive in the consumer's eyes. Think: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's.
- Packaging must deliver a hierarchy of specific communications to the customer. No extraneous information that consumers can't or won't take the time to read, only meaningful communications. Think: BJ's Wholesale Club's Berkley & Jensen product packaging for food and non-food products alike.
- Packaging should be as distinctive in structure and execution as the brand it refers to. It shouldn't mimic the dominant national brands in category after category; even worse: it should never look generic. How can a unique, differentiated brand image be built if the private label is part of a "sea of sameness" on the retail shelf? Think: Ahold's Nature's Promise line of organic food products.
- Brand identity and packaging should form an umbrella, as a national brand does, over products in many diverse categories. Most retailers have not enjoyed notable consumer recognition and sales success with private label brands that have spanned numerous categories and they must focus on resolving this problem. Think: Costco's Kirkland Signature brand and packaging.

Large retailers, that have launched and manage successful private label branded programs, have set up separate business units to package, market and advertise these brands. Smaller and mid-sized operations usually opt to employ creative consultancies to assist them in the branding, packaging and promoting of their private labels. Regardless, management of private label is critical to its success, and it should not be treated as an adjunct to retailers' core business, with little investment in the way of dedicated time and human capital. Without focus and nurturing, private label product lines will not realize their potential, and that is a lose-lose proposition for retailers and consumers.




Creating Interactive Consumer Packaging
By Ted Mininni

Interactive packaging. To many in the marketing and design businesses, this denotes images of soon-to-be-realized nanotechnologies. Futuristic barcodes. New substrates. Even more imaginative take-offs on the "Try Me" concepts of today. Better clamshells that make entire products or key product attributes clearly visible to consumers. While these ideas have great merit, some of them are unattainable at present. Yet, marketers know that all of their initiatives, including packaging, must engage consumers. So how can we get packaging to "speak" to consumers today?

The very idea of engagement or formation of a relationship between consumer and brand implies an emotional connection. Packaging helps deliver a brand with emotion when structure, color, imagery and copy come together effectively. Aspects of brands that leverage the highly-charged emotions surrounding enjoyment, for example, resonate with the consumer. Making a consumer pause, and maybe smile, due to an unexpected element, a sense of whimsy, fun or fantasy, a promise of enjoyment, an engaging story, a sense of nostalgia, a promise of luxury, indulgence or a bit of self pampering -- all of these elicit profound emotions. Packaging cues can bring these emotions to the fore. Used with lifestyle imagery, they can deliver a story and become powerful motivators.

Beyond imagery, emotive and lifestyle cues, packaging must still deliver a specific hierarchy of information. But this needn't be a dry exercise. Consumers are human beings, and as such, they respond to stories. When a brand has a human face, sharing stories connects consumers to it on an emotional level. This is far more compelling than dry features/benefits.

I've gone on record in the past stating that "Products come alive in packaging that speaks to the consumer. As one of the most important consumer touch points, packaging has the power to move an audience." It is the only marketing tool that delivers products into consumers' hands. Experts know that packaging must be a synergistic part of the overall brand expression continuum. Packaging isn't a one-off marketing initiative, living in a vacuum.

Merging Packaging with New Communication Platforms.
The time has come to utilize packaging to engage consumers in an even deeper manner. Since today's consumers are inundated with product choices, advertising, multi-media messaging, direct mail and special offers—most of which, they tune out, maybe there's another way to engage them. Knowing that consumers prefer to use new communications like the Internet and their cell phones should clue us in to tying our packaging in to these new platforms.

Maybe besides posting the brand's web site on the package somewhere, we could integrate more ingenious devices onto packaging to invite consumers to either "join the conversation" about our products on a new blog. Or invite them to register online to become part of a consumer consultant panel (with a reward, of course). Or even ask them to test a new product or new flavor, to solicit their feedback.

When it comes to kids, how about giving them a couple of fun reasons to come to a web site loaded with games and adventure? Suggest they bring their friends into the games via IM or Twitter?

Why can't special offers or invitations be used to form an exclusive "club" via social media among brand devotees? Why can't they be geared to the Internet and to mobile phones? If these are the communications platforms consumers are using the most, why shouldn't brand packaging tie neatly into those vehicles?

Simply printing a web site onto the back or side panel of packaging isn't sufficient. A device that is part of package design, but is clearly visible with the most casual observation will create curiosity, and spark interest. Why not invite consumers to check in via their cell phones on the spot to avail themselves of some special information? An exclusive promotion? A special invitation?

Sound far-fetched? Take a look at what Nickelodeon has done for various kids' demographics. For adults, take a look at the Dell or Apple communities. And all of this leads me to think there is a great opportunity to do much more. The fact is: packaging has been under-utilized as a driver for consumer connectivity. Certainly great package design has helped forge relationships between consumers and brands, one on one. But by thinking outside the box—what else can be done to use packaging as a driver of conversation between brand and consumer?

Forging relationships, alliances and exchanging ideas are all happening at warp speed—thanks to new communications platforms and social media. Packaging needs to work more closely with them. If used optimally, this is one of the ways brands and branded products will continue to have relevance for consumers. New applications of social media are unfolding. What other kinds of tools are emerging, or have yet to appear? The opportunities might be only limited by our imaginations or our ability to create the tools we will need to interact with consumers. By providing additional impetus for interaction, packaging can create a more vital link between brand and consumer. Great ideas can be solicited as customers interface more closely with companies. The advantage: to speak directly with the customer one on one. Consumers can also be encouraged to interface with each other and out of that, a sense of "belonging" will emerge. Better yet: consumers will feel empowered and become evangelists and spread the love -- yes love, the most powerful of human emotions -- for the brand far and wide.

And that is the power of leveraging today's connectivity isn't it? Time to think of packaging in relation to the new communications platforms consumers have already embraced. If we do that, the consumers will be engaged at a deeper, more meaningful level. Communities will be built around brands. That is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn't it? 




Packaging that Delivers at the Second Moment of Truth
By Ted Mininni

Consumer culture is in transition. Today, consumers are less interested in purchasing products to meet their basic needs. They are much more interested in engaging with brands whose values satisfy them on an emotional level.

Brand managers are beginning to understand that and they are positioning and packaging their products to meet this new consumer mandate. While many are successful at meeting consumers at the retail shelf in the FMOT—first moment of truth, as evidenced by their ability to move them to make initial purchases, they haven't always thought it through to meet the SMOT-second moment of truth. Not yet. If they did, there would be absolute loyalty-even fanatical devotion--to brands.

To be fair, the first order of business marketers and design consultants are charged with is to get the consumer to pick up their product in the scant few seconds they're scanning the many choices they have on the retail shelf. But what happens after that? Forget that we're marketers, packaging designers, retail experts. Let's put ourselves in the consumer's place. Faced with a plethora of choices in virtually every product category, to the point of saturation, what's compelling? What's engaging or exciting? Consumers are bored now. They want to be entertained, or engaged on an emotional level. Consumers aren't responding to being marketed to in the conventional sense. Why? They don't want to be spoken to; they want to be spoken with and engaged.

When standing in front of the retail shelf, a structurally unique package looks interesting to the consumer. The signature color, brand mark, and unique characteristics denote that this a product from a recognized, trusted brand. So far, so good. Even better: the packaging evokes something on an emotional level. It plays to a lifestyle fit. It promises enjoyment, or fulfills another emotional desire. Perhaps it offers a bit of promised pampering. Maybe it offers some kind of security. Or it promises to be a healthier, more natural choice. Why not take it home and try the product? Great. Then what? Have we given the consumer the potential for any "aah" moments? Now that they have arrived precisely at the point where they are actually interacting with the package, by opening it up to reveal its contents, what then? Here is the best and greatest opportunity to engage the consumer. Have we succeeded in doing that? Have we, in this second moment of truth, delivered the brand in such a way as to engage the consumer completely?

If not, we have just squandered the moment when we could have delivered the single most satisfying interaction between consumer and brand. By delivering the ultimate experience with attributes to excite the senses-touch, smell, sound or taste-as well as the intangibles of well-being, luxury or pampering, fun or enjoyment in that moment, we can cement the relationship between consumer and brand in the most meaningful way. Heightening the consumers' anticipation in an exciting manner as they are opening well-conceptualized packaging to reach the object of their desire-the product-will deliver the most memorable of experiences. If we are all intent on delivering a great brand experience, shouldn't packaging be the centerpiece of our efforts? This is the touch point that makes our products tangible to consumers. It should deliver the ultimate experience.

How Packaging Can Deliver that SMOT.
When Apple packages its products like the iMacs, new generation iPods or the iPhones, the company does so with great deliberateness. Unwrapping the packaging reveals the products and their components in stages, increasing the consumer's excitement every step of the way. This creates such an impact, many Apple devotees keep the packaging, and even integrate it into their home or work space decor. It is obvious that Apple uses every opportunity it has at its disposal to create brand ambassadors, not mere consumers of its products.

A new frozen dessert line in the U.K., dubbed The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile "skin" that is strikingly unique. The tagline: "Obsessed by Pleasure" hangs from the logo. Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered via the packaging in a memorable way. Even mundane, commodity products can be packaged with great SMOT assets that are memorable and exciting to consumers. And the packaging doesn't have to be over the top to accomplish this, either. For example, the new Bird's Eye frozen vegetable packaging is excellent. Strong fresh graphics on bags that enable consumers to perfectly, evenly steam their vegetables in the microwave sans mess make this packaging so pleasurable, consumers will quickly become adherents of these products.

