Nowadays, when ways of communication are becoming faster and when consumers are demanding instant solutions and products which can easily be identified as the right ones for their needs, without much research or choosing, packaging as the 5th marketing element can provide a wide range of possibilities for brand promotion.

Even though companies keep investing into various marketing channels and ways of communicating with consumers, it is questionless that packaging is the strongest sales tool which directly influences the consumers, right at the very sales point and differentiates the product from its competition. What are the ways in which packaging can function in this sense?
Traditional marketing channels are becoming less effective. According to the American marketing expert, Philip Kotler, who gave his presentation at a conference in São Paulo, Brazil in 2010, “marketing will be less effective in the next years, the budgets will be lower, and companies will want marketers to do more with less”.
And why is that? According to Kotler, distributors will demand more trade promotion. The traditional media such as 30-second TV commercials, newspaper, etc. are growing less effectively. Before the wide range of channels and simultaneous programs available on cable TV, consumers tend to switch from one channel to another very quickly, and further, watch different screens at the same time. While they are in front of the TV they have their mobile phone and a tablet in their hands, where they can talk to friends, check different websites, etc. and pay less attention to the program and commercials going on the TV.
The competition will grow and various categories are becoming so crowded with competitors that heavy price cutting will be unavoidable; the public wishes more and more to spend less and finally, social media networks will play an increasingly influential role in shaping brand evaluations.
On one hand, we have a huge amount of information calling for consumers’ attention. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding for products that fit in their specific needs. So the packaging is the tool that will have the entire consumer´s attention at the point of sale (POS), while at the same time, it can be shaped to the different kind of consumers groups. And packaging is already intrinsic of every product which means that costs of packaging over the total costs of the product are unavoidable to deliver that product. So why not better explore the communication of a product’s packaging, as in it we achieve the concept of delivering marketing value to consumers, in one single and inherent resource.

The previous 4P marketing model (product, price, place, promotion) now became a 5P model, adding packaging as the fifth element, indispensable for successful sales results. Could we use a more colourful term and say that the marketing strategy of a certain brand must be materialised through packaging in order to become successful?
Yes, definitely. Packaging is the one that materializes all those 4Ps and goes beyond, materializing the brand itself, being in fact the 5th P.
To analyse that, it is important to draw a common frame to the discussion. Let’s focus on the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market such as food, beverage, cosmetics and house hold products which are responsible for the demand of about 70% of packaging production around the world.
Also, let’s keep in mind that globally we have consumer goods markets with different characteristics according to the stage of economic and social development of each country, the demographics of its population, the country’s geography and infrastructure, as packaging is 100% related to those aspects and reflects that scenario in each country in a very precise way.
Europe and North America have a very mature consumer goods market and nowadays the huge opportunities are in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
In those countries we do find a very competitive market with some specific trends that are making it very hard to succeed. When exploring packaging as a marketing tool we have to explore and deliver the previous 4Ps of marketing.

Which are the key questions that describe packaging as a marketing tool?
The key questions in marketing can be explained through general key questions: Who, How much, Where, Why.
Who? The product has to be targeted for a specific public, which means to a target consumer that can be classified by age, social class, value, and habits. The ´made for me´ concept is the key to build the synergy between the consumer and the package. It has to talk to the consumer on his own language, combining the language of the product it self. For example, if you are talking to kids, it is necessary to use strong colours and movements in the graphic art, but at the same time allow the little ones to easily recognize the product and its purpose such as a snack packed in portions to be shared with friends, a juice that is made of natural fruits and has to enhance the fruits and the taste aspect, a type of tea that will bring a calm feeling at night, etc.
How much? Why choose one product over another? Price is the key, in fact. In any social class, country or product category, the price will have an impact before consumers‘ choice. But it is necessary to go further than that and explore the Value of your product. If the key aspect that a consumer values in a certain product is delivered to him, it will enhance his perception over the price, even if the product is more expensive than the competitors.
Where? Where will the product be sold? What we face nowadays is the multi-channel concept that is migrating to the cross-channel concept and further, to the omni-channel. The key is to know how your packaging/product will perform in each one of them, as well as how to have its best performance. The physical retail is sharing attention with the virtual market place, where consumers may have the opportunity to obtain more information about the product they are looking at, and even buying it. The social media are bringing a new dynamic as well, where consumers themselves can become the sales person in one particular occasion, before their network group. But even the traditional retail is facing some challenges before a more precise strategy: each retail store knows which kind of consumers will visit the store and therefore offer them exactly what they are looking for in terms of products, size of packages, added value and convenience.
Why? What are the key aspects of the product that makes it worth buying? Is it a product that offers specific characteristics for the moment of consumption, such as on the go, consuming with friends, buying it as a gift? Is it easy to prepare, to carry or carry and storage, does it have a different shelf life, or is it a very cost effective solution for a day-by-day family use product? The purpose of the product has to be very clear to consumers and the packaging itself can express that.
But packaging as the 5th element of the marketing Ps goes even beyond that. According to a research promoted by ABRE – Brazilian Packaging Association, together with consumers, they see the product and its packaging as a single element. Further, packaging is the tool to feel the brand, to touch it and interact with it. Having an exclusive packaging that becomes the brand icon will contribute to enhance consumers’ emotional connection with the brand and the product.

