A Make-or-Break Moment

When it comes to marketing a store brand product, retailers have many avenues from which to choose — in-store signage, flyers, digital media and more. But perhaps the most effective marketing tool is the package containing that product.

“From store shelves to kitchen cupboards, packaging is an integral part of our daily lives, and that makes it the ideal billboard for a brand,” says Thomas Fischer, vice president, investor relations and corporate affairs for Crown Holdings Inc., Philadelphia. “The first way many consumers experience a product is through the look and feel of its packaging at the point of sale.”

And that first introduction can make or break the product, he adds, so store brand packaging needs to effectively convey the product’s image, value and quality.

Todd Ayers, director of Brand Ready Packaging for Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corrugated, agrees.

“We believe that secondary packaging can better connect consumers to a store brand by becoming a messaging vehicle that articulates key product attributes or known insights about the category,” he says.

Still not convinced that packaging really matters that much? Then consider that it often is the only marketing tool to connect consumers to store brand products on the shelf.

“Package design is one of the most important parts of the marketing mix,” stresses Mike Black, vice president, marketing and communications for Waltham, Mass.-headquartered Affinnova Inc. “It drives trial. It drives repeat.”

Black points to research that MeadWestvaco Corp., Richmond, Va., recently performed, which found that 64 percent of consumers opt to try a new product because the product’s packaging catches their eye. And 41 percent of consumers repeat a purchase thanks to the product’s packaging.

“Consumers receive over 70 percent of their information on brands from packaging,” adds Brian Wagner, vice president, consulting services of packaging technology integrated solutions for HAVI Global Solutions, Downers Grove, Ill.

All elements critical

For the packaging to be an effective store brand marketing tool, a number of elements must come together. The design needs to stand out, Black says, as well as communicate what the brand stands for. So retailers must be able to optimize and blend elements ranging from the packaging’s central and supporting imagery to pack shape, on-pack claims and messaging.

“All of these components are equally important because they have to interact and work together in harmony,” he says. “If one area is weak, it will drag the entire pack down. That’s why it’s important to test as many design alternatives and ideas as you can before launching.”

Wagner, too, asserts that all packaging elements are critical to marketing efforts.

“It is crucial in the world of 90 percent failures to perform well throughout this process, at each touch-point,” he says. “Our research demonstrates that very few package designs are effectively communicating desired brand dimensions in the mind of shoppers at point of sale. We help clients develop design guide rails — 2-D and 3-D — so packaging teams can ensure current and future design decisions align with the brand essence aspiration in the shopper’s mind.”

On the design front, retailers need to carefully evaluate everything from word use to the size of imagery. For example, when auditing package designs for pet food, Black says Affinnova found that the size of the cat or dog image used significantly impacts the packaging’s marketing effectiveness.

“Packaging with no or small pet images stood out much less than packs with big animal images,” he says. “Showing a pet in motion — jumping instead of sitting, for example — elevated consumer perceptions of the brand. … The reactions consumers have to a design are often surprising and unpredictable, which is why in designing your packs, you have to experiment with different options and measure them carefully before committing.”

Design also takes into consideration shape, which can be a differentiator on a basic level, says David Simnick, CEO of Alexandria, Va.-based SoapBox Soaps.

“Research shows that the decision-makers in the shopping aisles are women, so unless you’re targeting a specific male audience, you manufacture your products to be as gender-neutral as possible. It’s crucial to get your research right; it may be as simple as rounding the squared edges on your bottles.”

Differentiation in terms of structural design and graphics also is critical here, Ayers says.

Speaking of differentiation, an on-pack mission-based message can be one way to achieve it. For every soap bar SoapBox Soaps sells — branded or private label — the company donates another one to someone in need, Simnick explains. And for every liquid hand soap and every body wash it sells, it donates a year’s supply of clean water and a year’s supply of vitamins, respectively.

“There is a feel-good factor about a cause-related purchase, and our retailers are keen to highlight that cause on the packaging,” he says. For his part, Fischer believes that the material is perhaps the most crucial element in the packaging equation, and has its own role in store brand marketing.

“At Crown, we work specifically with metal — both steel and aluminum — which offers a number of advantages,” he contends. “It is a sensuous, tactile material, allowing brands to achieve a premium and exciting pack format that effectively conveys the quality of the product within to consumers.”

Metal also can be formed into a variety of shapes and formats, he adds, and lends itself to high-quality colors, effects, embossing and more.

Whatever the packaging material, retailers also need to keep in mind that today’s consumers are time-pressed, so the packaging also must enhance the shopper experience by being “easy to find, select and access,” Ayers says.

One potential time-saver is retail-ready packaging, he notes.

“Essentially, a branded display case allows a product to ‘sell itself,’ which further minimizes the time store employees spend helping customers locate products,” Ayers says. “For example, Georgia-Pacific’s Clean and Easy-Perf strengthens a package’s ability to stand up to the supply chain and bolster shelf presence.”

Learn from the leaders

Another way to enhance store brand packaging-related marketing efforts is to look to retailers that are standouts here. Wagner singles out Marks & Spencer and Tesco in the UK, as well as Safeway, Wegmans Food Markets and Loblaw Companies in North America, as stars.

And Fischer adds Target Corp. to the list for its Archer Farms packaging. He notes that the brand features a simple, but elegant design that establishes it as a “cost-effective luxury convenience brand” that delivers on Target’s promise for quality and affordability.

“The leaders build relationships with their shoppers at a local level and leverage packaging where they can,” Wagner adds. “Some who have not been as successful have just leveraged scanner data and thrown products at the market in a shotgun approach that isn’t strategic.”