Follow and star ↑↑ New Distribution See how many friends are with you following industry trends**** Preface: Packaging is the communication path between a product and consumers; any commercial product packaging design that ignores business thinking is irresponsible. Packaging is an integral part of turning a product into a commodity. Product packaging design is not window-display aesthetic art, nor is it the designer's self-expression. Attractive packaging may not necessarily achieve satisfactory sales performance; the primary task of packaging design is to achieve the company's strategic sales goals through creative, appropriate commercial design. What is successful commercial packaging? Product packaging reflects a product's ability to speak on the shelf. Product packaging is never a work to be displayed on a computer through exquisite embellishment, but a commodity that will be placed alongside many similar competing products on a cluttered shelf at the point of sale. How do you make your product stand out from the crowd on the shelf? How do you capture the consumer's first glance? How do you drive purchase through product packaging? These must be the first questions every corporate marketing professional, packaging designer, and packaging design company considers before starting packaging design work. On August 21, 2019, at the "FMCG2019 China FMCG Conference" hosted by New Distribution, Mr. Zhang Yuzheng, founder of Zishan Marketing Consulting, was specially invited to share a keynote speech titled "Insights into the Commercial Value of Product Packaging from Consumer Purchase Behavior." The following is a compilation of Mr. Zhang Yuzheng's speech for our readers. Why is packaging so important for companies? We know that the premise for any company's existence is to obtain profits, but producing products only incurs costs; only selling goods generates profits. Products without packaging cannot become commodities, and thus cannot be purchased, thereby failing to bring profits to the company. Every commodity needs packaging, but not all packaging can be called commercial packaging in the true sense. This is because packaging that holds products not yet in the circulation and sales field should not be called packaging; it can only be called wrapping, or a box, carton, or jar. Besides protecting the product, the most important functional attribute of packaging is to win consumer favor and accomplish the ultimate task of selling the product. So, first, I want to give a correct definition of commercial packaging: "Only the external wrapping of products that enters the sales circulation field and has commercial value can be called commodity packaging." Packaging is an important tool for transforming products into commodities; only products that have been packaged can be called commodities. Packaging is the most important transformation tool from product to commodity, and it is also the primary task of corporate marketing. So, how to design a product packaging with better commercial value? Start from the most commercial origin, and the simplest way is to gain insights from consumer purchase behavior. Current cognitive misunderstandings in the packaging design field Currently, in the FMCG sector, which has the largest demand for packaging, many companies and packaging design companies have significant misunderstandings about packaging design. These are mainly manifested in the following three aspects: First, treating packaging design as a popular aesthetic art behavior. In today's highly developed internet era, marketing managers responsible for packaging in FMCG companies—the largest demand sector for packaging design—see award-winning packaging works such as Pentawards and IF, which use aesthetics as the sole evaluation criterion, and simply believe that commercial packaging design can become a bestseller by maximizing visual appeal. But how many of these award-winning packages we see each year actually become bestsellers in the market? Additionally, some packaging design companies founded by art directors with formal art school backgrounds treat packaging design as a simple popular art. They use niche, customized packaging design aesthetic expressions to misinterpret the essential commodity value characteristics that mass-market FMCG packaging must possess. Because the creative thinking of these packaging design company principals is visual, they are not interested in how to sell products. They never carefully read product descriptions, pay attention to product advantages and positioning, or think about consumption trends and market competition. I am actually a graduate of such a specialized art school, but I have always regretted that my alma mater, the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, as China's best commercial art and design institution, does not offer business courses such as marketing, market research, and consumer psychology. Advertising legend and founder of Ogilvy, David Ogilvy, once said: "The only purpose of advertising is to sell." The only purpose of commercial packaging design should also be to sell. The so-called "in business, speak business" is the essence of commodity packaging design. Second, unclear understanding of the commercial value of packaging design. Now, when I propose packaging designs to companies, I often find that many clients, while spending money to hire design companies to help with packaging design, are also very keen to express their unique aesthetic opinions on every packaging design presented. When listening to packaging design proposals, these clients are not interested in the product strategy and brand positioning in the early stages, but often only focus on the visual presentation of the packaging design. So when they offer modification suggestions, they do not think from a commercial packaging perspective; their most common comment is: "It's not good-looking." There are also my peers sitting below. Everyone knows that for designers, it's really hard to know how to refine packaging design based on such "not