Creating the perfect package

You've spent months even years developing your product and now you've got to bottle it and sell it. Here's what you need to do to create the perfect package for your product:

• Study the competition. Look around and see what kind of packaging your competitors are using. You want to be unique, but you need to use packaging that makes sense. You wouldn't put Whiteout in an economy-sized lotion bottle with a pump. First off, that's enough Whiteout for a lifetime! Secondly, what are you going to do with the whiteout once you've pumped it? Rub it all over your hands? And thirdly, consumers have expectations on how Whiteout is packaged and that's what they look for on the shelf.

• Know HOW your product will be used. Before you can choose a container and a closure for your product you need to think through where your customer will store it and how they will use it. Again, you wouldn't put eye drops in a milk jug. I don't know of a gallon of anything that I'd want to dump in my eyes. Make sure that the cap you choose creates the most positive experience for your customer. This needs to be positive in aesthetics and well as usage.
  

• Know WHO your product is for. This is HUGE. Is your product for a car mechanic or a pre-teen obsessed with makeup? If it isn't obvious you've got a problem. If your product is for everyone, you have an even bigger problem. You have to drill it down. Think of what a terrifying world this would be if pantyhose, denture glue, and preperation H were for everyone. For example: Green Works™ cleaners (from Clorox) are targeted toward female homemakers wanting to live a more balanced, natural life. This person will be interested in green, biodegradable ingredients, recyclable packaging, no animal testing, natural, no harsh chemicals, etc. And you know what? These people buy this stuff because Clorox makes it obvious that it's for them.

• Know WHY your product is unique and SELL that. Chances are EVERYTHING about your product isn't unique. But there is SOMETHING that makes it unique. This is WHY someone will buy your product and not the one next to it. Be sure that this unique quality is obvious. Don't shout it at your customers (although Billy Mays the OxyClean guy seems to make a lot of money doing this) but be sure they get it.

• Hire a designer. Freelancer or agency. It doesn't matter as long as they're good. I can't stress this one enough. Let me put it this way. Your chain store barber/stylist can give you a great cut/color/perm but it is HIGHLY unlikely that they can also counsel you through the differences between a c-corp, s-corp, and an LLC. Now this part is really hard to hear for a lot of people ... if you didn't go to college to get a design degree, chances are you aren't a designer. So, keep your fortes in house, and outsource everything else. Hiring a designer forces you to communicate the HOW, WHO, and WHY (see 2, 3 and 4) so the designer can create a package design that will sing to your potential customers' souls. This is a valuable exercise for you, and you'll get a professional design out of it, because ...

• DESIGN MATTERS. The average consumer spends less than three seconds making up their minds whether or not to buy a product. The fact that you have all the greatest ingredients or a truly revolutionary formula won't mean a thing unless the customer SEES your product. Customers SEE things they need. They need: unique, engaging, colorful, exciting, intriguing, different, soothing, and a host of other adjectives. These adjectives must be consistent with your product. Again ... you wouldn't put a soothing massage oil in a squeezable mustard bottle and call it SHAZAMY! Yellow is energy, excitement, happiness, manic, sunshine, bipolar, crazy, fresh, citrus. Don't even get me started on the name. These aren't the right kinds of reactions you want to solicit if your product is a calming massage oil. Your designer is an experienced professional in THIS arena. Use them to help you create packaging that makes sense.

Five packaging must-knows

Here are 5 vital things you need to know as you start on your journey that packages your product to sell:

1. You can't have a product without a package. Just think about potato chips and eggs for example. How could you sell them unbroken and undamaged without a package?
2. The package could cost more than what is inside. The rule of thumb is that the package should be 8-15% of the total cost on average. 10% of every dollar spent at retail is directly attributable to packaging.
3. Your package has to sell the product not just protect it. The average consumer spends just 2.6 seconds making a decision whether to pick up your product or not. So your packaging better be on target to the right audience with the right message.
4. Most packaging materials suppliers like large quantity orders. It's hard to find a supplier for small quantities. The double edged sword is that you don't have large orders when getting started.
5. Packaging trends and innovations can influence whether your product will ever get onto the store's shelf. The secret is in knowing what is going to be the "issue" of the future or what might be mandated as a "must have" in your product packaging.
   

Adapted and Condensed from:
5 Things Every Business Needs To Know About Packaging
JoAnn Hines, The Packaging Diva
www.packagingdiva.com

Logo: To Refresh Or To Not?

