However, as clients increasingly recognise the power of package design, they also demand greater accountability. Evidently survey research needs to fully and accurately document the value of design.
Assessing Current Packaging: Is it Time for a Change?
For years, it has been accepted that consumer research should take place to test potential packaging changes for well-established brands. However, relatively few companies take a disciplined approach to evaluating the performance of their Current packaging. As a result, major decisions to change/update a brand's appearance are often made on the basis of intuition ("It just feels outdated") or in response to competitive activity ("They changed, so maybe we should too"). As a result, many packaging changes come several years too late, after the brand has gone into decline. In other cases, there may be unnecessary redesigns that waste resources and risk sales.
To accurately gauge the impact and value of current packaging—and determine whether a packaging system is in need of a change—we, in short, need to think in terms of the contribution of packaging to brand perceptions and preference:
Does the packaging enhance or detract from shoppers' interest in the brand? Does the packaging enhance or detract from the brand's competitive positioning?
This ultimately can provide a mandate for designers in how to develop the brand's packaging system – ensuring that designs concentrate on the opportunities for progress rather than damage existing, strong equities.
Assessing New Packaging Systems: Are They Worth the Investment?
Measurement and valuation are particularly critical as marketers consider new packaging, especially as a change may signify significant investments (retooling and the like) and/or incremental costs-per-unit (more expensive materials and so on). Subsequently the marketer's critical underlying question is:
Will the functional or graphical changes to the packaging translate into incremental revenue and provide a positive return on investment (ROI)?
To accurately answer this question and project the "business value" of a new packaging system, consumer research needs to follow several important principles.
Start on the Shelf by Gauging Visibility
Packaging is unique because it "lives" on cluttered shelves, and it has to make an impression within the very limited time (often only a few seconds) that shoppers typically spend making their purchase decisions. Given this reality, the first challenge is clearly to design packaging that will be seen and considered—and thus consistently create an opportunity to sell the product. In fact, our PRS Eye-Tracking studies (and collaborative research with the Wharton School) show that shoppers never see at least a third of the brands displayed, and that being seen quickly (visually "pre-empting" the competition) correlates quite highly with purchase.
Focus on Differentiation and Preference vs. Competition
Packaging also differs from advertising in that it is typically positioned directly next to its primary competitors. In other words, packaging is rarely viewed or considered in isolation—and all communication is inherently on a relative or comparative basis. It is critical therefore that a study gathers directly comparable data regarding competitive packaging. – Is the new packaging increasing or detracting from our competitive positioning? Will it make shoppers more likely to choose our brand?
Measure Many Potential Sources of Value
It is important to remember that packaging innovations are driven by a wide range of strategic considerations and specific objectives. For example, many recent innovations have been driven by the goal of extending brands into new usage occasions and/or increasing consumption rates.
Clearly, the full impact and potential value of these initiatives—and of many functional innovations—can't be fully captured in the framework of a single shopping exercise or purchase interest question. Therefore, it is important that survey research be customised (to address the marketing objectives) and holistic (to measure multiple sources of value).
Pulling It All Together: Measuring Success
On a broader level, there are also important implications for both researchers and designers:
For researchers, it is important to conduct and analyse packaging research in a diagnostic manner, which provides the design professionals with the insight to solve problems and to further fuel creativity, rather than destroy it.
For designers, given the demand for accountability, the best long-term course is to embrace "the numbers" as they can be a powerful tool in linking design to business value—and for "making the case" that companies should be investing in packaging excellence.
Grant Montague is vice president-Europe at Perception Research Services