P&G's Tide Simple Pleasures and sister brand Downy Simple Pleasures tout four, long-lasting aromatherapy fragrance combinations that are delighting consumers in color-coded packaging. Guaranteed: consumers take the caps off to take a whiff of these newest, best-received products in the laundry care sections of supermarkets. Touting that "Clean never smelled so good"; offering four unique fragrances that promise "A change of mood", using 'naturally-derived essential oils', all promise the consumer a sensuous, delicious experience. Then, there's the promise that the wonderful scents will go on and on as garments are worn. . .

Campbell Soup Company has augmented its packaging for its "Soup at Hand"products. Always marketed as "a great way to eat right when you're on the run", Campbell's has thought its packaging for these products through a bit more. The sides of the packaging have been slimmed halfway down to fit the consumer's hand more comfortably. But that isn't all. For ease of use, Campbell's has added a plastic over-cap lid that pops off easily and features holes for sipping. Under the lid, a peel-able foil comes off easily and the plastic over-cap goes back on after the soup is heated, so that consumers can enjoy sipping it on the go, sans mess. Online graphic feature these simple instructions: "1. Pop the top. 2. Microwave. 3. Grab n' go".

The Point of It All. . .
By reorienting our thinking about packaging and going beyond designing it to merely meet consumers' FMOT; by stretching the brand's emotive and lifestyle assets further, into a SMOT, we will have accomplished more than a sale. We will have engaged consumers in a more meaningful way that begins to build enduring relationships.

Research has divulged 80% of consumers are satisfied with the products they buy, but those 80% are not fanatically devoted to the brands they purchase. That data demonstrably points to the fact consumers are not engaged enough by the brands they are satisfied with, to the point of loyalty, and devotion. Those consumers would just as easily purchase another brand, in that case. By designing packaging that leads to a SMOT, we will have decidedly given the consumer a much deeper experience with our brands. One that will make them not only loyal, but turn them into brand evangelists.




Designing Sticky Packaging at Retail
By Ted Mininni

Chip and Dan Heath's ideas, derived from their research in a recently published book: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" have made them the darlings of the marketing world. For good reason. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail.

The onus is squarely on marketers to find a way to make their brands and products stick. According to the Heath brothers, being sticky means that: ". . .your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact—they change your audience's opinions or behavior." Consider the questions posed by these sticky thinkers carefully:
- How can brands and products deliver a powerful message, simply and concisely expressed, that deliver the essential core successfully?
- How can the brand message be made concrete and memorable?
- How can the brand be expressed in such a way as to hold the consumer's attention long enough to deliver that core message?
- How can a brand capture the consumer's attention by doing something unexpected? 
- How can the brand be made credible? How can we get the consumer to believe and trust in the brand?
- How can the brand appeal to consumers on a deeper, emotional level?
- How can we use storytelling to motivate the consumer to act?

What does all of this have to do with packaging? Everything. Packaging makes both brand and product tangible to the consumer. We could argue that it is the singularly most important touch point because it delivers both into consumers' hands. Not only should brands be sticky; packaging should be, as well.

The fact that so many brands and brand packaging struggle in the marketplace, is evidence that neither have been sticky enough to consumers. So what do we need to do to address that issue? If effective, packaging delivers brand and product to the consumer in an experiential manner. That is, it engages the consumer on an emotional, rather than merely an intellectual level. It communicates the brand message quickly and effectively. It delivers the brand's core assets in an emotive manner. When the brand promise is fulfilled in the consumer's mind, after purchasing the product, loyalty will begin to develop based on trust.

If great, packaging helps to raise brand and product to iconic status. It transcends an entire category to become the clear product of choice. The brand and product the consumer closely identifies with and aligns with. Iconic consumer brands are the stickiest in our culture. Iconic brands don't have to appeal to everyone, either. They do have to command absolute allegiance from their consumer base, however. How can packaging help elevate brands and products to that level?

Putting Packaging in Retail Context.
Great packaging is the result of extensive research. Consumer research, category and competitive research all play a role in developing superior packaging. But these aren't the end-all and be-all. An understanding of our culture and trends is paramount. In order to be viable, living and growing, consumer brands and products cannot exist in a vacuum and remain grounded in their own values without consideration of the modern society we live in. Otherwise, they lose their relevance.

What we're saying: for packaging to be put into meaningful retail context, it must simultaneously be developed in human context. What do consumers relate to in an emotional manner? What kinds of deeply ingrained cultural cues do they respond to? What are the stories that bind consumers to brands? What is relevant to today's consumer? What kinds of experiences is the consumer seeking at retail?

People, from time immemorial, have responded to storytelling. Marketers understand that, and many seek to deliver stories about their brands in their packaging, advertising and web sites. But how about the brands that connect their own brand stories with richer, deeper human stories? Or the brands that use cultural cues that consumers recognize and respond to?

Brands like Tazo Tea tell two kinds of stories, and these aren't separate entities. They are tightly woven together and appear seamless. Tazo Tea tells its story of tea leaves sourced from all over the world, blended into unique combinations. But it goes further. The story tells of cultural roots, long-held local traditions and how tea has a distinctive place in 5000 years of human history. With highly textured "paper" surfaces, some of which resemble sandstone, Tazo packaging features unusual ornamentation and archaic-looking iconic script as background to the typography. The Tazo logo prominently displays ancient-looking symbols. All of this points to the timeless traditions, social and spiritual connections people the world over have to the drinking of tea. The branding and product packaging bring all of this together in a breathtaking way, making Tazo a standout among premium tea brands.

Pepsi has always positioned itself the cola of choice for a young, hip generation. . .for each successive generation of youth. Now the packaging unites with the brand as Pepsi rolls out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work all retains the brand flagship colors--blues with red and white. The brand identity has retained its heritage but has been contemporized for the newest Pepsi Generation. As packaging expert Peter Arnell, whose firm realized the project, stated in an interview: "Product innovation today must be driven by deep consumer meaning and connectivity." Exactly. Pepsi, the brand, stands for "fun" and "effervescence" the world over. Why not use strong contemporary graphics to connect to kids in today's culture?

Start-up Stickiness.
Start-up brands face a major challenge. They also have a unique opportunity to tell a compellingly different story in the marketplace. The fact that failure rates are so high among new brands, points to their inability to deliver a compelling, sticky story to consumers. Yet some brands break through to do just that.

A new chocolate dessert manufacturer in the U.K. has generated considerable buzz among consumers and bloggers. While only available at British grocery chain, Sainsbury's thus far, its fame is growing quickly, and consumers are openly asking for product availability online. How often do consumers get that excited over another new brand? Dubbed "Filthy" by The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile skin-what else-is strikingly unique. The tagline literally hangs from the logo: "Obsessed by Pleasure". Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to act; that is, to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. How about that for a sticky idea in a crowded product category? Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered with a new twist. The brand delivers its message simply and directly. It is concrete and memorable. It delivers the element of surprise--it's unexpected.

Now the Filthy brand has to deliver the pleasure and enjoyment it promises the consumer. If it does, and there's no reason to believe it won't, it will have earned trust and loyalty. Better yet, consumers themselves will assist in further building this brand through Word of Mouth. What is WOM worth to marketers? A great deal in today's world of highly connected consumers who are in constant discussion among themselves.

What do the three brand packaging examples cited have in common? They're stand-outs among competitive products. Unique and instantly recognizable. They're simple, direct, concrete, memorable, emotive to consumers. They tell strong, compelling stories in cultural context. Best of all: they do it in a totally unexpected way. Bottom line: brands like Tazo, Pepsi and Filthy can't be commoditized. They're too unique and memorable. Their stories and cues are too culturally significant. In short, they're far too sticky. As we begin another year, let's cast a critical eye over our brands and packaging and ask ourselves a fundamental question: what we can do to make and keep them sticky with our targeted consumer?



Advertising is Dead. Long Live Packaging
By Ted Mininni

It's no secret that most conventional advertising isn't cutting it. When marketers think about how to allocate their budgets, maybe they ought to be spending less on advertising. Why not take those dollars that aren't going to be spent on advertising, and invest them in packaging instead? The rationale for this argument is simple. With consumers increasingly tuning out of mainstream media channels and tuning into their iPods, mobile phones and social networks instead, most advertising is going to a dead letter office. At the same time, consumerism continues to flourish. Shopping is a pastime for many Americans and a team sport for Tweens, teens and young adults. 

We are experiencing a downturn in the economy and tighter wallets due to substantial rises in living expenses. While softer at present, consumer sales will rebound just as soon as the economy shows signs of picking up again. We ought to get ready for that-now.

This brings us back to investing in packaging. Many marketers would scratch their heads and say that they already do invest substantially in product packaging. If that is so, why does a plethora of category packaging out there look so boring, so similar, so uninspiring? Remember that consumer packaging may be the only opportunity many brands have to "sell" consumers, since so much advertising is lost on them. Stand in the aisle of any major supermarket or mass retailer in America and notice in numerous product categories, many brands are indistinguishable from each other. If your brand looks like the rest of the product brands in the category, an overhaul is in order. To wit: do we need one more pasta sauce with a red and green label? Can you discern one brand of sauce easily from another?

