Packaging Strategies: The Art of the Shipper

As more packaged goods sell through high-volume retailers, the role of shipping cases, trays and multi-packs has changed. They no longer are utilitarian packages that simply get products to the store. They've become the packaging that shoppers see and use to make buying decisions. So marketers have to pay as much attention to the graphics on them as they do to graphics on the product package. In this scenario, conventional pallets of packaged goods have become point-of-purchase displays in club stores and volume merchandising outlets, and shipper cases and trays become the in-line "management systems" for products. Therefore, they have to deliver the kind of impact that primary packaging has traditionally achieved. Tactics That Increase Selling PowerMarketers and designers have two tactics they can use to increase the impact of packaging that normally does not play a display role.1. Increase the use of color graphics on shippers, trays and multi-packs. As a corollary, consider ways to add gloss to further improve shelf impact. In many cases, packages that have traditionally come in brown, corrugated shippers now use white surfaces to display four-color graphics. 2. Consider every inch of "real estate" on those packages as space for communication. Lips on trays and even flaps on corrugated cases can be prime real estate in gaining incremental sales.One great example is Quaker State motor oil in the automotive aftermarket category. This product frequently sells in case quantities, especially at mass-merchandise outlets and auto supply stores. The purchaser may be a do-it-yourselfer who buys in quantity for easy handling and price. Quaker state recognizes this and uses full-color graphics on corrugated shippers holding 12 containers of oil. The entire case goes onto the shelf at the volume retailer, and the shopper never sees the bottles inside. Graphics cover the shipper's four panels and the top. A stylized "Q" and the Quaker State brand are dominant graphic elements on each panel. (See image at right; compare the impact of Quaker State's "box" with that of its two adjacent competitors.)What Package is the Shopper Buying?When should you invest in sophisticated graphics on a shipper, tray or multi-pack? Whenever a package is the "unit of purchase" for the shopper. Sometimes, that "unit of purchase" is graphically strong enough to also serve as a display. In traditional grocery and drugstores, the unit of purchase is usually the primary package, so designers have focused their efforts on primary packages for years. However, in mass merchandising outlets, that unit may be the multi-pack or the shipper. Smart marketers extend their graphic efforts to those packages, too. (Meanwhile, shipping trays increasingly are finding their way onto shelves in supermarkets and drugstores, where the trays can significantly enhance the impact of the primary package.)Quaker State has made an effort to make the primary package -- a plastic quart bottle -- effective on-shelf. However, it has also extended that thinking to the shipper with color graphics that strongly carry the Quaker State brand. The shippers have a white facing stock, instead of brown paper, on the outside surface. That helps add "punch" to the graphics.The brand's shippers communicate with shoppers across the three recognition zones. The stylized "Q" and brand logo generate recognition from 12 feet away. Sell copy establishes reasons to buy the brand at three feet. And detailed product information satisfies consumer who want information about the product and its uses. Consider Visual ZonesIn designing package graphics for shippers, trays and multi-packs, it is vital to remember the aforementioned zones, which represent the main distances from which a shopper interacts with a package. The 12-foot zone. This is the "recognition zone," from which people recognize and connect with a brand. In the most common terms, it is exemplified by the "Campbell Soup Effect": Shoppers walking down a narrow aisle of a conventional supermarket know they are approaching the Campbell Soup section because of the mass of red and white up ahead. In this zone, colors and bold typography reign. Traditionally, impact in this zone was delivered by point-of-purchase materials, which reinforced the visual impact of the package by their color and/or shape. Now, conventional packaging has to deliver in this zone, too.The three-foot zone. This is the "buy zone." Here, the package has to tell the consumer something about the brand and the product inside. It has to convey a message that prompts a purchase. It is the domain of the sell copy on the package's primary display panel.The one-foot zone. This is the "information zone." There is a segment of consumers who seek detailed product information to confirm their buying decisions. Watch shoppers in stores: some read nutrition statements on food packages, others scrutinize labels on suntan lotions. The detailed information has to be there to meet this consumer's needs.Leverage All the Real EstateAmong the packaging real estate being used more often to deliver messages are the lips of shelf-ready cases and the skirts on pallet sheets and pallet caps. Each offers an area as much as three to four inches high to deliver messages that shoppers can see from as far as 12 feet away.Costco recognizes the potential impact of the lip on shippers, which is why the chain recommends they be at least three inches in dimension. (See image at right.) By printing bold, clear block letters on the lip, marketers can convey either variety, brand names or selling points in a way that can be seen from 12 feet away. The posts that form the upright supports can also be selling space. Recently, I have seen some packages extending the width of those posts to accommodate sell copy. One example of effective use of tray space is a variety pack of S.C. Johnson's Skintimate beauty products. The club-store package is sold from a full pallet. The brand achieves identity from a 12-foot distance with color printing on the trays that make up the pallet, coupled with the color and shape of the primary packages. Four primary packages of shave gel and after-shave gel are wrapped in a clear plastic film to create a multi-pack. The four-packs rest within corrugated paperboard trays that have a three-inch lip rising from the bottom. The tray's primary function is to stabilize the load during shipment, but it is imprinted with a solid color background and the Skintimate brand name on the lip. (See image at right. Also see Oral-B and Motrin images.)The primary packages also contribute to recognition, through a ribbed cap that gains recognition on traditional drugstore shelves. Texture provided by the ribbed caps creates impact in the mass merchandise environment as well.Make Words WorkPackaging graphics have often focused on including as many selling points as possible. While a package with five to six "bullet points" is still not uncommon, marketers are beginning to understand that shoppers rarely read that many words. Current thinking instead suggests using a straightforward, high-impact phrase and making the print as large as possible. (See Advil and Prilosec images at right.)Another option is to highlight the brand on the shipper or tray. For brands with strong equity, the name itself may be the strongest message to put on shippers or trays. For lesser-known brands, the challenge is to develop a phrase that delivers a strong, concise summary of the unique selling proposition. Recently, two brands of heavy-duty hand cleaner for mechanics were competing in the club store environment. The lip of the pallet cap for Fast Orange carried the legend: "Removes the Toughest Oil, Grease and Grime!" That quickly sold a benefit. The other brand, which is relatively new and has little brand equity, had a much weaker selling proposition in on the skirt of its pallet cap: "Hand Cleaner . . . Get it Clean." Adding GlossAdding gloss is a trend with primary packaging, and a number of coatings can be used on paperboard cartons and flexible packaging. However, gloss is showing up on shippers and multi-packs in interesting ways. Both paperboard and film shippers are exhibiting shinier surfaces. A multi-pack of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese sold through club stores uses a film overwrap to create the multi-pack. The film has an acrylic coating to accent the gloss, creating strong visual appeal on pallets of product. (See image at right.) The package can be found in Sam's Club as a 12-pack and in Costco as a 15-pack.Del Monte takes a similar approach with paperboard multi-packs for canned vegetables in club stores. Ranging from six- to 24-packs, the cans come in well-printed paperboard containers with a gloss coating. Arguably, the graphics on the multi-pack, which is the unit of purchase, are better than the graphics on the can labels themselves. (See image at right.)My vote for one of the more innovative ways to get gloss and color on a pallet goes to Frito-Lay for a 42-count multi-pack of single-serve snacks sold through club stores. The package is aimed at entrepreneurs who own vending machines, although families with several children are a target, too. The bags themselves are colorful, and Frito-Lay puts lets them show through the open end of a tray; the tray is wrapped in a glossy film that accentuates the riot of color from the bags. Stacked on-end on the pallet, it creates a high-color, high-gloss display. (See image at right.)