Packaging News You Can Use

Consider this recent headline
“Tesco pledges to cut packaging by a quarter….”
Supermarket giant Tesco today pledged to reduce by a quarter the amount of packaging used in both branded and own-label products within the next three years.

Uh-Oh! Are you worried? Well, you should be. External influences can shape the face of packaging materials for now and in the future. Many times this will be totally outside of your control. Legislation could be enacted; there could be a product security scare or another incident like 911. All of which could dramatically shape the success –and failure– of your product and its packaging.

Each January I write a packaging trends piece. It’s about where the packaging industry is going now and in the future and what external influences will drive that change. Trends are an important predictor of where the market is moving. Trends are more long lived than fads. Trends will influence product development for several years and sometimes they will become mainstream.

After reading the headline above, what’s your gut reaction? It better be that this is a serious trend. Not only is the reduction of packaging materials big news so is the use of environmentally friendly materials. What’s driving this trend? It is big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Tesco and more recently consumers.

Read this headline too

BENTONVILLE, Ark., – Today at the second annual Sustainable Packaging Exposition, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) released the initial results of its Packaging Scorecard. The scorecard, which was officially unveiled at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2006 and launched on February 1, 2007, evaluates Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club suppliers on the sustainability of their packaging and offers suggestions for improvement. The results from the first month of operation show active use of the scorecard and a strong interest from product suppliers to make their packaging more sustainable. The scorecard implementation is Wal-Mart’s next step in moving toward achieving a five percent reduction in packaging by 2013.

Are you getting the message loud and clear? It is plain and simple: material reduction and more sustainable packaging materials. If you are not considering this as part of your long term packaging plan, then you might have problems down the road. “Green” is here to stay this time.

Besides the green movement what other factors can influence product packaging? What about product security and integrity? Given the rash of recent product recalls (for a variety of reasons) product security has become paramount.  States could enact legislation or at the very least mandate that your product packaging has a tracking device. Now this is not the same as RFID; similar but not the same. The latest devices allow you to track products all the way back to the field it was grown in and it provides a track back for every step along the way.

Some retailers may mandate that RFID be included on all product packaging. Will you be prepared? RFID interestingly is a two edged sword. There are some watchdog groups the feel that the RFID mandate is being taken too far. That is tracking what you buy, how you use it and ultimately how you dispose of it.

Recently, a major outlet demanded that all their vendors not only source their products but their packaging not from China but from the US. Trends like this are hard to ignore. If you are outsourcing your product and your packaging or even just the packaging to another country, do you have plan B in place should this happen to you?

It’s your product and you will need to package it properly while being careful to keep all the external influences in mind. The warning signs are out there. Its up to you to look for them and anticipate the possible influence on your product.
 
Want to know more about waht impacts your product packaging? Be sure and read my weekly newsletter “Packaging News You Can Use.” People hire me to advise them on this stuff to so why not contact me the Packaging Diva one of the top consumer product packaging experts via email at joann@packagingdiva.com or by phone at 1-678-594-6872. I can help you package your product to sell just like I have helped hundreds of happy clients.

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Milk packaging goes retro in glass
Kansas.com - KS,USA
As outrageous as the idea may sound to younger people, many older consumers recall glass bottles fondly as providing colder, creamier, fresher-tasting milk. …
 
Smart Bluetooth-enabled pharma packaging
A global packaging firm has hooked up with a company specialising in electronic disease management solutions to develop a new generation of electronically-enhanced pharmaceutical packaging.

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Can Green Make Green?
By DAN MITCHELL
The technology-business blog GigaOm is launching a new blog to cover the burgeoning green technologies business.
 
Green People’s Charlotte Vøhtz on eczema and organic shampoo
Newconsumer.com - London,London,UK
Packaging can be a real headache - we have chosen PP and HDPE for the majority of our products. Lately we have changed to airless pumps, which have enabled …

Women Are From Earth, Men Are From Terra Firma
Grist Magazine - Seattle,WA,USA
… for their households, and women sign 80 percent of all personal checks, it’s safe to say that women are leading a quiet revolution in green consumerism.
 