Given this, is it enough to leverage brand assets on product packaging?  Implement proper communication hierarchy and the use of signature brand colors? Design a unique, "ownable" structure to help establish brand differentiation? Apparently not. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail. New product introductions are growing exponentially and the pressure of increasing competition is only making the problem more acute.

Packaging before Product.
What does the consumer interface with first, the product, or the package the product comes in? The package. So, it is expected to do a great deal. Get the consumer's attention in 3 seconds flat. Stand out from competitors' products. Hold the consumer's attention long enough to identify with the message, lifestyle and emotive cues in the imagery and communications prompting them to pick up the product. Make an all-important connection. Take it home. 

Now be honest and ask yourselves whether your packaging is doing the job. Even if your products represent category leaders, is your packaging really selling the brand? Given the mercurial nature of fast-changing consumer desires and today's retail environments, a change may be in order. That change might be subtle, yet make a huge difference, while requiring a fairly modest investment. If packaging isn't doing the job, it's time to reinvest in this most crucial element in your marketing mix in a significant manner. That might even involve-gulp-radical new thinking. That takes courage. But look at it this way: it's less risky to break new ground if a brand has little equity or market share, and it might be just what the doctor ordered.

A new departure in packaging might create some real excitement and WOM buzz. . .what marketer wouldn't love that? So, if you're convinced your new brand of gourmet pasta sauce is the best ever, why package it with red and green labels? Why not give serious thought to revolutionizing the category with stand-out, stand-alone packaging? Pom Wonderful did just that in the juice category. Pringles did it in the high volume snack category. These package designs are now iconic, easy to identify and firmly rooted in consumers' minds.

Even with established brands, a leap of design faith can yield dramatic results. Pepsi recently rolled out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work retains the brand flagship colors-blues, red and white. The brand identity and heritage are intact, but they've been contemporized for a new Pepsi Generation. This new "Choregraphy" campaign has elevated Pepsi in consumer consciousness, especially for its target audience: youth.

Procter & Gamble's Downy brand is another category leader. Yet, P&G has launched a new Radiance collection of three "fabric enhancers" in distinct, "perfume" fragrances. The packaging looks like anything but stolid, old stand-by Downy. Sophisticated fragrances and sensuous, curvy packaging with metallic colors cued to each fragrance, delivering a fashion statement. Who would have equated Downy with fashion and sophistication in the past? So why can't established brands launch exciting new packaging for line extensions?

Bottom line: brands demanding unique positioning in the consumer's mind demand unique packaging. Whether the challenge is to market heritage brands to newer generations of consumers or to launch new brands to the marketplace, the packaging focus has to be the same: owning mindshare. Packaging may be marketers' first and only opportunity to make that vital connection with the consumer. If your products are lost in the retail shuffle, or you're about to jump into the marketplace foray, you've got a big challenge on your hands. Now tell me there's a better way to allocate marketing funds than trail-blazing new packaging.

POPON - Point of Purchase Online Network Featuring Ted Mininni - Design Force, Inc

This classic marketing theory holds that consumers develop awareness of branded products thanks to numerous, traditional advertising impressions. Familiarity leads to eventual purchasing consideration for a limited choice of brands. When entering a retail environment, consumers center their attention on those few choices, and purchase one. Throughout the process, the funnel obviously keeps narrowing. With consistent delivery on the brand promise, loyalty develops over time.

However, new research demonstrates consumer purchasing patterns no longer fit this model. So could the wrong marketing emphasis be one of the reasons, along with a soft economy, for real shifts in consumer spending and overall loyalty? Given the data, it's likely.

According to the latest consumer research, there's a new paradigm. Constant exposure via traditional and interactive media continues to create brand awareness. When consumers make the decision to purchase a product, they evaluate their choices by conducting Internet research. They participate in word of mouth exchanges, seeking information from social media contacts.

This is a crucial juncture for brands in the pre-purchasing process; the reason they must have a strong online presence. Marketers need to invest dollars on independent web sites--not only their own--that they've identified as the places consumers are seeking information about products like theirs, and buying them. Ditto for interactive media sites - online and mobile - since these core constituencies will endorse and spread the word about their products.

Due to a virtual explosion of social media outlets as well as new brands, consumers are actually not narrowing their options now. Rather, they are expanding their possible list of choices. Thus, the narrowing consumer funnel model is now obsolete.

Marketing in the New Paradigm.

Armed with this information, why would product companies execute the usual old budget cuts when consumer spending slows down? If the consumer has fundamentally changed, doesn't this call for a serious restructuring of marketing focus, initiatives, spending?

Consumers are no longer passive, so spending the lion's share of the marketing budget on TV, radio, newspaper and magazine ads - simply isn't efficient. Yet, when the economy sours, marketers pull back and retrench to "tried and true" traditional outlets.  They cut new media spending. They cut customer service personnel. They hold off on new product packaging. These might seem like natural decisions, but do they make sense?

Many companies have dabbled in interactive media in a limited way; not always meaningfully or for long, so they have little ROI data on their marketing efforts. As a result, they're likely to be cut down or cut out. This is a mistake. While one-way communication still delivers impressions, today's consumer is empowered by information gleaned from the Internet, mobile devices and conversations on social media sites. They pursue online connections to family, friends and blogging communities. These new media influencers have increased in importance since the last economic downturn. So, logically speaking, does it make sense to make deep budget cuts here?

Let's not forget that consumers also converse directly with companies via customer service online, via phone and email. Here is an often under-mined opportunity to interface directly with consumers; a golden opportunity to rectify problems, address issues quickly and satisfactorily, tweak product features and find out what consumers respond to best when purchasing category products. So should customer service be the recipient of deep budget cuts?

Lastly, with brand loyalty flagging as consumers scour retail shelves before making their final purchase decisions, how can deep budget cuts on packaging be justified?

Instead: why not work smarter and get more from fewer resources? Cutting back on traditional marketing to some degree and reallocating resources on social media, Internet web sites and customer service makes sense. Reallocating resources on packaging is vital since final purchase decisions are made at the retail shelf. Aligning marketing communications among all of these consumer-facing initiatives is priority #1.

Packaging for the New Paradigm.

The current diminishment in loyalty as consumers are open to more choices can work to the benefit of a brand, or to its detriment. Smart marketers will use this knowledge to address their presence at retail. Packaging has actually gained in importance in the marketing mix as consumers closely scrutinize more products on the retail shelf before purchasing. Given this, it's a wise idea to conduct an assessment of current packaging and make needed changes.

Packaging has to deliver more than ever in the current economic and competitive environment. If it doesn't decisively refer back to the brand, doesn't quickly and simply communicate its value and preferability to consumers, doesn't definitively leverage the brand and product's key assets, it fails to win the consumer's vote to purchase the product. It's vitally important to make sure one simple, overriding message resonates on packaging. Why? According to research, the average consumer scans the retail shelf in 20 seconds or less.

So what is the most important thing to communicate in that span of time? Tapping into consumers' compelling reasons to choose one brand over the rest in a category, by honing in on consumer statements and conversations, WOM and interactive media comments, meaningful insights can be gleaned. How about leveraging that most relevant thing - that one overriding message - consumers themselves care most about as the lead package communication?

Ultimately, packaging has the power to affect consumer purchasing behavior if utilized correctly. If packaging isn't a huge asset in selling the product and brand on the retail shelf, it simply isn't being maximized as a marketing tool. Now, while consumers are clearly open to more brands than ever, there's a chance to win more business now and potentially more brand loyalty when the economy improves.

So here are the questions that must be answered now: How can marketing initiatives be used to get closer to consumers and better understand what their needs are? How can two-way communications be used to increase brands' relevance to the consumer? How can aligned messaging be utilized for all consumer-facing marketing initiatives? Lastly, how can all of this help produce the most compelling packaging in the category?




Understanding Green Demographics: the Implications for Packaging
By Ted Mininni

I've been ruminating about the tough economy like everyone else. Rather than lamenting what is, I think this downturn affords businesses a rare opportunity to slow down, rethink and reset.

Consumer product companies that innovate, will insulate their brands to a higher degree from the current downturn while positioning them for future growth. Tip: it's time to research sustainability measures that can begin to be implemented - now. If there's ever been a time and a place to allocate tight marketing budgets, this is it.

Why sustainability and why now? Sustainability practices are increasingly important to consumers. Interestingly, they have not pulled back from buying green, slow economy, decreased purchasing power, or not. That goes for products as well as packaging. IRI (Information Resources Inc.) recently released an informative report that CPG companies really need to take heed of, titled: "Sustainability: CPG Marketing in a Green World".

With more and more consumers consciously choosing to live greener lives, sustainable product packaging is no longer an afterthought. Rather, it should be adopted and integrated as part of an overall brand repositioning in sync with an overall environmentally responsible plan. Company brand values need to be tweaked and realigned with today's consumer values more than ever, if they are going to succeed over the long haul.

