For some brands, that means adding bolder colors, function or unusual shapes. For others, it means creating more white space or stripping away the exterior entirely and letting the product itself do the talking. For all brands, it's the idea that packaging now has to work like P-O-P.

"If somebody said to me, 'What's your best advice to somebody regarding P-O-P at Wal-Mart and Target, I'd say, 'Get your package right.' At the end of the day, that's the only thing you can really count on," says Jim Bremer, assistant vice president of graphic arts for Hasbro, Pawtucket, RI. "If you're going to be in Target, and your package isn't right, I don't know that there's a lot that can make up for that."

Rest assured, packaging is not replacing P-O-P. In fact, the marketers interviewed here agreed that packaging needs to work alongside P-O-P. And the first step is getting everyone involved. Jim Peters, director of education at the Institute of Packaging Professionals and a columnist for P-O-P Times, says that to maximize shelf impact, brands need to know their shopper and their retail environment, look at the range of available tools, and manage the process internally across departments.

"You need the graphic designers to be talking to the structural designers, and both of them need to be talking to the marketing people," he says. "What's going to catch the eye, and what techniques do you need to know to do it?"

Dan Abramowicz, president of technology at Crown Holdings Inc., Philadelphia, which focuses on innovative metal packaging, echoes Peters' words. "In the past, it's been a more fragmented, sequential approach. We might design a package working with the package engineers, who then turn it over to marketing, who say, 'It shouldn't be this way; it should be this way,' '' he says. "What's needed and is beginning to happen is a more collaborative approach, working with marketing and design folks together."

With private-label packages at times aping a brand's identity and package design, and as categories line up shelf sets with matching package shapes and looks, brands have all the more reason to break the mold. Examples of how some brands have done so follow below.

Color Me Sold
Rob Wallace, managing partner with Wallace Church Associates, New York, says he starts with color. "If you're trying to drive impact, if you can own a color in your category that's relevant to your brand experience, it's by far and away the best thing to do," he says. Secondly, bring your message home in one "visual unit" rather than in multiple points scattered around the package. "Take the words off and communicate through graphics and icons."

In designing packaging for Lean Cuisine, Wallace Church boosted the amount of white space to create a "cleaner, more natural, more organic, more wellness-oriented" look, and the brand has grown 30% since. Lean Cuisine stands out among the sea of green boxes stacked behind the freezer door. With Apple's iPod -- simplicity as inspiration -- a clean look creates a "visual shorthand for consumers, so they can very quickly scan a shelf and find the product," Wallace says.

The loudest, brightest package isn't necessarily the one that attracts the most attention, says Jerry Kathman, president and CEO of LPK, Cincinnati. "You can almost argue that in the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, we've played out the 'how loud is loud' game, to where that's not the way to win anymore," he says. "It might be a window box, clear carton -- [a package] that presents the brand in a way that's unexpected. Sometimes, we use the term 'shelf presence' rather than 'shelf impact' as a way of defining that sweet spot."

The best way to find that sweet spot will vary by category, Kathman says. "Rest assured, the need to be noticed is in play in every aisle. But the way to be noticed changes per category. So, yes, indeed, lenticular this, and fluorescent that, and all the scream-louder-than-the-next-guy principles matter. But, increasingly, you can see that counterintuitive thinking works -- simpler, with a sense of restraint."

Bringing emotion to your presentation helps to win over customers during that first moment of truth, says Kathman, who cites his company's role in restaging the Herbal Essences hair products. "You really need to understand that customer and speak to her," he says. "It's much more in tune with this young, extroverted, self-confident woman. It speaks her vernacular. The word choice, instead of 'For Curly Hair,' is 'Totally Twisted;' 'Drama Queen' instead of 'For Clean Hair.' "

Simple, emotionally charged messages have been Hasbro's cue in marketing its SpongeBob SquarePants version of Monopoly as well as a game called "Mall Madness," which is aimed principally at pre-teen girls who fantasize about the day they'll be allowed to shop at the mall with their friends, Bremer says.

The SpongeBob package features two lenticular eyeballs on a yellow box that resembles the character. "It has nothing to do with the product," Bremer says. "It's one of those things you can't pass without looking at it. ... Something eye-catching, pun intended. It's something that's so simple, so graphic, you don't need words to tell a story."

The "Mall Madness" box works because it features a picture of three girls at the mall, which doesn't directly reflect the game, but "it captures the aspirations of girls who are 9 to 11 years old. Your parents won't let you go to the mall and hang out with your friends. ... This game lets you do that in a fantasy way. The package captures that. It's not telling you about the game. The message is visual: 'That's what I want to do some day.'"