Paper or Plastic? Packaging Goes Green
The advent of treeless paper and biodegradable plastics has further complicated the age-old supermarket question: “Paper or plastic?” Researchers making sustainable paper and plastic products discuss how U.S. efforts to switch to Earth-friendly packaging measure up with efforts in Europe.

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So You Think Your Produce Packaging Is The Best? Let The Packaging Diva Decide.
 
Think you have a great produce packaging? Why not find out for sure from one of the top consumer products packaging experts. Due to her extensive produce packaging experience, JoAnn Hines the Packaging Diva was selected as one of the judges for the inaugural event
the Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) new Impact Award: Excellence in Produce Packaging.
 
The award was created to recognize companies who best demonstrate “out-of-the-box-thinking” and packaging excellence. If you think this applies to your packaging be sure and enter this competition. Ms Hines will be on the lookout for the most innovative, exciting and new produce packaging that “connects” with the consumer.

A winner will be selected in each of the five packaging award categories: food safety/traceability, functionality/technology, marketing design/messaging, sustainability, and merchandising/transportability.

All nominated packaged products must be currently commercially available. Awards will be presented October 13, 2007, during Fresh Summit’s Saturday Breakfast General Session Submission forms and instructions can be found at http://www.pma.com/packagingaward/

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What product have you purchased lately that you really loved the packaging?
One that you have not complained that it’s over packaged but felt like the package really worked in conjunction with the product inside.

There have been lots of great new packaging innovations that have made our lives easier.  There are also so many packaged products that we simply take for granted never understanding that the packaging make it possible. These are everyday items that we never consider how they got to us.

Would we have potato chips without a package? No way.
What about eggs? Did you know that every year there are dozens of egg drop competitions around the country creating new and unique product packaging for eggs? Have you popped any popcorn in the microwave lately? It’s the packaging that makes microwave popcorn possible. How about toothpaste? Are you making your own or are you like the majority of people that buy it prepackaged?

The list of packaging innovations that influence our daily lives is astounding.
I worked on a project a couple of years ago to list the most important packaging innovations in the last 50 years. There were so many choices that it was hard to select the top ten.  Terms like microwaveable, juice box, shelf stable, home meal replacement are direct results of product packaging innovation.

Now we can’t all come up with packaging innovations that revolutionize a product category. But how can you integrate innovation concepts into YOUR product packaging?

Let me give you a few examples to start you thinking:
Domino Foods took sugar out of a paper bag and put it into a resalable plastic canister.
Sargento Cheese put a reclosable zipper on its shredded cheese packaging.
Heinz Catsup not only created an upside down dispenser but shaped the bottle to fit inside the refrigerator door.
Wishbone Salad Dressing developed a spritzable salad dressing instead of pourable.
Clorox bleach pen that allows a bleaching application to be applied directly to the stain.

All of these packaging concepts had the consumer in mind when they developed alternative packaging methods. In some cases, they fulfilled an unmet consumer need — in other cases they made our lives easier. So what can your product packaging do? How will it answer a consumer desire, want or need? If the package is integral to your product then you better start thinking of how you will answer that question. Here is a start to get those creative juices flowing.

•    What can your package do that isn’t being done currently?
•    Can you make it easier to use?
•    Can you dispense the product in a different manner?
•    Can you extend the life expectancy of a particular product?
•    Can you offer it in different sizes or shapes than the current market?
•    Can you use less packaging materials or environmentally responsible ones?
•    Can you make it easier to store or handle?
•    Can you make it easier to read or understand what is inside?

Even more revolutionary, can your product tell the consumer when the product is spoiled, bad or has been tampered with? Yes, that technology is out there. Look for it to be the coming wave of new package innovation.

Any package innovation that provides product security, integrity and ensures the product is uncontaminated is a winner. It is imperative that it fulfill a consumer need for product trust.

All of these above are consumer wants, desires, issues or needs. How can you provide them the product packaging that works in satisfying these (in many cases) unmet needs?
 
Need packaging help? Why not contact me the Packaging Diva one of the top consumer product packaging experts via email at joann@packagingdiva.com or by phone at 1-678-594-6872. I can help you package your product to sell just like I have helped hundreds
of happy clients.

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