IRI's report tracked consumer behavior in eight distinct demographic segments and the following green segments: organic, Fair Trade commodities, and eco-friendly products. While sales to hard-core eco-centric consumers fell 6.6% in 2008 largely due to price increases, "respectful stewards" increased spending on environmentally friendly products by 15.5% and "proud traditionalists" by 8.4%. This helped buoy sales up 4.1% for the year, signifying that previously less green consumers are climbing what IRI refers to as "the green adoption curve".

IRI's eight green consumer groups:
- Eco-centrics. "Green" is the chosen way of life for these consumers; they are well-informed, active and ardent supporters of green products.
- Respectful stewards. Idealistic, community-focused consumers who see value in paying more for products that are green.
- Proud traditionalists. Hard-working, family-focused consumers who focus on having environmentally-conscious homes and experiment with green products.
- Frugal earth mothers. Lower income female consumers who look for savings while also looking for more prudent, wholesome products for their families.
- Skeptics. Men who are highly educated and earn high incomes; who are also skeptical about the benefits of purchasing green products.
- Eco-chics. Young adult consumers who think being green is hip. They'll buy on impulse; they're early adopters but haven't delved deeply into environmental issues.
- Green naives. Younger, lower income consumers who haven't made the correlation between cause/effect and environmental responsibility.
- Eco-villains. Middle income male consumers; couldn't care less about any environmental issues and dismiss environmental concerns outright.

The key for marketers is to understand which segments of consumers are prevalent within their own constituencies so that their companies can offer the right kind of innovations and messaging that is relevant to them. This will take some resource investments of time, capital and research on the part of the marketing department, but the returns are too important to ignore.

Green Packaging: Why Now?

There are few consumer goods that are 100% green, natural and organic, but there are more and more products with at least some components that are green, natural or organic. There is no such thing as 100% green packaging. However, that does not mean companies can't make commitments now and into the future to conduct business as environmentally soundly as possible. Nor does it mean they cannot find innovative new ways to develop and integrate greener components in their products and packaging. Right?

Why would companies invest in this now, when budgets are getting slashed? Consider this: research demonstrates that while sustainable packaging isn't the primary consumer purchase motivator, it has become important enough to make consumers opt for one brand over another within a product category if one company embraces good environmental practices and a competitor doesn't.

The Hartman Group's "Sustainability Outlook: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility" shares some significant findings concerning packaging attitudes in a recent survey among 1,600 consumers:
• The highest rating - 75% of respondents stated the importance of packaging that could be recycled as most important to them.
- 71% indicated biodegradability in packaging an important asset.
- 67% cited packaging made from recycled content important to them.
- 63% like to purchase packaging that is refillable.
- 62% felt that minimal packaging was important.
- 60% of respondents look for packaging that can be repurposed for other uses.
- 51% indicated compostable packaging was important to them.

Bottom line: with so much talk focused on myriad environmental issues over the past few years, and growing impetus in recent months, the consumer is increasingly aware. There is growing concern about packaging and what becomes of it after it has served its purpose. The three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have hit home with greater numbers of consumers now.

Consumer product companies ought to consider: what better way is there to sell sustainable values than through that most important of marketing initiatives—packaging? Utilizing the three R's in updated packaging design sends a powerful message. Better yet, using the packaging itself as a communications platform about the company's commitment to sustainability gives marketers a powerful tool to reach consumers. Targeting that messaging to the company's proper green demographic(s) becomes meaningful. Tying that messaging in to the company website, advertising and every other marketing initiative it uses, will further educate targeted consumers.

Contrary to the belief that consumers are increasingly skeptical due to widespread green-washing, The Hartman Group's survey yielded an eye-opening statistic. 82% of those surveyed thought most companies' green claims "mostly true". Of course, it is important to maintain trust with consumers by being honest about all of the company's sustainability practices, including those made on and about packaging. It is better to say nothing, than it is to make claims that stretch the truth; the latter can do considerable damage to the brand, precisely when building consumer trust has never been more important.

Consumers are not only looking to niche companies that have made sustainability a cornerstone of their brands. They're also expecting established mass market companies to move in this direction, and rewarding those that do. Being responsible stewards of the environment by adopting better business practices is step one. Offering more sustainable products and continuing product innovations is step two and that necessarily leads to sound packaging.

Sustainable packaging should be used to push the values of "reduce, reuse and recycle" and as the ultimate platform to reach the target consumer with the company's overall sustainable positioning. Here is a terrific opportunity to further differentiate brands in a meaningful way—right now and for the future. Seizing this golden opportunity will lead to green in more ways than one.




Cutting Packaging Down to Size
By Ted Mininni

There's nothing like a slowing economy to force companies to address customer issues. Pushing more innovative consumer products into the pipeline, lowering prices to increase value perception and to counter competitive pricing and making customer service improvements are all typical responses. Yet, working on a couple of customer touch points is an inadequate approach.

Companies' focus ought to be on designing the total customer experience, aligning every customer touch point and cementing greater loyalty to their brands, in the process. Isn't it time to develop a comprehensive, top to bottom customer experience strategy?
Think of all the touch points customers interact with. Designing and aligning the web site, customer service call center, IVR system, product literature, advertising and packaging to deliver consistent, positive customer experiences is crucial to a company's success. Of these, packaging is arguably the most important customer touch point, since it delivers brand and product into the customer's hands. It's the tangible representation of both.
Designing Packaging that Delivers.
While capital expenditures are being cut these days, investing in experiential packaging ought to be considered. By taking a short-term loss in marketing ROI vis-a-vis packaging now, companies can position themselves to retain customers and market share for the long-term. It's important to keep loyal customers for the present, while positioning to gain new customers when the economy improves, yielding higher ROI in the future.

Strategy and design are the tools that enable companies to design packaging that delivers a great experience; one that is emotionally connecting to the targeted customer. To do that successfully, research must answer key questions.
- Who is the customer and how has that customer evolved?
- How can the company match the customer's goals?
- What are the customer's expectations?
- What does the customer value?

Too often packaging is as commoditized as the products they contain. Without unique brand characteristics, structure and a communications hierarchy that make product and brand relevant to the target consumer; that meets their goals and expectations, packaging is not the effective sales closer it should be. If packaging was designed from an experiential perspective it would be far more compelling to consumers.

McCormick, manufacturer of spices and seasonings, elevates commodity products through experiential packaging. Even though consumers' busy lifestyles have made it difficult to cook as much as they used to, McCormick has remained relevant to consumers since its founding in 1889.

Over time, the company has quietly updated its line with proprietary seasoning blends, sauces, marinades—and new packaging. Economic down-turns have consumers turning to McCormick in increasing numbers, as they eat out less and cook at home more. McCormick's business is booming as a result.

Hot new additions have been getting a lot of buzz. McCormick still offers its basic line of herbs and spices packaged with its famous red label and cap, updated, yet retaining its heritage brand identity. Responding to trends well, McCormick offers additional lines of new products. A gourmet line of more exotic selections, including some organic selections, is packaged with distinctive sage green cap and black and gold labels, depicting natural herb plants and spices. The line is marketed to people who "cook with love and passion".

The striking "Grinders" line, gives consumers a touch of "gourmet" for their home-cooked meals. By designing bottles with inset grinders, consumers are offered the ultimate freshness. They can grind just the right amount of black peppercorns, sea salt or blended seasonings. No need to spend more money on expensive spices and mills from a specialty store or catalog.

Ethnic seasoning blends, Grill Mates, Slow Cooker Soups and Crusting Blends are all designed to help the time-strapped home cook make flavorful, home-cooked meals in a short period of time. All are packaged to effectively deliver a short, targeted message at a glance.

The company offers great recipes, tips and ideas for the home cook in a highly navigable web site and invites customers to join the site to share their own favorite recipes and tips with other readers, forming a community for cooking enthusiasts in the process.

Result? McCormick maintains its position as the largest spice company in the world with $2.9 billion in sales in 2007; 10% of that volume coming from the introduction of its new products. The company has elevated customer perception with gourmet style products and met the critical threshold of cooks' expectations while offering greater value. Why buy competitors' products or cheaper generics?

How about Method's packaging? Method's environmentally-safe home and personal use cleaning products feature beautifully-designed, clear packaging on many of its products. Packaging for the entire Method line has the look and feel of upscale cosmetic packaging. Talk about experiential!

An examination of environmental cleaning products shows that there's a great deal of similar bill-board-type packaging in the category. Only Method's packaging is strikingly different. Contemporary, clean, refreshing. As Method's web site states: "(co-founder) Eric (Ryan) knew people wanted cleaning products they didn't have to hide under their sinks". Not only does this product claim cleaning effectiveness and safety, it's meant to be seen. What a concept for commodity products!

While a number of eco-conscious cleaning products are on the market now, why is it that Method has garnered nearly a whopping $100 million in sales in a slow-growth category? Why is it that the brand has also created a community of avid brand loyalists? Products that are made to be seen, are obviously grabbed and used more. More product used, faster repeat sales. Since there are myriad cleaning products on the market, including eco-friendly options, it's apparent that Method's experiential packaging accounts for part of the brand's stunning success.

Let's face it: packaging that delivers a great experience is enjoyable and memorable to consumers. Removing customer frustration, and potential sources of disappointment, while unlocking the relevant drivers around branded products that fulfill customer expectations and help them reach their goals, can best be delivered by packaging. It can-and should-seal the deal, leading to that elusive brand loyalty.



