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Consumers hold secondary packaging to top standards
BATMAN HAS ROBIN, ANDY TAYLOR HAS BARNEY FIFE, HAN SOLO HAS Chewbacca, and Pinocchio has Jiminy Cricket. While sidekicks might be the background character in all of these famous duos, secondary packaging has more of a spotlight position in its role as primary packaging's sidekick.
Although secondary in name, secondary packaging is often what the consumer sees first on the shelf, notes Charles Pavia, director of marketing for Proactive Packaging and Display, Ontario, Calif. For example, on six-packs of beer bottles, the secondary packaging in the form of a corrugated carrier serves as the advertising component of the package, he explains.
In fact, branding is one of the three main features consumers look for in secondary packaging, says Renata Neri, global marketing manager for beverages at Graphic Packaging International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging Holding Co. "Secondary packaging allows brands to extend their marketing on the shelves and offers a consistent product image across the retail environment," she says. "It provides a billboard space not only for branding and promotion but also to communicate to consumers new flavor introductions or nutritional information that nowadays is so demanded.
"At the same time, using shapes, windows, cutouts and decoration enhancements can either complement or highlight primary containers," she continues.
Zumbiel Packaging, Hebron, Ky., offers its Z-View corrugated carrier to enhance the primary packaging without hiding it, says Marketing and Sustainability Director Tom Zumbiel. The secondary packaging design includes cut-outs that allow the consumer to see the bottles or cans inside the carrier but still offers additional branding opportunities and keeps the multipack together, he says.
Plastic shrink-wrap packaging serves the multipack- wrapping purpose but also lets the primary packaging shine, points out Philipp Luijckx, marketing manager for Dow's Industrial and Consumer Packaging business, an operating unit of Midland, Mich.-based The Dow Chemical Co.'s Performance Packaging division. "For example, you can have clear film, you can have [some] of it printed, and that allows consumers to see what's in the package," he says.
FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
In addition to being the primary marketing front, consumers also expect secondary packaging to be a product's first line of defense.
"Consumers are almost married to the brands [they buy],"...