"The package of today and tomorrow. It has to communicate harder than its predecessor. It has to be targeted at a more specialized market niche. And, it has to be even more thoroughly researched than its predecessor to guarantee that it meets more stringent communication requirements." Frank Tobolski, "Dissecting the Megatrends: The Impact on Packaging."


Consumers purchase products based on a multitude of criteria. Sometimes it's because their past experience with a certain product has been positive or because the product is easy or convenient to use. It's no surprise, then, that the Campbell Soup Co. is highly committed to new package research and development and subsequently, why it's one of the country's leaders in the consumer products industry.

"We view packaging as a way to be pre-emptive in the marketplace and to fulfill emerging consumer needs, says Robin L. Danziger, senior marketing research manager at Campbell's in Camden, N.J. Danziger provided insight in the area of new packaging development in her presentation entitled, "Identifying new product opportunities: How the pros do it," at the American Marketing Assn.'s annual marketing conference in Orlando, Fla., last fall.

"At the point of sale, the package is the product to the consumer," continues Danziger. "A good package both contains and protects the product from the time of production until it's finally discarded by the consumer. An effective package informs, convinces, satisfies, triggers sales and aids repeat sales. The package is the single constant in the marketing program at the point of sale, in advertising, in promotion materials and in use by the consumer."

Least understood

Despite the importance of packaging, it is one of the least understood and most underutilized elements of the new product marketing mix, says Danziger. That's why Campbell's, like other similar companies, "needs to encourage the kind of creativity that will help it maximize its opportunity to cash in on consumer trends. An organization does this through innovative approaches in which new ideas are welcomed, encouraged and rewarded."

Having ideas is one thing; making them succeed is another. One technique which has been very effective in helping make ideas succeed is synectics, says Danziger.

"Broadly speaking, synectics is a creative process that can be applied and adapted to almost any situation. It involves free-flowing, nonevaluative thinking, with the goal of developing alternative solutions to current problems or bottlenecks."

According to Danziger, "Synectics generate 'I wish' statements - statements which allow us to move beyond practical solutions, solutions that may be more absurd but are also more innovative. It allows Campbell's to get techniques that can help develop new product ideas, new packaging ideas and new solutions to old problems. Marketing research has taken a leadership role in synectics sessions."

Task force

Campbell's also established a packaging task force in 1983 to address the question of what are the optimal packages for soup for the long term, says Danziger. That's because the company believes packaging can be very important in new product development, especially if it accomplishes one or more of the following objectives:

  • Solves a problem
  • Makes it easier to use the product and,
  • Projects an image of differentiation.

Danziger explained some of the task force's work. "First of all, whenever we tackle a new issue, such as what is the optimal package for Campbell's for the long term, we start with a step backward. We want to make sure that the direction in which we're heading is consistent with today's trends and the trends we're predicting for the future."

The company does this by reviewing demographic trends. As we all are aware, these show that over 50% of households today consist of only one or two people. The traditional family - the father as the main financial supporter and the mother at home with the children - is diminishing. More commonly, the family has two wage-earners with both mother and father in the work force and the kids in day care.

"These two-income families have contributed to the growing affluence in this segment of the population. They are a favorite of today's marketers, because they tend to have more disposable income and they're spending their income differently, in different ways and on different types of goods and services, than their parents did."

Danziger says the aging population has also had a large impact on the country, especially since disposable income is growing among today's elderly. Those age 55 and over represent just 21% of this country's population yet control 39% of the discretionary income.

"The graying of America is one of the most visible and inescapable trends," says Frank Tobolski, director of marketing research at Container CorpoMtion of America's DMR (Design and Market Research Laboratory) facility, Carol Stream, Ill., in his article, "Dissecting the Megatrends: The Impact on Packaging." In it he asks, "What impact will this have on the role of packaging in the marketing mix? The implication here is that packaging design will have to address this age group's specific needs. Legibility and easy readability of user instructions is one area.

"For more personal identification," continues Tobolski, "product photography will incorporate older models. They'll be doing the same things as their younger counterparts. At home, at work, at leisure - the accent will be on the older, more mature adults."

The ability to identify such trends, says Danziger, as well as predict the impact they will have in the future, is critical in enabling companies to be the marketplace leaders of tomorrow.

