Marketing Showdown: Mainstream Methods 0 – Packaging 10

Marketing Showdown: Mainstream Methods 0 – Packaging 10
Packaging News You Can Use
Tip Of The Week
Issue #1258 - October 5, 2006
Publisher: JoAnn Hines
packagingdiva@aol.com ,
http://www.packaginguniversity.com/
http://www.packagingdiva.com/
http://www.packagingbootcamp.com/
© Packaging News You Can Use
By JoAnn Hines The Packaging Diva

I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE:
The Packaging Bootcamp is now a reality. If you have a product and you want it to sell, you better have the right package with the right message. After all what's on the outside is as important as what's inside. If your package the silent salesperson doesn't do its job your product won't sell not matter how good it might be.

Need to know more how to package products to sell? Learn from the #1 consumer product packaging expert and let her share her 30+ years of packaging expertise with tips, insights and innovations. Visit http://www.packagingbootcamp/ or email
PackagingDiva@aol.com.

IN RESPONSE TO MY ARTICLES:
"Eat Your Package Not Your Product"
Utek's latest tech transfer: edible packing film
Tampa Bay Business Journal - Tampa,FL,USA
In addition IPTI contains a license for a variable image packaging film that can potentially double the viewable surface area of packaging products by allowing ...

"Produce Packaging Crisis"
Ohio family sickened by tainted spinach sues packaging company
San Luis Obispo Tribune - San Luis Obispo,CA,USA
... Health officials tracking the source of the E. coli outbreak from spinach has sickened at least 175 people nationwide are focusing on Natural Selection Foods ...
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/15614697.htm

"100 Calorie Snacks Smart or Stupid"
Serving Up Confusion on Nutrition
Forbes - USA
... that help people size up a serving. Chips, crackers, cookies and pudding now come in handy 100-calorie packs, and single-serving packaging has exploded in ...
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2006/09/27/ap3049738.html


INTERVIEW WITH THE DIVA:
Several publications have written some great stories with Moi quoted.
To read "Design for the Ages" by Leah Genuario click here
http://www.beautypackaging.com/articles/2006/09/design-for-the-ages.php
To read "Product Makovers Annoy" by Betty Lin-Fisher click here
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/15646658.htm
P.S. If you see me in the New York Times (I was interviewed yesterday,)
let me know. I'll make it worth your time to respond.

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Marketing Showdown: Mainstream Methods 0 – Packaging 10
by JoAnn Hines Packaging Diva

Mainstream marketing and advertising is dying. That's the cue for packaging to step up to the plate and take its rightful place as a powerful product marketing and branding tool. "Ad Age" recently reported that a newly released book reports that 37% of all advertising is wasted. Quite frankly, I agree. I have been studying this issue for a while and examining advertising/marketing messages (especially on packaging) and it is apparent that the new generation of advertising is weak.

Every time I see a new campaign I wonder at whom it is aimed. Most the time it is totally unclear who the product is for. Despite all that is being written about marketing to various demographic groups, the advertisers and marketers still don’t get it. And, the results are noticeable.

Some marketers are trying off-the-wall marketing campaigns. Just look at the demise of Dr. Z. Think about how much money was spent for an advertising campaign that didn't work. Every product (well almost) has a package and almost everyone has engaged in some type shopping experience. So who is your target audience and how can you reach them now that conventional methods aren't working? Smart marketers will get busy looking at their product packaging and determining how to make it "connect" with the consumer.

The prime consumers are women and seniors, for the most part, and they are continually overlooked in product packaging. Companies that do reach out to this audience typically fall back on preconceived marketing stereotypes. Pink packaging for women and silver or purple for seniors is a major no-no. These markets are enormous yet they are totally underserved and misunderstood by consumer goods manufacturers and their product packaging.

The important issue to recognize is that the package is in a position of power to capture a consumer at the first point of contact in a retail environment. It's "the first moment of truth" whether your package will connect with your buyer -- or not. It's no longer enough to simply describe what's inside the box. That idea will sink in the sea of sensory overload of competitive products.

The package needs to "engage" the consumer by clearly stating value, benefits and reasons why a consumer should make the purchase. How will purchasing the product make someone's life easier? How easy or convenient is it to use? How does it mesh with the consumer’s lifestyle? And most importantly, what's in it for the consumer once they make the purchase?

So think about to whom you are marketing. What are their needs and expectations of your product? How you can make an emotional connection with the consumer? Whether it is women or seniors or any other target demographic, you have to entice them to make the purchase. Remember, it’s not enough just to say what's inside. You need a compelling message that will engage a consumer to pick your product up off the shelf. It’s that critical --- 2.6 seconds and then you have lost them.

Be prepared for your product packaging to fill the void left by mainstream marketers who aren't connecting their products to consumers with the right message. Forget the stereotypes of product marketing. They aren't working. Remember the package has the power to fill the void and send the message loud and clear!

For more insights on the hottest and most important issues in packaging call me at 1-678-594-6872 or email me at PackagingDiva@aol.com

DIVA'S PICKS OF THE WEEK:
It's now a reality
Wal-Mart Launches 5-Year Plan to Reduce Packaging
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. today announced plans to measure its 60,000 worldwide suppliers on their ability to develop packaging and conserve natural resources.
http://www.worldpressonline.com/en/press_release.asp?ID=13329&MBS_ID=1163

I love this one!
Packaging crap
Digit Magazine - London,UK
... rogue has lit upon the idea of overcharging for rubbish by wrapping it up in some nicely designed packaging. 
If the package looks pretty, people will buy
http://www.digitmag.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=119&blogid=1

I wish they would stop calling it cardboard.

Cardboard war gets more intense on several fronts
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
... This is the latest in an increasingly complex series of cases that have entangled Australia's two biggest packaging groups since 2004, when Amcor told the ...
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/cardboard-war-gets-more-intense-on-several-fronts/2006/10/04/1159641393377.html