‘Store back’ – a new end user paradigm

The ‘moment of truth’ at the point of sale is driving brand managers’ label and packaging design strategies, as the Labelexpo Americas keynote speaker Rosemary Grabowski made clear. Danielle Jerschefske reports

The label has, at last, earned the respect it deserves. So says Rosemary Grabowski, VP of global market development, consumer packaged goods, at Dassault Systemes.

Dassault specializes in Product Life-Cycle Management (PLM) and operates across a variety of industries, including automotive and aerospace. The consumer packaged goods division uses 3D imaging technology to help brands develop strategies for product development, logistics and manufacturing. Rosemary Grabowski spent over twenty years with Cadbury Schweppes in a wide range of positions taking in supply chain management, sales, marketing and strategy, so knows what she is talking about.

In her keynote, Grabowski described P&G’s new ‘Store back design’ product marketing strategy. The strategy relates closely both to the ‘First Moment of Truth’ when the consumer selects a product, and the ‘second moment’ when the product is used. Agencies now need to show P&G how their ‘big idea’ works at retail and how it translates into online and radio and television formats.

This strategy places a key significance on the customer’s journey to the shelf and the ‘touch points’ on the path to purchase, with the store environment a pivotal factor. The brands are also facing increasing competition from the private label sector. ‘Brand owners have realized that the fight for the consumer has moved to the store shelf. Packaging is becoming a major form of promotion, and brands are allocating budget dollars to the shelf,’ says Grabowski.

Labels and packaging must inform, educate and engage the consumer. They are the final point of contact in the store, and the only contact at home while the product is in use.

With a seventy percent failure rate for new product introductions, a more streamlined development process for label production is critically important, said Grabowski.

Harmonizing the label process

A number of variables come into play with label production: brand consistency with regard to color and defects, differentiation on the shelf, variety, promotion, regulatory content, nutritional facts, environmental and health-related information. And each becomes more difficult to manage as CPGs extend their global footprint. They want to be able to manage package design, set any language translations, or add local regulatory facts, quickly and without error. And do not forget, at the end of the day, it’s all about speed-to-market.

‘Label development is an extremely fragmented part of the package,’ said Grabowski. ‘In my experience in managing innovation projects at Cadbury, we always found the label to be on the critical path.’

There are a number of stakeholders involved in defining the final design of a product label. Marketing holds ownership of the brand, yet ultimate success comes from information sharing between cross-functional groups. This fragmentation, in addition to coordination with the design agency, printers and other suppliers, can make final approval complicated and onerous. The easier a converter can make the process for a brand the better.

Once multiplication is factored into the process – globalization, regionalization, personalization – the room for error dramatically increases. Defects on a product package reflect on the product itself, and recalls are a major reason for loss in brand equity. ‘All label copy elements are important and are required to be precise in order for the retailer and consumer to execute that purchase,’ says Grabowski.

Technology to the rescue!

Grabowski said that new technology offers ‘game changing’ possibilities. Rapid Concept Prototyping has the ability to bring a label to life with 3D imaging and at the same time streamlines the process of populating the label, allowing the brand to rapidly move into the next stage of product development.

Dassault is a strategic partner of EskoArtwork and together they make a powerful team. EskoArtwork’s package design software leaves less room for label inaccuracies because the content remains protected while the aesthetic aspects can be freely changed. ‘It’s all about accelerating a concept to validated prototype through integrated technology. It rapidly reduces risk of mislabeling with a rules-based artwork solution,’ says Grabowski.

An extensive package design library allows users to begin design from a prototype, and build through to what the secondary packaging might look like. Brands can take this 3D imaged product prototype to virtual focus groups. ‘Brands can retrieve valuable data and feedback which is built back into the product before it’s actually released to market.’

Brands are able to put the product on a virtual store shelf, have the consumer walk down the aisle, pick up the product, view it, handle it – and ultimately choose to put it into the cart, or back onto the shelf. The imaging environment also shows where the virtual consumer might stop and connect with the product, so brand managers can work out how best to drive traffic to the product with PoP promotion.

Speed to market

Once brands have all the data available, an innovation project can come together quickly. Some current users are looking to increase their speed-to-market from eight weeks to an astonishing 24 hours using these advanced tools.

Using 3D imaging and PLM software, Grabowski’s division recently assisted Procter & Gamble in reducing the costs and complexity of its brand portfolio. P&G worked with the company to simplify the 1.2 million technical specifications for its brands around the world, including label production. In the end, P&G realized $250 million in purchasing savings, now achieves ninety-nine percent right first-time spec performance, and found a fifty percent time reduction in qualifying and handling bids.

Interactive opportunities

The Second Moment of Truth is all about fostering the relationship with the consumer as long as possible after the purchase is made. New technologies allow for real interaction in this phase and more dollars are being used to enhance this consumer touch point.

Grabowski showed a video of a child holding a box of cereal to a computer camera, playing a game through the brand’s website. She said, ‘The longer you can get the consumer to interact with your product, the greater brand equity you are creating.’

There are a number of different forms of interactive packaging, including Augmented Reality, ScanLife, JagTags and QR codes. Each has its own way of connecting with the consumer, and many allow for mobile connection. Grabowski sees a real opportunity to inform consumers about sustainability through QR codes, for example. Charity fundraisers are adopting these avenues to earn more money.

Brands are using social media as another way to reach the consumer. Renckitt Benckiser has a game on Facebook that takes after the popular game Farmville. Users play the game as a brand manager and must deal with all of the tasks that go along with it.

Following Grabowski’s keynote address, Glenn Knippenberg, president of AC Golden brewery talked about his brand Colorado Native and its use of SnapTag technology on the label. The company has nineteen tags that are capable of engaging the consumer via a mobile phone camera. There’s no need to download an application. Read more about Colorado Native and its interactive packaging in ‘Scanning the Market’ in Issue 4 2010 of Labels & Labeling. 

'Store back' defined

• Big brand owners are looking to cut costs in their supply chain

• 70 percent of purchase decisions are made in-store

• Nine out of 10 times that a product is picked up, it’s purchased

Pictured: 3D imaging software allows the development of prototypes for marketing evaluation and rapid translation to production