Campbell's task force also considers consumers' lifestyles as they design their packages and their research.

"Today's consumers are working with a new definition of quality. We must understand their perceptions of quality if we are to make and adapt products to their needs," continues Danziger. "We have a full-fledged effort underway to constantly talk to our consumers and to react to what they're telling us."

Focus groups, among other things, are part of the firm's full-fledged effort in understanding consumers. Such research, says Tobolski, is critical in confirming a product's positioning. In turn, the research determines "whether the package communicates that positioning to the consumer who buys the product."

With research knowledge at hand, Campbell's hopes to develop packaging that is one step ahead of its competition and which fulfills emerging consumer needs.

Convenient packaging

Like other manufacturers, Campbell's is learning from its foreign competition. "The Japanese have entered the market with the ultimate in packaging convenience, Nissin Cup O'Noodles. You just add hot water, eat it and toss. It's lightweight, disposable, relatively inexpensive and you eat it right out of the container," says Danziger. "We recognize the need to compete along this functional dimension of convenient packaging."

Danziger listed some criteria the company is now using in the design of new soup packaging of the future. The package must be:

  • Lightweight
  • Durable
  • Able to withstand rough treatment and avoid the denting problem cans have
  • Easy to open
  • Heat proof so that it can withstand the heat generated during processing as well as being able to heat it in its own container either at home or at the office
  • Microwavable.

Moreover, to enhance the perception of portability and convenience, the company wants the consumer to be able to eat from it.

Exploring alternatives

Her firm is in the process of developing other packages as well. Some of these are:

  • Soup du Jour: This frozen soup is made from the microwave only and comes in its own bowl
  • Cream of tomato soup: Its new aseptic box offers consumers portability and convenience and,
  • Cookbook Classics, which come in its own plastic bowl and is both portable and microwavable.

New product innovator

The innovative approaches in packaging that Campbell's is using with its soup line is just one of the ways the company is "trying to keep in the forefront and remain a product innovator," says Danziger. But innovative products don't just happen; creative thinking remains an essential ingredient in the new product development process.

Concludes Danziger, "It is essential in tackling the challenge of introducing innovations for existing products and discovering and bringing new packaged goods to market.'

ARTICLE SIDEBAR

Four necessary criteria for packaged products

Several package options on food products compete for the consumer's attention, and convenience plays a critical role in consumer's decision to purchase certain products, says Frank Tobolski, director of marketing research at Container Corporation of America's DMR (Design and Market Research Laboratory) facility, Carol Stream, Ill., in his article, "Dissecting the Megatrends: The impact on Packaging." Says Tobolski, " Viewed against this competitive background, the package graphics might stress convenience, positioning the product strongly against the eat-out option in addition to positioning it against another food product."

But no matter what source prompts a purchase decision, whether it be societal trends or changes driven by demographics, the implication is that the marketer and packager thoroughly research the product and package to make sure they are on target, says Tobolski.

Tobolski cites four criteria which he feels indicate whether a package is doing its job:

1. Efficacy requires that the package property communicate the product's attributes and positioning. If it is a 'feather' product (one which caters to a consumer's internally-oriented desires or self-indulgence), product graphics should clearly communicate its luxurious, showy, sensuous attributes. If it is a basic product, the graphics should do a straightforward job of saying, 'This is what the product is,' and 'This is how it is used.'

2. Convenience in all aspects of the product and package looms larger as a requirement. The rise in dispensing closures on health and beauty-aid items underscores the consumer's demand for convenient packaging. And, dispensing closures are finding their way onto food containers - allowing easy, convenient handling of products such as condiments and syrups which not too long ago had packaging that the consumer simply tolerated.

3. Quality in positioning has to be reflected by both the product and the packaging. Consumers are willing to pay for quality, they expect it in the product, and the packager who doesn't use his container to reflect quality may be missing the connection.

4. Congruence is another package necessity. This need "requires that the package and the product match the consumer's expectations within their values and lifestyles. If the product is a luxury item, let the packaging say that. If it is a basic product, don't use graphics that embellish product attributes." All of these criteria point to the important link in the packaging "connection" - information.

"Information may overshadow even capital as the factor which drives business decisions," says Tobolski. And that information is achieved through design and market research which Tobolski says "are the tools that validate a product's positioning and the consumer's perception of that positioning as communicated by the package."