Upcycling Packaging: A New Business Concept
By Ted Mininni

Entrepreneurialism is alive and well in America. Just ask Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle.
His big idea: a commercialized liquid plant food made from biological waste-or as Szaky calls it "worm poop", in reused soda bottles from school recycling programs, after making donations for them. Cleaning the bottles, slapping homey labels on them, and fitting them with trigger sprays other manufacturers couldn't use, or didn't want, enabled Szaky to finally bring his product to market. 

In a recent Brand Packaging article dubbed: "Spinning Garbage into Gold", Szaky shares some terrific ideas that ought to inspire a new generation of business owners. View additional information

Szaky dropped out of Princeton and worked at the new business for three years until finally securing some retail distribution, thanks to Wal-Mart and The Home Depot. He hasn't looked back. His philosophy: constantly finding ways to develop consumer products and consumer product packaging from consumer waste. Even better: refusing to price his green products at the high end of the spectrum, as some of his competitors are. "Since we're not doing it, we're gaining a lot", Szaky is quoted as saying.

TerraCycle now enjoys distribution as a staple in thousands of retail lawn and garden departments, adding products like deer repellant and compost bins to their original plant food product. According to the Brand Packaging article, the company is now developing consumer products in many categories: household cleaners, reusable totes, office products, and even Christmas ornaments.

On the packaging front, a Stonyfield Farm challenge to TerraCycle to find an alternative use for the company's polypropylene yogurt cups (since they aren't recycled much), yielded the invention of planting pots, with Stonyfield funding the entire collection program, thank you very much.

When Honest Tea began funding TerraCycle to reuse its used drink pouches, Kraft's Capri Sun and Kool Aid brands likewise, joined the effort. Net result? Recycled drink pouches manufactured into accessories now being sold at Target. As Szaky pointed out, for brands like Capri Sun, his reuse of their packaging solves a major problem since their packaging isn't recyclable, and would end up in landfills.

High volume consumer brands: Balance Bar, Clif Bar, South Beach diet bars, Chips Ahoy and Oreos have subsequently come aboard. What TerraCycle is doing isn't recycling in the classic sense. The company refers to its reuse of packaging as "upcycling". Definition: 'creative use of the shape and characteristics of existing packaging instead of crushing, mulching, melting it down or reforming it'.

Szaky loves what he refers to as his "Sponsored Waste" initiative. "You get paid for your raw materials and then you're paid for your finished product." While TerraCycle still sponsors collection programs in schools and churches, the company sees Sponsored Waste as its future. Apparently there's money in collecting and repurposing packaging for new products: TerraCycle has posted a 300% growth rate for the past four years.

Questions:
- What other kinds of consumer products would you like to see made from recycled waste and repurposed packaging?
- Do you think more businesses will emerge based on the TerraCycle model?
- Do you think we can eventually eliminate most of our garbage by thinking in these terms?

I'd love to hear from you.




The Retailer's New Role: CPG Marketer
By Ted Mininni

Retailers love their private labels. Especially in a challenging economy.

As successful as some of these brands are, many retailers have barely scratched the surface of private label's potential. By its very nature, private label offerings recast retailers as more than conduits of manufactured products to consumers. More than branded environments.

If retailers are doing more than paying lip service to the idea of creating positive consumer experiences within their store environments, private label lines afford them a great opportunity to further solidify their overall store brands in the minds of consumers.

To accomplish this, retailers will have to be willing to invest the proper resources and business acumen into this viable segment of their business. In essence, they will have to become actively engaged as CPG marketers. That means hiring crackerjack CPG marketers outside the company, unless the retail operation has homegrown talent in place.

Why would retailers make capital investments in private label during an economic downturn? When retailers consider the sheer number of private brands and skus within those brands in their stores, the amount of dedicated shelf space and the inventory dollar investment, why wouldn't they? When retailers analyze the volume they're doing—and how much more they could be doing-as well as the profit dollars involved, why wouldn't they?

Lastly, and most importantly, when retailers, intent on creating great experiential environments for their customers, factor in the additional benefit of presenting highly desirable store brands to heighten consumer perception, why wouldn't they?

The right assortments of private label merchandise, well-positioned, packaged and marketed should be a great differentiator for retailers. They can also go a long way to locking up consumer mindshare. Question: how much is it worth to retailers to reverse the erosion of brand loyalty these days?

The Safeway Model. . .
It's always nice to have a model when it comes to breaking new ground. California supermarket chain Safeway is blazing a trail with an enlightened view of private label brand management. Better yet: their ideas in the food business can be applied to any other consumer product category.

As is the case with many retailers, Safeway had a pantheon of 70 private label brands that it had developed over time. The retailer made the gut-check decision to pare down to 10 so it could focus on turning them into super brands.

Safeway then made a substantial commitment to private label with the hiring of James White as its SVP-Consumer Brands, who came armed with expertise gleaned from his work at top-notch CPG companies. A complement of CPG marketers were then hired to assist White in managing these consumer brands.

Two top focus brands: Safeway's "O Organics" private label food line, generated $300 million in volume in 2007, and is expected to bring in $400 million in 2008. The chain's "Eating Right" private label line which debuted last spring, is expected to generate $200 million in sales for 2008, as well.

By integrating internal marketing talent with the expertise of outside advertising and design consultants, in a collaborative manner, Safeway has taken the Procter & Gamble approach to managing its brands. P&G has enjoyed notable success since orienting itself in this manner, so why not take a page from the world's largest CPG company? Why not apply the strategic thinking P&G does for its brands to retail private label brands?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 1: Consumer-centric Solutions.
By operating like a CPG company within a retail environment, Safeway has taken a unique approach to supporting their brands with extensive research, enabling them to improve flavor profiles of existing products, as a result. By studying emerging consumer trends it can also position new product offerings that ensure a greater rate of return.

The food retailer wisely taps into creative consultancies to develop sophisticated package designs and dedicated advertising for its house brands. As a result, both have become more targeted and sophisticated.

Positioning for Safeway's Eating Right brand: "Uniting Flavor and Nutrition" is reflected in a clean, updated packaging system.  Key messaging effectively reaches consumers in a simple communications hierarchy. A system of colored spheres refer to specific health benefits Eating Right foods delivered in universally understood terms: "Low Fat", "Vitamins", "High in Fiber", among others.

Consumers are invited to "spot your needs" on the dedicated Eating Right web site and can browse numerous food and beverage selections by category. This comprehensive marketing that ties packaging, messaging and website together is "spot on".

In the case of the O Organics brand, Safeway's collaboration with an outside design consultancy also bore fruit. Infusing the brand's color palette with natural elements: sun, water, light and earth was no accident. Nor is the large signature "O" in the brand mark. Photography depicts products as close as possible to their natural settings. Message: purity and authenticity; less-processed, organically sourced foods.

Some of the packaging still shows the quintessential backdrop of farm scenes, from grazing cows to pristine fields. Still, the orientation of brilliant color is a far cry from the muted earth-toned packaging most organic product manufacturers seem to favor. The message of O Organics: "wholesomeness for the whole family". Implied message: "from farm to fork". Everything is certified USDA Organic. Again, Safeway has developed a dedicated website for O Organics to speak directly to consumers.

The assets of good quality, excellent taste, better nutrition and "in-demand" selections add tremendously to consumer value perception for these brands. And what's not to love about being able to buy organic food at lower prices besides?

Breaking the Private Label Mold, part 2: Taking it to the Streets.
To many retailers, Safeway's latest strategy may seem strange. The Better Living Brands Alliance was formed so that Safeway could market O Organics and Eating Right to foreign markets and institution such as school cafeterias. That makes sense.

However, the food retailer also wants to take its well-managed, high-growth private label brands and market them to other grocery chains, competitors included? Tantalizing, but radical idea, isn't it?

Then again, think about it. Research demonstrates Safeway's success: these labels are viewed by consumers as stand-alone brands. While they add to the overall value of the Safeway brand in consumer perception, they've also become viewed at the same level as national brands. A rare and important point.

Then why not do as all major CPG brands do, and market O Organics and Eating Right nationally? If competitors are less satisfied with their own store brands see enough incentive for adding brands that have been well-researched, marketed, packaged-and supported by national TV and print advertising—why not?

Will this work? We'll have to wait and see. But look at it this way: we live in unprecedented times. Consumer product manufacturers and retailers are increasingly confronted by a complex marketplace, fast-changing consumers and eroding brand loyalty. Part one of Safeway's strategy is a success. Part two? Well-calculated risks, based on solid data might be just what is needed today. No risk, no reward.



Packaging for the Planet
By Ted Mininni

Worldwide, the packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and employs more than five million people globally. And sustainable packaging is now a necessity.

Everything in our society is packaged. With the huge increase in global consumer goods consumption comes a large increase in packaging waste. This has created stress in community landfills around the globe, making it more incumbent on companies to use biodegradable as well as recycled materials as much as possible. Sustainable packaging should be embraced, not only for marketing leverage, but because it's the right thing to do.
It's great to see that many companies are behaving like responsible corporate citizens when it comes to sustainable packaging. Much has been made of this topic in professional journals. While important to the discussion, much of this is too scientific to be easily grasped by most of us. So what is sustainable packaging all about?

