Packaging StrategyWinning the Consumer By Mona Doyle

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction -Mona Doyle, Consumer Research Network, Inc.
Packaging power is growing. It's growing because packaging is delivering significant consumer benefits and competitive advantages at the same time as advertising is losing much of its traditional reach and clout. It's growing because packaging is successfully finding ways to meet consumers' conflicting goals for more convenience and less packaging.


Getting It Right: Research to Ensure Successful Packaging -Lorna Opatow, Opatow Associates
While it doesn't always get the respect it deserves, packaging is exceptionally powerful! No one buys an empty package, and we can rarely buy a product without a package. This interrelationship is key to understanding the power of packaging to influence perceptions of, and reactions to, the brand.


Packaging, Solid Waste, and Environmental Trade-Offs -Lynn Scarlett, Vice President, Research of the Reason Foundation
Though explicit commitment to environmental values became an essential part of doing business by the 1980s, business responses to environmental issues often remained confused. Nowhere are the complexities of the environmental issues that give rise to confusion among business decision makers more evident than in the mundane world of packaging.


The Cons and Cons of Copycat Packaging -Greg Erickson, Editor/publisher, Shelf Presence
A small but significant change in marketing strategy was obvious at the 1994 Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) trade show in Chicago. Compared to 1993 when store-brand package designs were displayed alongside national-brand packages in order to point out the remarkable design similarities, at the 1994 show, the national-brand products were nowhere to be seen.


Private Label Packaging: From Wallflower to "Belle of the Ball" -Philip Fitzell, Publisher, Exclusive Brands Sourcebook
In the 1990s, private-label packaging has become a strategic tool for retailers and wholesalers in the U.S., allowing them to differentiate their business from that of the competition. Working alone, with packaging designers, and/or with manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers have developed truly distinctive, sometimes award-winning private-label packaging.


Two Compelling Reasons Why Your Package Should be Red and White -Tony Adams, Former Marketing VP, Campbell's; Strategic Marketing Director, Coca-Cola
The package is one of the famous Ps of marketing, going along with product, price, positioning and promotion. Compared to all the attention usually given its cousins, packaging has received much less focus and discussion.


No More Tilting at Windmills: The Consumer Defines Today's Packaging Systems -Gerald P. Meier, VP, Packaging for Paper Machinery Corporation
I was among the representatives of the packaging industry who sat in on a wide-ranging consumer focus group session. The consumers on the panel discussed what they liked and disliked in packaged products and why; what they would like to see changed and how; and whether they would pay for those changes in the products they selected for purchase.


What Magazines Write about Packaging: No News May Be Good News -Kristen McNutt, Ph.D., J.D., Editor, Consumer Magazines Digest: Nutrition and Food-Related Health Topics
Food packaging per se is not a subject of much interest to magazine journalists. Perhaps, this should come as no surprise. Whereas the electronic press (television and radio), weekly magazines and newspapers generally report and analyze information that becomes important almost overnight, monthlies more often develop articles for other reader purposes.


A Retail Advertiser Looks at Packaging -Sheldon B. Sosna, Former Madison Avenue executive, and currently, retailing consultant
It's 1996. Do you know where your package is? Because design is now not only dependent on what's inside the package, but where and how the package will be sold to buyers. Sure, packaging must do all of the nifty things outlined so far in this book. It must attract the shopper, say something nice (even truthful!) about what's inside the package, be as kind as possible to the environment, adhere to the corporate philosophy behind the brand and be as innovative as possible.


Package Power -Charles A. Mittelstadt, Interpublic Group's Center for Advertising Services
Among packaged goods marketers it is axiomatic that the package IS the product in consumer minds. Together with the brand name, it carries the history of a consumer's experience with the brand, and the consumer's rational and emotional response to that brand. Package design, of course, goes beyond providing cues to a shoppers mental file: It also can provide a competitive edge, tilting brand choice at the point of purchase.


The Role of Design -Herbert M. Meyers, FPDC, Gerstman + Meyers Inc.
It is no accident that the subject of this chapter, the role of design, follows ten chapters that have prepared us to understand the critical role of package design in marketing a brand of products. While the previous chapters discussed some of the important elements that impact the packaging of retail products, such as marketing strategy, brand-name selection, consumer perception of the product inside and the accumulative effect of the retail environment, this chapter brings us to the ultimate goal of making the product desirable to the consumer by developing packaging that looks and functions effectively at the point of sale.


The Consumer Side of Packaging Power -Mona Doyle, Consumer Research Network, Inc.
A strong package is powerful today and is likely to be even more so in the more person-responsive marketplace of the twenty-first century. Consumers are increasingly adept at making purchase decisions based on information available on the package or at the point of sale. They are making more comprehensive marketplace decisions about what works best for them and what is best suited to their needs. . . .


A Look Ahead: Prognostications for the New Millennium -Herb Meyers, Mona Doyle and Greg Erickson
"Talking packages that provide information about the product inside, use instructions or cooking instructions." --Herb Meyers
"Smart packaging that interacts with consumers, computers and appliances will dramatically escalate consumers' expectations of direct packaging benefits." --Mona Doyle
"Makers of aluminum beverage cans-after getting clobbered by PET in soft drinks and losing out to glass in the super-premium beer market-will rejuvenate their containers with wild shapes, eight-color printing, wide-mouth ends, and even resealability features. Then it will be up to the beverage companies to invest in these attention-getting advancements." --Greg Erickson