good-looking" feedback. Because what is good-looking is a very subjective personal aesthetic judgment; everyone's perception of good-looking is different and very subjective, while commercial packaging must be judged from objective commercial thinking. Third, viewing packaging design as the entirety of marketing work. Today, many FMCG marketing professionals overly amplify the importance of packaging design in product marketing. They one-sidedly believe that the only condition for a new product with no brand awareness to become a hit is to design a very attractive product packaging. Indeed, today is a lookism economy; commercial packaging design must be attractive, and that's not wrong. But an attractive packaging cannot drive all aspects of product marketing, and a hot-selling product is definitely not achieved just by designing an attractive packaging. Packaging design is a crucial part of the overall marketing process, but it is definitely not everything. Marketing professionals must also understand the basic 4P theory of marketing, and even the more advanced 6P, 10P, and even 13P theories, covering all key points. Only through a perfect marketing mix can a product become a truly hot-selling commodity; packaging design is just one component of the overall marketing mix. Packaging is the first advertisement of a product Protecting the product, facilitating storage and transportation, and promoting sales are the three key cores of commodity packaging. But the most core key point is promoting sales. Why is commodity packaging design important today? Although packaging is not the sole driver of marketing, it is definitely the first impression consumers have of a product. Commodity packaging is the core focus of a company's marketing strategy and a key aspect of product innovation. Why is it the first impression? Research shows that 30% of consumers purchase products based on packaging; 60% of consumers are willing to try new products because of attractive packaging; and 80% of impulse purchases in FMCG are driven by packaging at the channel end. Commodity packaging is the first advertisement for communication between the product and consumers. It is a key marketing tactic; when a company doesn't have much money for marketing, packaging becomes the only means to communicate with consumers at the point of sale. So packaging is also the communication language of the product shelf. Research shows that packaging drives consumer purchases more than TV commercials. In the internet marketing era, based on online sharing and mutual communication, commodity packaging can also create many topics for communication with target consumers. Especially for young consumers: many young people aged 18 to 30 will buy good products because of packaging aesthetics, share products they think are bad on social media, and also share attractive product packaging. Mr. Zhang Yuzheng, founder of Zishan Marketing Consulting The difference between aesthetic art and commercial design Can you identify your product on the shelf? What is the actual state of your packaging on the shelf? When packaging design companies present proposals to clients, they often view the packaging design on a computer screen. They make the packaging renderings look beautiful on the screen, using various dynamic images, scenario images, and all kinds of display techniques, but in reality, the client's product will be displayed on the shelf, mixed with many competitors, and it's blurry. So our goal today is to shift the principles of commodity packaging design from personal subjective evaluation to objective commercial feedback, and also hope to establish an objective packaging commercial language, thereby creating a common commercial standard language to drive the commercial optimization of packaging design. The core of packaging is still to sell goods; it must be commercial, and the basic principles of product packaging design must be examined through the path of consumer purchase behavior. Perhaps many of these basic principles of commercial packaging design mentioned today are already known to everyone, but often these principles are exactly the important content that we tend to overlook when doing packaging communication and product communication. What is commercial design? Commercial design: it is a creative behavior by a company based on market insights, target consumer shopping behavior needs, and product characteristics, to achieve the company's commercial purposes. Commercial design must be based on commercial purposes. So statements like "I like this packaging, I don't like this packaging, I think it's good-looking, I think it's not" are definitely problematic; they are personal aesthetic expressions based on self-subjective consciousness. What is aesthetic art? Aesthetic art: it is the expression of the artist's personal imagination and skills, requiring people to appreciate the artist's personal expression of beauty or emotional power. Every time a client thinks a packaging design is good-looking, I often want to ask the client: is the good-looking you mention what the designer told you, or what you think in your heart, or what you think consumers feel is good-looking? Because good-looking is entirely an expression based on personal subjective consciousness, completely the creator's self-expression. So, aesthetic art is often subjective to our viewers' eyes. You might like the paintings of Impressionist master Van Gogh, but Van Gogh's paintings are also different; you might like his "Starry Night," but I like Van Gogh's "Sunflowers," and among the Impressionists there are Van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne... Who do you actually like? Beauty is very subjective. So, we can subjectively say we like or dislike. But in reality, commercial behavior is an objective fact; we really cannot judge by like/dislike or good-looking/not good-looking. The subjective consciousness of aesthetic art solves the consumer's first purchase; the objective existence of commercial design solves the consumer's repeat purchase. Attractive aesthetics indeed solve the first purchase drive. It's like girls buying clothes: no matter how good-looking a piece of clothing is, I believe a girl won't buy a stack; she'll only buy one, and the second time she definitely won't buy the same style. But we know that the core of FMCG marketing must solve the consumer's repeat purchase behavior. So solving repeat purchases can only be achieved through objective commercial design. Commercial packaging design principle module one: COR principle I. Communication The packaging design principle must first be driven by consumer purchase behavior and solve the communication problem with consumers. Packaging design must convey effective brand and product information to consumers, and it should achieve the following:
- 1. Clear, concise, and intuitive;
- 2. Help consumers prioritize;
- 3. Maximum three points of information communication on the packaging. Packaging design must be interconnected with the brand in communication; packaging design and brand communication must be consistent. At the same time, the communication points on the packaging must be clear and definite. When we helped Dali Group design the Doudouben product packaging, we particularly emphasized what information should appear on the front of the packaging, with one, two, or three layers clearly defined, which should be enlarged, and which should be reduced. There is no 50/50 ratio on packaging, and information cannot be evenly distributed, so each layer of information arrangement must be clear. In addition, during packaging design work, there must be overall thinking about future product line extension planning. When we cooperated with COFCO Fulinmen on packaging design, because its positioning is "kitchen food expert," all Fulinmen oil, rice, and seasoning series products on the shelf must form an overall display, consistent with the brand's overall positioning principle. How to better plan future product category extensions from the overall communication positioning is also very important on the communication end. II. Uniqueness The uniqueness of product packaging is very important; consumers will only buy your product because of the differentiated uniqueness. However, unique differences are explored through the competitive environment. So, when creating unique differences in packaging design, you must look at competitors. Uniqueness can be a symbol, an IP image, a color block, or a unique shape. The shelves we see are very messy; although each product has its own characteristics, can you really distinguish which is which? For example, three products in the nut industry represent Liangpin Shop, Baicaowei, and Three Squirrels. Which has a stronger symbol sense? Which can you identify at a glance? Which one can you not even recognize its brand? Many people complain about the packaging of Coconut Palm coconut juice, but its packaging design is actually very good, very unique, and achieves clarity at a glance on the shelf. And if you look closely, its layout is very refined, with a postmodernist design feel, and it has strong visual impact on the shelf. Many attractive packages may not necessarily bring stronger shelf visual impact than Coconut Palm's packaging. So, unique symbols in product packaging can enhance consumers' recognition of the product, and this recognition can have a very good effect on driving purchases and future SKU extension, so it is called the unique recognizability that commercial packaging design must possess. There is also a strange phenomenon in today's commodity packaging design field: it supports a group of commercial illustrators. I find that many famous illustrators around me are drawing illustrations for different packages, and the styles are very similar. Can't packaging be done without illustrations? Will packaging designs that all use illustrations have differences? Many food packages' tempting taste can only be achieved through commercial photography combined with product retouching. If all packaging is made into illustrations, how can product differentiation be achieved? Doesn't commodity packaging design need to bloom in a hundred flowers? III. Robustness Commercial packaging design must also be robust, but the robustness we talk about here is not about enlarging the packaging symbol; robustness is based on the future extensibility of the product, and packaging design must have strong fission and extension capabilities. For example: Lay's potato chip packaging is very consistent globally. Another example: Oreo, from its entry into China to now, the brand Chinese font and packaging basic specification principles I designed back then are still used today. The robustness of commercial packaging design is also reflected in the fact that basic packaging elements can be extended to all marketing and communication activities of the product. We know that Heineken's five-pointed star symbol and brand green represent its unique identity, but they also have strong communication extensibility. So for commercial packaging design, robustness is also reflected in the consistency of subsequent marketing communication and promotion. Packaging design principle module two: SHC principle We know that e-commerce platforms are growing rapidly today, and we have time to talk about the creative core of e-commerce packaging design. But for FMCG, most consumer purchases still come from traditional channels. Traditional channels still account for more than 80% of sales. Packaging design on traditional shelves should follow the SHC (stop, hold, close) principle: I. Stop: ten steps from the shelf, attract consumers' attention to the product on the shelf When ten steps away from the shelf, packaging design needs to pay attention to six key points:
Use recognizable brand elements with breakthrough potential.
Have a clear contrast between brand colors and category colors.
Create a color block to enhance shelf space.
Create a larger, unified display or interconnected packaging.
Use horizontal design shapes to unify the brand's visual identity.