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition cites that according to conservative estimates, the worldwide packaging industry is valued at close to $420-billion and gives employment to more than five million people globally. In the US alone, consumer purchases of durable and non-durable goods and services account for 70% of the GDP. That makes product packaging a big deal!
With a finite amount of nonrenewable natural resources, ever-rising energy costs, and rapidly filling landfills, sustainable packaging is becoming an increasing necessity.
Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers are embracing eco-friendly packaging as never before. Wal-Mart, for example, has instituted a Sustainable Packaging Scorecard. The retail giant expects its 60,000 suppliers to fill in substantial information concerning their packaging. This information is shared so that suppliers can see how they "stack up" against all of Wal-Mart's other suppliers.

Employing what Wal-Mart refers to as "The 7 Rs of Packaging - remove, reduce, recycle, renew, revenue, and read" - the company feels it is moving in the right direction with its supplier partners.
This kind of initiative has an understandably large ripple effect throughout the CPG industry. It also provides a catalyst that spurs many companies to take action. Understandably, sustainable packaging is new to many companies and it isn't possible or reasonable to do all of these things at once, if ever. Yet, whatever measures companies can implement will have a direct impact on our environment.
The point is to have a "win-win" proposition: save on energy, natural resources, and environmental waste, while doing it profitably. With some smart thinking and planning, these measures can have a positive impact on corporate revenue streams.

For many decades, products and packaging have both been designed in a "cradle to grave" system; that is, they have ended up in landfills at the end of their useful life cycles. While some product components and packaging have been made biodegradable, a substantial amount is not. The best scenario avoids damaging the ecosystem altogether.
Numerous organisations have been formed to assist companies in reorienting their product and packaging development into a new "cradle to cradle" system. Products and packaging created in this manner feature materials that are perpetually circulated and reused in what industry experts refer to as "closed loops." This extracts maximum value from materials already in use without ever ending up in landfills, damaging ecosystems.

There are various aspects that make packaging sustainable. Manufacturers can institute some, if not all, of these environmentally friendly packaging solutions for their products:
- Cut down on excess product packaging. By creating packaging that is the right size for products, and not adding any extraneous material inside of packaging, there are huge savings in costs and waste.
- Use materials from renewable resources sourced from well-managed eco-systems. There are alternative resources for environmentally safe packaging components and packing materials.
- Use recycled materials to reduce the environmental impact of virgin materials that must be manufactured (the latter uses additional energy and natural resources). Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and FedEx all use 100% recycled paperboard. Companies can get information at the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance.
- Use non-toxic lead-free plastic packaging. Examples include Cargill Dow's NatureWorks PLA plastic packaging, which is made entirely from field corn, and NatureFlex biodegradable and compostable film, which is made from wood pulp.
- Use biodegradable materials and soy or water-based inks that will not do damage to the environment. • Purchase packaging materials that have been made with as little energy consumption as possible and that have emitted the fewest greenhouse gases in manufacture.
- Use packaging that has shifted away from petro-based chemicals to corn and potato starch components in biodegradable resins. These starches actually compost when degraded. Starch-based biodegradable foams are available from KTM Industries.
- Use biodegradable cornstarch peanuts as packing material in cartons rather than foam peanuts or packing pellets made from starch-based cereal grains.
- Find out about cradle-to-cradle product and packaging components and use them whenever possible.
Added to packaging issues are myriad supply chain issues. Getting packaged products to the retail marketplace is a huge area of focus at present. According to a report in the ProLogis Supply Chain Review, more logistics experts are working to maximize cube utilization better than ever before, given transportation costs. Better cube utilization simply means that manufacturers and retailers are seeking more efficiencies in trucking their products to consumer channels. By optimizing carton to pallet space ratios and filling trucks to capacity, transportation and energy costs are cut down.
Many companies are also teaming with other companies as "partners" in trucking, ensuring that once trucks unload their cargo, they pick up additional cargo and make additional drops on the way back so that they aren't returning empty, consuming additional energy. Smart thinking by smart logistics managers.

By consciously choosing products that are packaged in recycled or renewable materials, consumers not only support the companies that are eco-conscious, but also do their part to lessen energy use, the stripping of our precious natural resources and environmental waste.




The Public Face of Private Label
By Ted Mininni

Private label has come a long way in the past few years. Once perceived by customers as cheap, shoddy alternatives to national brands, private labels have slowly but surely come into their own. Having said that, the branding and packaging of private label products has yet to fully mature in business thought and practice.

Thus, largely untapped potential exists for private label brands. Especially in economic down-turns when consumers look for more VALUE for their money.

Retailers that have committed to developing private labels, from Wal-Mart to Walgreen's to Costco, have made substantial investments in the quality, marketing and packaging of their private brands. At least, enough so that the consumer has a more favorable image of private label product lines. According to A.C.Nielsen, approximately 85% of consumers have favorable views of private label brands, and almost 60% of their survey respondents felt the quality of private label products are "just as good" as those of national brands.
 
Supermarkets, drug chains, department store chains, discounters and wholesale clubs all have a stake in further developing their private label businesses. The fact is: private labels are here to stay and they should compete with national brands in such a way as to bring out the best in all concerned. When both national brands and store brands strive to offer uncompromising quality, strong brand identities and differentiated packaging, the customer is the ultimate beneficiary. There are enough consumer dollars to support both, and both should be marketed to build relationships and trust with the customer as a means to further growth.

Private Label Challenges.
Interestingly, many retailers continue to struggle to make their private labels desirable to consumers. Many still cling to the old pricing formulas for private label products. A minimum 10% to 20% below national brands has been a long-established industry standard for private label pricing. A major collaborative study by A.C.Nielsen, Daymon Worldwide and DemandTec released this past spring, shows that products that are priced too low may be passed over by consumers for fear that the quality may not be as good as that of the national brands. Conversely, if priced too closely to major brands, customers have reported they will likely pay a little extra and purchase the perceived "better" products instead.

The same research study points to assortment issues. The retail tendency to constantly expand offerings with too many varieties and redundant products, whether under the umbrellas of national or private brands, tend to put off consumers who are confronted with too many choices, and too little time, to figure out their best options. In fact, over assortments are perceived as clutter and routinely frustrate consumers. Retailers are not reacting to this by narrowing their merchandise mix for fear of losing business to competitors with broader mixes. Both national and private brands would fare better if routinely culled of their slowest-moving skus.

Recent findings clearly indicate that retailers must research and implement better pricing and merchandising strategies if they are to represent discernible value to the consumer with their own brands. Again: that means the right product mix at the right prices. They also make the case for retailers to better brand, position and package their private label product mix as never before. Investing a little bit of research to define consumers' current needs, wants and desires can pay big dividends. Taking the more sophisticated approach of CPG companies, and marketing to consumers based on lifestyle, and their desires, makes the latter a secondary issue.

Too many private label product lines are still being branded and packaged to look like "knock offs" of their nationally branded counterparts. Whether positioning and packaging national brands or private label lines, the same rules apply. There are no short-cuts to success with this.
- A unique brand identity must be developed; one that is clearly differentiated from its competitors. And one that has a clearly delineated added value over its competitors; offering consumers more perceived bang for their buck.
- A tight, relevant product mix that makes the private label brand easy to shop within each category. By offering customers the products they truly want, in the right sizes and varieties at value pricing, without a huge proliferation of choices, the retailer makes the private label relevant to the customer.
- The brand promise must be fulfilled. There has to be a perception of quality that is as good as, or even better than that of national brands. Private label products must perform as promised, every single time.
- Co-branding is a viable option in some categories. Think Costco and its Kirkland private label co-branded with Michelin in its tire assortment. Think Michael Graves for Target's home products division or Isaac Mizrahi for Target fashions. Co-branding like this conjures up images of quality, value pricing and great style for the consumer's dollar.
- Lastly, the retailer must actively market the private label brand and its differentiated assets to its customers. Again, Target markets its co-branded lines of apparel and home products as chic; there's a lot of style to be had for the money. Even the rich love to find great buys at Tarzhay. . .

Since huge marketing budgets are not in place to support most private label brands, packaging is a crucial aspect of promoting these lines. Packaging must tell the brand story in compelling fashion. In fact, since point of sale is the place where so many consumers make their decision to buy or not to buy, packaging has to be considered the most important element of private label marketing. In-store advertising via signage and TV can be a low cost way to promote the private label brand where there is no budget to do radio and TV advertising in local markets, and can and should be utilized as well.

Brand Packaging Criteria for Private Label Lines.
Since private label brands appeal to consumers across all social and financial strata today per the latest industry data, the tendency to brand and package these lines for a blue collar audience is an idea that should be retired, once and for all.
- Packaging must truly refer back to the brand and become perceived as part of the total experience with the retail brand: excellent customer service, a quality environment and a sense of community and social responsibility serve to make private label offerings very attractive in the consumer's eyes. Think: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's.
- Packaging must deliver a hierarchy of specific communications to the customer. No extraneous information that consumers can't or won't take the time to read, only meaningful communications. Think: BJ's Wholesale Club's Berkley & Jensen product packaging for food and non-food products alike.
- Packaging should be as distinctive in structure and execution as the brand it refers to. It shouldn't mimic the dominant national brands in category after category; even worse: it should never look generic. How can a unique, differentiated brand image be built if the private label is part of a "sea of sameness" on the retail shelf? Think: Ahold's Nature's Promise line of organic food products.
- Brand identity and packaging should form an umbrella, as a national brand does, over products in many diverse categories. Most retailers have not enjoyed notable consumer recognition and sales success with private label brands that have spanned numerous categories and they must focus on resolving this problem. Think: Costco's Kirkland Signature brand and packaging.

