Nov 27 2007
Is Packaging Innovation The Chicken Or The Egg?
It’s a long-standing quandary, which came first the chicken or
the egg? It’s sort of like that with consumer product packaging
innovation. Let’s face it. We are all in advertising overload.
We see nearly 3,000 marketing messages a day. So what’s a poor
packaging professional supposed to do? Develop the product then
the package or vice versa. No matter the answer, it’s evident
that conventional packaging doesn’t sell products or at the very
least it produces flat sales. According to some of my latest
research, the packaging may not sell the product at all in the
future.
In preparation for a presentation on packaging innovation, I
decided to poll my network about what they believe to be new in
packaging innovation for consumer products. I posed these
questions to my audience:
What is your definition of packaging innovation for consumer
products?
Have you seen any recent packaging examples that you consider
truly different and why are they unique? If you could invent it
what new types of new product packaging would you like develop?
Big mistake! Maybe I should say it was a true learning
experience. You think I could have anticipated some of the
responses. Remember, I have been researching packaging as a
marketing tool for years. Most of the responses I received were
not favorable to the packaging community.
One thing is clear. Our beloved “packaging” is under attack by
the consumer. They just don’t understand it.
A couple of surprising points came from this exercise.
1) The packaging professionals didn’t seem at all concerned
about this topic or for the most part wouldn’t share their
insights (non confidential of course) about the topic. I wonder
if they are just too busy or they simply didn’t care about
packaging innovation.
2) The consumer (those people not in the packaging industry)
registered loud and clear. They gave me the skinny on their
dissatisfaction on everything from less packaging to “wrap
rage” induced by product packaging. They took the time to
express their opinions.
So to what do we attribute this dichotomy of opinions? Package
professionals are involved in the third largest industry in the
US. It is “packaging” and we are confident that we know what the
consumer needs (or so we think).
Uninformed consumers are unhappy, outraged, dissatisfied and just
plain angry with the packaging industry and it’s our fault. Our
industry has done very little to educate the consumer about why
they need packaging and what role it has to play in modern
society. What about the consumer perceptions? These are sadly
going downhill. With the holidays, we get a flurry of editors
writing about “wrap rage.” In addition with the “green
movement” we are getting protest of environmentally unfriendly,
excess packaging and so on.
But the truth is consumers need packaging innovation. They need
all of the benefits it has to offer with threats such as product
integrity and security, country of origin issues and so on.
So who is going to answer these dilemmas? Smart packaging
professionals who will use packaging innovation to the consumers’
benefit. They will educate and inform consumers that the package
is a whole lot more than what it seems to be — on the surface.
To answer the age old chicken or egg quandary. Packaging has a
perception problem which has to be resolved now. It is imperative
that we “connect” with the consumer before the egg or the
chicken are either conceived or hatched. Otherwise, packaging
will continue to face detractors and complainers and reinforce
the negative consumer perceptions.
Need to know whose got the latest concepts in packaging
innovation? I know that’s what I do-track packaging trends and
innovation and how it is going to impact your business. Get
connected with me JoAnn Hines Packaging Diva via email at
PackagingDiva@aol.com or by phone 1-678-594 6872.
4 responses so far
4 Responses to “Is Packaging Innovation The Chicken Or The Egg?”
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[...] What looks good in theory many not work out practically. Ensure you consider packaging changes from all angles and all perspectives. Read Is Packaging Innovation The Chicken Or The Egg [...]
Hi JoAnn,
Thanks for a great post. Sounds very interesting. I have a point about the green aspect I’d like to share with you.
I want to point out that consumers are often ignorant about the total life cycle of a product or environmental effects of producing almost anything. Consumers tend to think about the packaging only on in-store, at-home, in-use, throw-away -basis. They might not understand one of the main functions of packaging that is to protect the product and keep it safe all the way from the factory to their personal homes and also making the using of the product pleasurable. If the consumers don’t see the big picture it is easy to see packaging as problematic construction that is only slowing them down and creates waste.
It is true that there is some excess packaging, but in these green times nobody seems to realize or pay attention to the fact that if you consider the whole production chain or LCA (life cycle assessment) of a product, the environmental impact of packaging is only few per cent. In food products for example it is a much bigger “crime against nature” to leave a meal half eaten an throw it away than to buy the most over packed goods imaginable.
I have come across quite a few resent LCS case studies conducted in Finland about this and here is one example. In the production of a marinated chicken strip product (400g content, pp plastic container) the environmental impact of packaging is very low. In the overall production waste created by product packaging is 2% compared to waste created by raising the chicks 47%, butchery and product preparation 36%, chicken production 10%, retail 4% and marinade 1%. Of the total energy consumption packaging counts for 14%. Of the overall greenhouse gasses (N2O, CO2, CH4) created by the production packaging counts for 4%. In the total consuption of water packaging counts for next to nothing.
I have read similar reports about packaging for instant oatmeal, blue cheese, potato gratin and beer and in all of them the environmental impact of packaging is very low compared to the production of the product itself.
When considering this, now think about the environmental effects of poorly packaged goods. Less packaging material might sound good at first, but if it can’t manage to keep the product fresh for long, it has a huge negative environmental impact. In these times a good packaging innovation should be more about safety, intelligence and storage time than new functionality and in-store visibility.
These studies I mentioned are quite extensive and expensive to conduct but they take into into account the whole life cycle of a pack starting from the first raw materials (such as oil), processes, logistics, water, energy, emissions, producing the packaging raw materials, producing packaging, transport, retail…. to waste. Unfortunately most of them are in finnish, but they make an important point that should be shared globally in my opinion.
Because of the complexity of all of this it is easy for customers to end up barking at the wrong three.
Cheers,
Markus Joutsela
Doctoral student / packaging designer
Aalto University School of Art and Design
[...] Packaging inspiration can come from any where. The key is to know it when you see it and which comes first in Packaging innovation the chicken or the egg [...]
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