As with Wallace, Bremer takes a lesson in simplicity from iPod: Keeping white space on the box helps the product sell, he says. "When we review packaging, we tend to put it on a table and look at it in isolation," he says. "But that's not the way the retail environment works. There's usually somebody else's package touching yours on two sides. ... Keep a little breathing room on your package, and it stands out more."

That negative space seemed like a positive idea to Caboodle! Toys LLC, New York, when it launched its Noah's Pals line of built-to-scale pairs of animals out of the biblical Noah's Ark story. Drawing from the minimalist look of iPod, the company used a simple color image of the product inside, says Steve King, co-founder.

"Each of our boxes contains two animals," he says. "We had observed, in looking at other product packaging, that a lot of times there would be a lot of noise on the face of the product. ... We realized that to stand out, the more simplistic image might be better."

The boxes convey the size of the animals and the tie to the Noah's Ark story, King says. "We toured a lot of toy stores and took pictures and tried to get a sense of what would stand out. ... A lot of the other boxed packaging, the colors tended to interfere with one another, and the product itself tended not to stand out."

Frito-Lay, Plano, TX, used a simple image of a sunflower on its package to convey its switch to NuSun sunflower oil in Lay's potato chips, which reduces saturated fat by more than 50%, says Jared Dougherty, spokesman. "The new packaging not only catches the eye on store shelves, it communicates the formula change and reduction in saturated fat," he says.

Shape and Function
Chicago-based Wrigley's Eclipse Big-E-Pak provides gum-chewers with a 60-pellet durable container with two reclosable openings, one to pour and share and the other to serve yourself, whether at your desk, in the car, or on the move, says Brian Wright, director of communications.

This idea of adding function to packaging is one way to jump off the shelf. A function acts as a purchase incentive, and so can be a licensed tie-in. Unilever, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, leverages a sponsorship tie-in with NASCAR for products that include Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Klondike ice cream bars, Country Crock spreads, Lawry's marinades and Wisk laundry soap, says Nancy Davis, shopper marketing manager. She acknowledges being "a little leery" of putting such a tie-in front and center on the package, but "we've certainly seen very positive results."

"It's got to be the right packaging and, obviously, resonate with the consumer," Davis says. "You've got to make sure that the property's right. It's got to pop at the shelf. ... That doesn't mean it takes over the presence. People still know it's a jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise. You don't lose your brand equity there."

The triangular shape of the Platinum 7 vodka bottle makes it "unforgettable" to anyone who's held it, says Elizabeth Cawood, brand manager for the Louisville, KY-based brand. "Don't be afraid to do something different," she says. "It takes a lot of nerve. This is a difficult package for our production team to run. You have to have the wherewithal to do something a little bit different."

Pacific Wine Partners hopes to create a similarly memorable experience with its "shuttle" package that features a wine glass screwed onto the bottle. It's been introduced "in a fairly limited way" in Australia and the United Kingdom and should blast off into the U.S. later this year, says Nick Withers, marketing director. "You unscrew [the glass] and turn it upside down," he says, adding that it's intended for parties, particularly outdoor events like picnics and tailgates.

Using blow-formed metal, Waistline brand soups and sauces have used a shapely, hourglass package to communicate its brand message, says Crown's Abramowicz. The blow-forming technology can expand a container up to 25 or 30%, he says, comparing it to glass blowing except that it happens at room temperature.

"You always talk about the package being consistent with the brand image," he says, referring to the Waistline cans. "Here, the shape of the package really does connote low-calorie, or healthful. Imagine a bank of those cans on a shelf. It would look very different from the traditional cylinders."

Graphic Packaging International Inc., Marietta, GA, has created different shapes to help a package stand out, says Charlie Brignac, marketing manager, innovation services. He cites a new package for the Hormel line of lunch meat called Natural Choices, which stands on the shelf rather than hanging on a peg. "We've seen customers moving into new shapes to create impact on the shelf," he says. "Our customers are trying to break out of that wallpaper."

Zip-Pak, Manteno, IL, has created stand-up, resealable pouches for products from French's potato sticks, to Hartz birdseed, to Arm & Hammer baking soda, says Elizabeth Sheaffer, marketing manager. "Many of our consumer product companies have been going from rigid to flexible packaging," she says. "Resealable packaging does help brands stand out on store shelves." And when consumers get home, they're "then keeping that brand message in front of them. They're not putting it into another type of container."