Large retailers, that have launched and manage successful private label branded programs, have set up separate business units to package, market and advertise these brands. Smaller and mid-sized operations usually opt to employ creative consultancies to assist them in the branding, packaging and promoting of their private labels. Regardless, management of private label is critical to its success, and it should not be treated as an adjunct to retailers' core business, with little investment in the way of dedicated time and human capital. Without focus and nurturing, private label product lines will not realize their potential, and that is a lose-lose proposition for retailers and consumers.




Creating Interactive Consumer Packaging
By Ted Mininni

Interactive packaging. To many in the marketing and design businesses, this denotes images of soon-to-be-realized nanotechnologies. Futuristic barcodes. New substrates. Even more imaginative take-offs on the "Try Me" concepts of today. Better clamshells that make entire products or key product attributes clearly visible to consumers. While these ideas have great merit, some of them are unattainable at present. Yet, marketers know that all of their initiatives, including packaging, must engage consumers. So how can we get packaging to "speak" to consumers today?

The very idea of engagement or formation of a relationship between consumer and brand implies an emotional connection. Packaging helps deliver a brand with emotion when structure, color, imagery and copy come together effectively. Aspects of brands that leverage the highly-charged emotions surrounding enjoyment, for example, resonate with the consumer. Making a consumer pause, and maybe smile, due to an unexpected element, a sense of whimsy, fun or fantasy, a promise of enjoyment, an engaging story, a sense of nostalgia, a promise of luxury, indulgence or a bit of self pampering -- all of these elicit profound emotions. Packaging cues can bring these emotions to the fore. Used with lifestyle imagery, they can deliver a story and become powerful motivators.

Beyond imagery, emotive and lifestyle cues, packaging must still deliver a specific hierarchy of information. But this needn't be a dry exercise. Consumers are human beings, and as such, they respond to stories. When a brand has a human face, sharing stories connects consumers to it on an emotional level. This is far more compelling than dry features/benefits.

I've gone on record in the past stating that "Products come alive in packaging that speaks to the consumer. As one of the most important consumer touch points, packaging has the power to move an audience." It is the only marketing tool that delivers products into consumers' hands. Experts know that packaging must be a synergistic part of the overall brand expression continuum. Packaging isn't a one-off marketing initiative, living in a vacuum.

Merging Packaging with New Communication Platforms.
The time has come to utilize packaging to engage consumers in an even deeper manner. Since today's consumers are inundated with product choices, advertising, multi-media messaging, direct mail and special offers—most of which, they tune out, maybe there's another way to engage them. Knowing that consumers prefer to use new communications like the Internet and their cell phones should clue us in to tying our packaging in to these new platforms.

Maybe besides posting the brand's web site on the package somewhere, we could integrate more ingenious devices onto packaging to invite consumers to either "join the conversation" about our products on a new blog. Or invite them to register online to become part of a consumer consultant panel (with a reward, of course). Or even ask them to test a new product or new flavor, to solicit their feedback.

When it comes to kids, how about giving them a couple of fun reasons to come to a web site loaded with games and adventure? Suggest they bring their friends into the games via IM or Twitter?

Why can't special offers or invitations be used to form an exclusive "club" via social media among brand devotees? Why can't they be geared to the Internet and to mobile phones? If these are the communications platforms consumers are using the most, why shouldn't brand packaging tie neatly into those vehicles?

Simply printing a web site onto the back or side panel of packaging isn't sufficient. A device that is part of package design, but is clearly visible with the most casual observation will create curiosity, and spark interest. Why not invite consumers to check in via their cell phones on the spot to avail themselves of some special information? An exclusive promotion? A special invitation?

Sound far-fetched? Take a look at what Nickelodeon has done for various kids' demographics. For adults, take a look at the Dell or Apple communities. And all of this leads me to think there is a great opportunity to do much more. The fact is: packaging has been under-utilized as a driver for consumer connectivity. Certainly great package design has helped forge relationships between consumers and brands, one on one. But by thinking outside the box—what else can be done to use packaging as a driver of conversation between brand and consumer?

Forging relationships, alliances and exchanging ideas are all happening at warp speed—thanks to new communications platforms and social media. Packaging needs to work more closely with them. If used optimally, this is one of the ways brands and branded products will continue to have relevance for consumers. New applications of social media are unfolding. What other kinds of tools are emerging, or have yet to appear? The opportunities might be only limited by our imaginations or our ability to create the tools we will need to interact with consumers. By providing additional impetus for interaction, packaging can create a more vital link between brand and consumer. Great ideas can be solicited as customers interface more closely with companies. The advantage: to speak directly with the customer one on one. Consumers can also be encouraged to interface with each other and out of that, a sense of "belonging" will emerge. Better yet: consumers will feel empowered and become evangelists and spread the love -- yes love, the most powerful of human emotions -- for the brand far and wide.

And that is the power of leveraging today's connectivity isn't it? Time to think of packaging in relation to the new communications platforms consumers have already embraced. If we do that, the consumers will be engaged at a deeper, more meaningful level. Communities will be built around brands. That is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn't it? 




Packaging that Delivers at the Second Moment of Truth
By Ted Mininni

Consumer culture is in transition. Today, consumers are less interested in purchasing products to meet their basic needs. They are much more interested in engaging with brands whose values satisfy them on an emotional level.

Brand managers are beginning to understand that and they are positioning and packaging their products to meet this new consumer mandate. While many are successful at meeting consumers at the retail shelf in the FMOT—first moment of truth, as evidenced by their ability to move them to make initial purchases, they haven't always thought it through to meet the SMOT-second moment of truth. Not yet. If they did, there would be absolute loyalty-even fanatical devotion--to brands.

To be fair, the first order of business marketers and design consultants are charged with is to get the consumer to pick up their product in the scant few seconds they're scanning the many choices they have on the retail shelf. But what happens after that? Forget that we're marketers, packaging designers, retail experts. Let's put ourselves in the consumer's place. Faced with a plethora of choices in virtually every product category, to the point of saturation, what's compelling? What's engaging or exciting? Consumers are bored now. They want to be entertained, or engaged on an emotional level. Consumers aren't responding to being marketed to in the conventional sense. Why? They don't want to be spoken to; they want to be spoken with and engaged.

When standing in front of the retail shelf, a structurally unique package looks interesting to the consumer. The signature color, brand mark, and unique characteristics denote that this a product from a recognized, trusted brand. So far, so good. Even better: the packaging evokes something on an emotional level. It plays to a lifestyle fit. It promises enjoyment, or fulfills another emotional desire. Perhaps it offers a bit of promised pampering. Maybe it offers some kind of security. Or it promises to be a healthier, more natural choice. Why not take it home and try the product? Great. Then what? Have we given the consumer the potential for any "aah" moments? Now that they have arrived precisely at the point where they are actually interacting with the package, by opening it up to reveal its contents, what then? Here is the best and greatest opportunity to engage the consumer. Have we succeeded in doing that? Have we, in this second moment of truth, delivered the brand in such a way as to engage the consumer completely?

If not, we have just squandered the moment when we could have delivered the single most satisfying interaction between consumer and brand. By delivering the ultimate experience with attributes to excite the senses-touch, smell, sound or taste-as well as the intangibles of well-being, luxury or pampering, fun or enjoyment in that moment, we can cement the relationship between consumer and brand in the most meaningful way. Heightening the consumers' anticipation in an exciting manner as they are opening well-conceptualized packaging to reach the object of their desire-the product-will deliver the most memorable of experiences. If we are all intent on delivering a great brand experience, shouldn't packaging be the centerpiece of our efforts? This is the touch point that makes our products tangible to consumers. It should deliver the ultimate experience.

How Packaging Can Deliver that SMOT.
When Apple packages its products like the iMacs, new generation iPods or the iPhones, the company does so with great deliberateness. Unwrapping the packaging reveals the products and their components in stages, increasing the consumer's excitement every step of the way. This creates such an impact, many Apple devotees keep the packaging, and even integrate it into their home or work space decor. It is obvious that Apple uses every opportunity it has at its disposal to create brand ambassadors, not mere consumers of its products.

A new frozen dessert line in the U.K., dubbed The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile "skin" that is strikingly unique. The tagline: "Obsessed by Pleasure" hangs from the logo. Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered via the packaging in a memorable way. Even mundane, commodity products can be packaged with great SMOT assets that are memorable and exciting to consumers. And the packaging doesn't have to be over the top to accomplish this, either. For example, the new Bird's Eye frozen vegetable packaging is excellent. Strong fresh graphics on bags that enable consumers to perfectly, evenly steam their vegetables in the microwave sans mess make this packaging so pleasurable, consumers will quickly become adherents of these products.