A customer wasn't sure if they should keep the same label they started with 10 years ago. I recommended a refresh. Ten year old kitchen appliances are rust and avocado colored. If I was wearing the same clothes I had from 10 years ago, I'd be wearing acid-washed jeans with pegged cuffs, high-top sneakers, a baggy fluorescent orange t-shirt with my sleeves rolled up, and poofy hair. I'd look like Screech from Saved By the Bell. It is good to update. It is imperative to update.

A company should always look for ways to improve the customer experience and polish its image. A company that does not always seek improvement becomes stagnant, sluggish and irrelevant. Some brands are "classic" because they have withstood the test of time: Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Chevron, Walmart, etc. They have withstood that test of time by walking the razor's edge: adapting to remain relevant to their consumers without compromising their fundamental identity.

Things trend: clothing, counter tops, hairstyles, music, news, light bulbs, and more. There is huge value to updating your label and logo ... It needs to be relevant and current. Yet, this too is a razor's edge because if you're too trendy, you risk having to refine more often. If you go too far, you risk alienating your existing base of customers. The goal is to find an image for your product or company that is relatable, current, yet transcends trendy and can become "classic."

The same kinds of trends happen in packaging.

Container & Packaging Supply has updated. Look at our new website, envelopes, calendars, logo layout, logotype, colors, business cards, flyers, signs, brochures, on hold messaging system, dress code, and more. All of these things contribute to creating an image.

Maybe it's time for you to update?

Natural Trend: ALL ABOARD!

Small and mid-sized companies have jumped on board the natural trend bandwagon. The large multinational companies seem to only be entering the category via acquisitions. Estee Lauder jump started the trend in 1993 by acquiring Aveda. L'Oreal has acquired The Body shop, Kiehl's, Garnier, and Sanoflore to its portfolio in the last decade. Burt's Bees is now under the ownership of Clorox, a child of the P&G mega-family, and it has proven it can compete with the larger brands.

Multinationals acquire existing natural brands instead of launching their own because it makes more strategic sense to invest in products that have been tested and proved to be successful. These multinational mega-companies are now only responsible for marketing and promoting the brand. Let someone else pay for the research and development, right?

Adapted from Happi Magazine
Are Multinationals Missing the Natural Movement
Imogen Matthews

Decorating your package

Creating the perfect package for your product is absolutely essential to marketing your business. Once you have found the plastic container, jar or glass bottle that truly accents and compliments your product, you are well on your way to that perfect package. Without appropriate and artistic labeling, however, you will never sell your creation.

Let Container & Packaging Supply help you find and create your perfect package. After selecting the plastic container you want out of our large inventory, allow us to decorate your package. We have a variety of methods for providing your custom decoration, from the widely used silk screen process, to the new heat transfer process.

Take time to familiarize yourself with our decoration processes. In the links below, we describe what each process does and when we would recommend its use.

• Silk screen printing
• Hot stamping
• Pad printing
• Custom labels
• Sample prints

Big Brother is Watching (or smelling)

Well ... smelling, actually. Just when you thought your fingerprints, DNA, exceptionally good looks, and fashion sense made you truly unique ... science comes out with research that says individuals also have a unique odoriferous signature. That means that no one else in the whole world smells like you. See? You're even more unique than you thought.

Odorprints, as they call it, are transmitted through body fluids that contain airborne volatile compounds. So how does this help us, the packaging industry (beyond the obvious security applications and new CSI episodes that this technology will generate)?

Findings could result in developing sensors for early detection and diagnosis of various disorders ... even skin disorders. Some cosmetics counters already have visual analyzers ... imagine the potential for an electronic "sniffer" that can match your smell with the most appropriate lotion, cover up, or skin treatment system.

Defining "Green"

As the sustainability, organic, and natural products movements continue to grow, so does the list of vocabulary terms. Read below for definitions on related terminology:

Biodegradable: The ability of a material to be broken down by natural processes and then absorbed by the ecosystem.

Downcycled: Refers to materials that lose viability or value after they've been recycled.

Energy efficient: Products and systems that use less energy than their conventional counterparts to perform the same tasks.

Greenwashing: The practice of making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Organic: Refers to foods and fibers that are grown and processed without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Organic livestock is reared without the use of antibiotics or hormones.

Pre-consumer: Refers to a material that is being reused or recycled before it goes to market, such as waste left over from manufacturing.

Post-consumer: Refers to an end product generated by a consumer that is being diverted from the solid waste stream for recycling.

Recycling: The process of converting materials that are no longer useful in their current condition and turning them into a brand-new product.

Sustainable: The use of natural resources to meet present needs, without compromising those of future generations.

Upcycled: Refers to waste materials that are recycled into something of greater value or use.

Source:
The Language of Going Green
By Jasmine Malik Chua, Special to LiveScience
http://www.livescience.com/environment/080714-green-terms.html