Ceepackaging

Analysis

Marketing innovation will come through packaging

The study of 248 new product development specialists and marketers working
with leading consumer and business brands, shows a community in a bullish
mood with 55% planning to move or extend their brands into new product
areas, 64% set to launch a major new product for an existing market and a
third planning a new product for a completely new market in 2008.
Not surprisingly this ambitious schedule is having a major knock on effect on
marketing plans, with most areas of the mix set to receive greater budgets -
43% plan to spend more on promotions, 36% will increase their advertising
budgets while PR and online marketing are going to player a greater role for
one in four.
However, it is in the area of packaging where the biggest changes are set to
be made, with 53% saying their packaging spend will increase over the next
12 months. These increases are because major brand owners admit their
ability to innovate with their products is inextricably linked to their ability to
harness new packaging concepts. Indeed, of the brand managers, packaging
technologists, product development experts and marketers studied, 74% say
packaging is integral to new product development, 30% say packaging forms
the bulk of their innovation while over half say it is a quick and cost effective
way to innovate.
There are many high profile examples of packaging concepts which have
spawned completely new products and categories – from microwaveable
packaging’s impact on ready meals, and controlled or modified atmosphere
packaging’s role in the chilled foods sector right through to the widget used in
beer cans. However, what the easyFairs® study shows is how this level of
packaging innovation now has to be the norm for major brands if they are to
stay ahead.
Peter Heath, managing director of easyFairs® UK comments:
“In the old days new packaging ideas and concepts used to come along every
now and then. When they did they would herald the start of a new category or
a major new direction for a product. But today new product developers and
marketers are under such immense pressure to innovate regularly, that they
now have to be constantly on the look out for the next big thing and their
packaging strategy has to be razor sharp. They simply cannot afford to be
outsmarted by a competitor in the packaging stakes. That’s why our
packaging innovations show has grown so fast. When we launched our first
show in the UK three years ago it attracted a healthy 107 exhibitors; in March
more than 330 companies will show at the NEC.”
One area brands are trying to get to grips with is environmental packaging. A
more sustainable packaging strategy offers real commercial benefits in terms
of reduced materials usage and waste. However, marketers and innovators
working with major brands also recognise it offers them the opportunity to
grab some all-important differentiation from competitors - the dominant
innovation driver for 59% of those studied. Indeed improving environmental
performance has superceded retailer pressure in terms of its influence on
innovation plans.
Peter Heath again:
“People just aren’t sure which way to go. They know it’s a growing issue and
they are nervous that a competitor may outsmart them in this sphere – equally
they don’t want to do something that smacks of tokenism…environmental
packaging is an area where there’s real scope to steal a march on your
competition or be left behind.”
To help new product development specialists, marketers, specifiers and
packaging technologists get to grips with the latest products and thinking in
environmentally responsible packaging, easyFairs PACKAGING
INNOVATIONS show is being co-located with easyFairs ECOPACK.