P&G's Tide Simple Pleasures and sister brand Downy Simple Pleasures tout four, long-lasting aromatherapy fragrance combinations that are delighting consumers in color-coded packaging. Guaranteed: consumers take the caps off to take a whiff of these newest, best-received products in the laundry care sections of supermarkets. Touting that "Clean never smelled so good"; offering four unique fragrances that promise "A change of mood", using 'naturally-derived essential oils', all promise the consumer a sensuous, delicious experience. Then, there's the promise that the wonderful scents will go on and on as garments are worn. . .

Campbell Soup Company has augmented its packaging for its "Soup at Hand"products. Always marketed as "a great way to eat right when you're on the run", Campbell's has thought its packaging for these products through a bit more. The sides of the packaging have been slimmed halfway down to fit the consumer's hand more comfortably. But that isn't all. For ease of use, Campbell's has added a plastic over-cap lid that pops off easily and features holes for sipping. Under the lid, a peel-able foil comes off easily and the plastic over-cap goes back on after the soup is heated, so that consumers can enjoy sipping it on the go, sans mess. Online graphic feature these simple instructions: "1. Pop the top. 2. Microwave. 3. Grab n' go".

The Point of It All. . .
By reorienting our thinking about packaging and going beyond designing it to merely meet consumers' FMOT; by stretching the brand's emotive and lifestyle assets further, into a SMOT, we will have accomplished more than a sale. We will have engaged consumers in a more meaningful way that begins to build enduring relationships.

Research has divulged 80% of consumers are satisfied with the products they buy, but those 80% are not fanatically devoted to the brands they purchase. That data demonstrably points to the fact consumers are not engaged enough by the brands they are satisfied with, to the point of loyalty, and devotion. Those consumers would just as easily purchase another brand, in that case. By designing packaging that leads to a SMOT, we will have decidedly given the consumer a much deeper experience with our brands. One that will make them not only loyal, but turn them into brand evangelists.




Designing Sticky Packaging at Retail
By Ted Mininni

Chip and Dan Heath's ideas, derived from their research in a recently published book: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" have made them the darlings of the marketing world. For good reason. With myriad consumer products in the marketplace these days, it's getting increasingly difficult to get, and keep, the customer's attention at retail.

The onus is squarely on marketers to find a way to make their brands and products stick. According to the Heath brothers, being sticky means that: ". . .your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact—they change your audience's opinions or behavior." Consider the questions posed by these sticky thinkers carefully:
- How can brands and products deliver a powerful message, simply and concisely expressed, that deliver the essential core successfully?
- How can the brand message be made concrete and memorable?
- How can the brand be expressed in such a way as to hold the consumer's attention long enough to deliver that core message?
- How can a brand capture the consumer's attention by doing something unexpected? 
- How can the brand be made credible? How can we get the consumer to believe and trust in the brand?
- How can the brand appeal to consumers on a deeper, emotional level?
- How can we use storytelling to motivate the consumer to act?

What does all of this have to do with packaging? Everything. Packaging makes both brand and product tangible to the consumer. We could argue that it is the singularly most important touch point because it delivers both into consumers' hands. Not only should brands be sticky; packaging should be, as well.

The fact that so many brands and brand packaging struggle in the marketplace, is evidence that neither have been sticky enough to consumers. So what do we need to do to address that issue? If effective, packaging delivers brand and product to the consumer in an experiential manner. That is, it engages the consumer on an emotional, rather than merely an intellectual level. It communicates the brand message quickly and effectively. It delivers the brand's core assets in an emotive manner. When the brand promise is fulfilled in the consumer's mind, after purchasing the product, loyalty will begin to develop based on trust.

If great, packaging helps to raise brand and product to iconic status. It transcends an entire category to become the clear product of choice. The brand and product the consumer closely identifies with and aligns with. Iconic consumer brands are the stickiest in our culture. Iconic brands don't have to appeal to everyone, either. They do have to command absolute allegiance from their consumer base, however. How can packaging help elevate brands and products to that level?

Putting Packaging in Retail Context.
Great packaging is the result of extensive research. Consumer research, category and competitive research all play a role in developing superior packaging. But these aren't the end-all and be-all. An understanding of our culture and trends is paramount. In order to be viable, living and growing, consumer brands and products cannot exist in a vacuum and remain grounded in their own values without consideration of the modern society we live in. Otherwise, they lose their relevance.

What we're saying: for packaging to be put into meaningful retail context, it must simultaneously be developed in human context. What do consumers relate to in an emotional manner? What kinds of deeply ingrained cultural cues do they respond to? What are the stories that bind consumers to brands? What is relevant to today's consumer? What kinds of experiences is the consumer seeking at retail?

People, from time immemorial, have responded to storytelling. Marketers understand that, and many seek to deliver stories about their brands in their packaging, advertising and web sites. But how about the brands that connect their own brand stories with richer, deeper human stories? Or the brands that use cultural cues that consumers recognize and respond to?

Brands like Tazo Tea tell two kinds of stories, and these aren't separate entities. They are tightly woven together and appear seamless. Tazo Tea tells its story of tea leaves sourced from all over the world, blended into unique combinations. But it goes further. The story tells of cultural roots, long-held local traditions and how tea has a distinctive place in 5000 years of human history. With highly textured "paper" surfaces, some of which resemble sandstone, Tazo packaging features unusual ornamentation and archaic-looking iconic script as background to the typography. The Tazo logo prominently displays ancient-looking symbols. All of this points to the timeless traditions, social and spiritual connections people the world over have to the drinking of tea. The branding and product packaging bring all of this together in a breathtaking way, making Tazo a standout among premium tea brands.

Pepsi has always positioned itself the cola of choice for a young, hip generation. . .for each successive generation of youth. Now the packaging unites with the brand as Pepsi rolls out over 30 new whimsical, contemporary designs on its soda bottles and cans. The eye-popping art work all retains the brand flagship colors--blues with red and white. The brand identity has retained its heritage but has been contemporized for the newest Pepsi Generation. As packaging expert Peter Arnell, whose firm realized the project, stated in an interview: "Product innovation today must be driven by deep consumer meaning and connectivity." Exactly. Pepsi, the brand, stands for "fun" and "effervescence" the world over. Why not use strong contemporary graphics to connect to kids in today's culture?

Start-up Stickiness.
Start-up brands face a major challenge. They also have a unique opportunity to tell a compellingly different story in the marketplace. The fact that failure rates are so high among new brands, points to their inability to deliver a compelling, sticky story to consumers. Yet some brands break through to do just that.

A new chocolate dessert manufacturer in the U.K. has generated considerable buzz among consumers and bloggers. While only available at British grocery chain, Sainsbury's thus far, its fame is growing quickly, and consumers are openly asking for product availability online. How often do consumers get that excited over another new brand? Dubbed "Filthy" by The Filthy Food Company, plays up the sinfulness of indulging in decadent chocolate chilled desserts. The "Filthy" hand-scrawled brand identity in chocolate brown on white packaging featuring a sensuous, tactile skin-what else-is strikingly unique. The tagline literally hangs from the logo: "Obsessed by Pleasure". Rich chocolates are photographed on the packaging, oozing of forbidden goodness. Don't these elements motivate consumers to act; that is, to buy? Don't these elements promise pure enjoyment?

In a stroke of pure genius, structural packaging opens up to reveal a love letter to the chocoholic. The packaging folds back to form a bowl, inviting the indulgence to begin at once. How about that for a sticky idea in a crowded product category? Indulgence and forbidden pleasure is a story as old as mankind, and here it's being delivered with a new twist. The brand delivers its message simply and directly. It is concrete and memorable. It delivers the element of surprise--it's unexpected.

Now the Filthy brand has to deliver the pleasure and enjoyment it promises the consumer. If it does, and there's no reason to believe it won't, it will have earned trust and loyalty. Better yet, consumers themselves will assist in further building this brand through Word of Mouth. What is WOM worth to marketers? A great deal in today's world of highly connected consumers who are in constant discussion among themselves.

What do the three brand packaging examples cited have in common? They're stand-outs among competitive products. Unique and instantly recognizable. They're simple, direct, concrete, memorable, emotive to consumers. They tell strong, compelling stories in cultural context. Best of all: they do it in a totally unexpected way. Bottom line: brands like Tazo, Pepsi and Filthy can't be commoditized. They're too unique and memorable. Their stories and cues are too culturally significant. In short, they're far too sticky. As we begin another year, let's cast a critical eye over our brands and packaging and ask ourselves a fundamental question: what we can do to make and keep them sticky with our targeted consumer?



Advertising is Dead. Long Live Packaging
By Ted Mininni

It's no secret that most conventional advertising isn't cutting it. When marketers think about how to allocate their budgets, maybe they ought to be spending less on advertising. Why not take those dollars that aren't going to be spent on advertising, and invest them in packaging instead? The rationale for this argument is simple. With consumers increasingly tuning out of mainstream media channels and tuning into their iPods, mobile phones and social networks instead, most advertising is going to a dead letter office. At the same time, consumerism continues to flourish. Shopping is a pastime for many Americans and a team sport for Tweens, teens and young adults. 

We are experiencing a downturn in the economy and tighter wallets due to substantial rises in living expenses. While softer at present, consumer sales will rebound just as soon as the economy shows signs of picking up again. We ought to get ready for that-now.

This brings us