Hanover Packaging, Hanover, PA, has created transparent packaging with a formed insert for products like cosmetics that allow the product to sell itself, says Larry Chatzkel, president. "That's how we get things to market and have the carton be its own sales tool," he says. "We do a lot of graphics on our clear packaging, to have that item be very, very visible and draw attention to that item. ... The product itself is visible, rather than a secondary package having to tell the story."

Impact the Shelf, not the Budget
Creating impact -- or, if you prefer, presence -- on-shelf does not necessarily mean spending more. And when it does, return-on-investment generally justifies it, say brand marketers and packaging companies. With the extra budget flowing toward in-store marketing as mass advertising wanes, sometimes packaging is the best investment.

"There usually is cost associated with change," says Kathman of LPK. "If your suppliers are tried-and-true, and everything's running lean, you can recommend a change. Just because there's a change, there's going to be an upcharge in total packaging costs. Sometimes, that's temporary."

Bremer of Hasbro says the lenticular eyeballs on the SpongeBob box cost about an extra $1 per unit. "We made a decision here to put some of the money into the package," he says. "The reality is, how many million people walk into a Wal-Mart every week? ... There's tradeoffs. Right now, a lot of people are looking at P-O-P, and what can they do to drive product there?"

Abramowicz of Crown Holdings says creating an impact often does increase costs, but his customers are increasingly willing to pay for it. "Our customers are more receptive to that than they've ever been," he says. "We're seeing brand owners ratcheting up their need for innovative packaging, their ability to stand out on-shelf."

The reasons for that range from reduced effectiveness of television advertising to added pressure from private-label products, Abramowicz says. "More and more, our customers are recognizing that the right innovation will help them to achieve a larger margin, even if the cost of the package has increased slightly," he says.

Graphic Packaging International produces high-end, foil-stamped or holographic packages for products like Kraft's Gourmet Favorites that cost more, Brignac says. But, for example, the Gillette Edge shaving gel with a holographic label on a tin can saw a 3 to 7% share lift this past year, he says. "The marketing department is looking at, 'If I add holographics to my package, how much lift can I expect?'"

The added costs of packaging are still "a fraction of the cost" of print or TV advertising, says Keith Sachs, chairman of Sax Co. International, Horsham, PA. "It's the last opportunity you have to reach the consumer, and it's the least expensive," he says. "The unit cost for this kind of [bolder] packaging is more expensive. ... It's likely to involve a design component coupled with incremental tooling costs. But at this point, the people we're dealing with have concluded that it's well worth it."

The Big-E-Pak "naturally increases cost in product, but we are seeing a strong return on investment," says Wrigley's Wright. "The overall intense breath-freshening pellet category has seen soft numbers since June of 2005; however, Eclipse, the first brand to use Big-E-Pak, has gone against the category trend and generated positive sales growth," with 4.3% lift over the year ending Jan. 27, according to A.C. Nielsen.

Impact packaging can stand on its own, but it's smart to tie-in with complementary display pieces whenever possible, say brand marketers and packaging companies. "The more holistic your design franchise, the more effective," Kathman says. "Each of those pieces has its own mission. P-O-P has to be increasingly deferential to the channel and the specific retailer."

Abramowicz recalls designing a new pet food can for Mars Inc.'s Sheba product that was displayed on trays featuring the same graphics and colors as the lid of the can. "We see that often, the point-of-purchase display and the package are effective when used together," he says. "We view this as a very complementary relationship."

But working alongside a display piece is a luxury that not all packages have, Bremer says. "I, personally, look at it as one and the same," he says. "So often, it's so hard to get that stuff into Wal-Mart, Target and your mass merchandisers. ... It's great when you can get certain promotions going, and it's supported by a pallet or something else, but it's just the way retailing has moved in recent years."

Hanover's clear packages are designed in particular for large club stores that have few displays -- but plenty of visibility, Chatzkel says. "It can work well when they're marketed together, when our clear package is in a display piece," he says. "But they're often on-shelf, on their own, in a department store, Wal-Mart or Sam's [Club]. They work really well on pallet displays. It shops itself. It allows visibility from multiple sides."

Most packages that Graphic Packaging designs tie into larger marketing campaigns, Brignac says, but his company always thinks about that first moment of truth. "The general data is that the customer will take less than a second to decide if they're even going to look at a particular category," he says. "You have to get them there and get them into the information on the package. If you get them to touch the package, there's about an 80% probability that they're actually going to purchase."

Published: April 2007

Source: In-Store Marketing Institute/P-O-P Times