Balance consistency and differentiation. If these six points are done well, you can capture consumers from the farthest point. For example, Coca-Cola's red brings visual impact and a coherent shelf display. Very good, it's very easy to recognize from a distance. What if there's no large color block? You can connect the main visuals of individual packages. RITZ packaging achieves this by connecting each individual package's visual, forming a strong visual display on the shelf and increasing consumer attention. II. Hold: three steps from the shelf, make it easy for consumers to browse the product When consumers are three steps away from the product, what should packaging design pay attention to? To better identify the communication points of the product to consumers, there are four aspects to grasp:
- Clearly communicate the brand's benefits and changes to consumers. 2. Control the number of elements on the front of the packaging. 3. Make it easy for consumers to quickly find product-related information. 4. Use other elements to establish differentiation between different brand product packages. At the same time, all communication information content, hierarchy, and SKU distinctions must be clear. Key product selling points must be clear so consumers can better browse relevant information. III. Close: in front of the shelf, complete the sale When consumers approach the product, packaging design must influence consumers' four core purchase reasons to truly turn them into buyers.
- What is the consumer's purchase driver? 2. Product claims should be concise; research finds the ideal claim is between 3-7 characters. 3. Different selling points should be clearly expressed. 4. The product's emotional value connection should be consistent with the target consumer. Product packaging must have a core communication benefit point. I often ask clients: where is your benefit point? You must tell me; the core must be expressed on the product packaging. At the same time, packaging detail design is also very important. A refined packaging needs to achieve refinement in all details. Packaging needs 360-degree consumer communication. Sometimes I see the back design of many product packages; the product communication information looks like a Word layout, and a good package loses a lot of value. Quality product packaging must pay attention to how the refinement of every detail is created. The COR (communication, uniqueness, robustness) and SHC (stop, hold, close) commercial packaging design principles are very applicable to product packaging design in offline channels. Commodity packaging design must achieve perfect commercial design so that consumers can find your product and buy it at the first moment. 18 questions before commodity packaging design Before doing packaging, we must also clearly define 18 questions before proceeding with packaging design work. For example: What is the content contained in the packaging? You can't just tell me it's milk; you need to specify what kind of milk it is and how it differs from other milk. Is your packaging an upgrade of old packaging or a completely new packaging design? Be very careful when upgrading old packaging. Sometimes clients and design companies make bold adjustments, hoping to take a big leap forward, but this often loses some loyal buyers. At this point, I tell them: you need to take smaller steps, adjust once a year, so you can have so-called consumer retention. Are you doing just one package or considering the entire series of series packaging? Now many packaging designers, when a client gives them a task, just do one product package without considering the future product line continuation, category expansion, and brand extension, which often leads to major marketing problems later. The target consumer needs to be clear: who are you selling to? Never say all consumers. Your product can never target all consumers. Coca-Cola is indeed drinkable by all consumers, but as a brand with over 120 years of history, it has always targeted young people. Next are self-use, gifting, and promotion; these are all different, and packaging design methods are also different. Where is your product sales region? Actually, the region also determines how your product packaging should be done. For example, when we created the Xinjiang version of Coca-Cola packaging, it was completely different; we had to respect local minority customs. The sales channel of the product, online platform or offline channel, e-commerce packaging design is also different from offline. What are the target competitors or benchmark products? These are also key for packaging design. Target competitors are those that sell the same price as you in the same region, same market, same shelf. What are benchmark products? Some clients often bring a packaging book or download foreign packaging from the internet and ask if we can refer to this style for design. Such reference packaging can be called benchmark packaging, not competitors. It may have aesthetic reference value, but it doesn't have significant commercial reference value because its target audience, market, sales environment, and sales targets are different. So it's not your competitor; it can only be called a benchmark product. What are your product's functional benefit points? Which selling points can move consumers? Do you want to be a viral product or a long-lasting product? Do we need to consider market communication and promotion after product launch? The company's brand vision and corporate goals also need to be linked to product packaging. How much packaging cost are you prepared to invest in the product? Sometimes for gift box packaging, although the effect looks very good on the computer, after the final packaging is produced, it often turns out to be very different from the renderings. This is because the process and materials were not fully considered in advance. 7 pieces of information to know before packaging design Container specifications, size, technical drawings, content information, brand, product name, selling points, specifications, net content, front content, back content, etc. We hope to communicate all these with the client in advance. Packaging design is an overall creative process that requires overall planning: what materials, what paper, what processes, colors, outer boxes, and future extensibility... All in all, what we do is not a simple aesthetic packaging presentation, but a commercial design packaging plan based on the essence of marketing. Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted China FMCG + Internet professional new media Committed to FMCG manufacturer and distributor transformation and upgrading and channel digital solutions