Packaging

Bumble Bee Tuna Influences Customers with Typically Unused Packaging “Real Estate”

Harvey Chimoff Leave a comment

Packaging is an essential part of the marketing mix and can make a difference (good or bad) in customer presentation and impact, including B2B products.

From the start, marketers and business teams should consider and apply a holistic packaging approach. Structural packaging is what type of format or container will house your product: box, can, pouch, glass, etc. Packaging graphics are the design, words and images that go on the selected structural medium.

(For more of my commentary on the importance and strategic use of packaging in marketing, go to the Blog Archive and click on the Packaging category.)

During my last supermarket shopping, I noticed new packaging graphics for the Bumble Bee brand of canned tuna. This change jumped out to me because the marketing team cleverly used a typically overlooked portion of the can: the top lid. Taking advantage of that packaging “real estate” provides Bumble Bee with an added opportunity to highlight its nutrition, wild caught and sustainability benefits.

  • Photo: Harvey Chimoff
  • Photo: Harvey Chimoff
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Continue Marketing After the Sale with Packaging Messages. Even B2B!

Harvey Chimoff Leave a comment

The marketing job doesn’t end when the sale is made and the product is purchased or shipped.

Many factors contributing to company image and brand perception continue to be in play after the product leaves your premises. Top of the list is likely product performance. There’s something else though, perhaps underappreciated and deserving of more attention, that contributes to the overall customer experience.

The packaging that comes with your product — whether it’s the retail shopping bag, the shipping box, the actual product contents structure or even the B2B product container — can be a strong influencing factor in how you feel about what you just bought.

Credit: Harvey Chimoff.

Case in point is clothing and sports performance marketer Under Armour. Buy something in one of their factory stores and you’ll take your items home in a bag that boldly declares: Everything here was engineered to make you better. Continue reading →

Packaging Has Strategic Role in Brand Refresh/Renovation

Harvey Chimoff Leave a comment

There’s an old marketing adage: when a new brand manager arrives, get ready for a package design change.

While there may be some historical truth to that expression, its use typically conveyed a sarcastic, shallow and derogatory view of marketing. Hopefully, such thinking has dissipated, because packaging is a critical success factor to maintain brand health and relevance. And, those marketers and business leaders who take a disciplined, strategic approach with packaging have a distinct advantage.

This brings me to Arrowhead Mills, a brand of Hain Celestial.

While brand management personnel may have changed over the years, the company’s view of packaging as a strategic, brand-management driver has not. This year, Arrowhead Mills has been phasing-in a complete redesign across categories, including cold cereal.

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