The studying and understanding of consumers’ requests and needs is the first step in creating a successful packaging design. In which ways should professionals approach the process of packaging design in order to find the right way through to the buyers? What is the importance of knowing your target groups?
It is key to get a good knowledge of your consumer and his habits and values. Research is a great tool to achieve that and it is interesting to notice that improvements have been done in the process of creating consumers’ research. In the past, an interviewer used to sit in front of a person or a group of persons, and do some cross-questioning to understand their deep thoughts. Nowadays what we see is researches studying consumers in their own habitats, such as their home, or during a regular routine in the supermarket, for example.
Consumers tend to answer questions according to rational aspects. But what drives them in the everyday life are subliminal aspects, to which they don’t even pay attention most of the time. The results are a more accurate understanding of how, why, when will they choose or use a certain product. All of this is creating a new concept: the moment of consumption and its experience. How can packaging contribute to the experiences of consumers during the moment of consumption of a certain product? And how to explore that - a unique functioning system, a different sensation, shine, sound or smell.
Exploring the emotions and sensations of consumers is becoming a priority, because companies now understand that they don’t have to target consumers anymore, but human beings.

It is a known fact that customers often lack of time and will to research and learn about the advantages of a certain product, so it mostly happens that their purchase decisions are made on the spot, when an attractive packaging draws their attention to the store shelves. When you consider the recent completed research studies from various markets, how often do you think that customers experiment with purchasing and trying new products?
It is a very personal choice that can be motivated by different reasons. There are very methodical people, usually adults and seniors, who aim to buy the same brands and products every time. They bring a huge challenge to those brands when some kind of update to their design, lettering or graphic art is needed in order to update the communication pattern to cope with new consumers and generations. If the design changes too much, those consumers feel very offended, as if a part of their life and history has been erased.
But the majority of consumers, in fact, are very willing to experiment and that is why even traditional brands have to bring in something new, from time to time. That renewal time is now shrinking. We may have updates of the same packaging present and launched to a market in less than a two years period, with the purpose to attract consumers’ attention at the POS and to offer them something new and different.
At the same time, this brings a huge opportunity for new products and unknown brands. If they know how to work on their packaging design, the fact of being an unknown brand may not interfere in the consumers’ choice.
Middle size companies have a huge opportunity there. As they are not the leaders of the market, they can take more risks when bringing an innovation in the graphic or structural design of their packages, having more space to innovate.
A small company can seem very big before the consumer´s eyes through its packaging.
Sustainability is an unavoidable trend in each industry branch, and so is the case with packaging. How important is it to communicate the commitment to this trend through packaging and, according to researches, are these types of products more accepted among consumers?
The product itself is more valuable than its packaging, in terms of relevance before the consumers’ needs, and in terms of environmental impact. The first step of applying sustainability in packaging is protecting its content in an efficient way.
The time has come to understand that sustainability is not a marketing tool but a permanent value and procedure inside the corporation, when running its business. A product cannot be sustainable only in its packaging. The entire business has to run under sustainable directions, looking for efficiency in all processes, logistics, product development, packaging and its disposal. Through this means a company can present its sustainable value to consumers. There are three different mechanisms for that, as stated by the ISO regulation in sustainable declaration and reports.
At the same time, there are ways of showing consumers that the product and its packaging brought some nice solutions before an environmental index. Any packaging material can reach significant benefits on sustainability. When promoting it, it is key to bring a very clear message and provide contact data for further information, building its credibility with the consumers.

We believe that your participation at the World Packaging Days in Split gave you the opportunity to get a brief insight into the Croatian packaging market. What is your assessment of it when comparing it to other European markets and what would be your own message for the Croatian packaging producers and brand owners?
Visiting Croatia was a very special experience. The country is beautiful, people are delightful and the food is very good! One day, visiting downtown Split, I entered a store of special olive oils and the sales person told me to take the one that had won the global packaging award, the WorldStar. Just perfect! (T.L.)