SubscribeOne of the things that has changed within the packaging industry (and certainly the glass sector) over the past few years is an established and successful innovation process.
Many packaging companies now link their creative and technical people and processes with those of their customers through regular brainstorming and planning sessions.
We benchmark ourselves against forward thinking fmcg companies who use a range of consumer research techniques, to develop a deeper understanding of consumer attitudes towards packaging. Our research enables us to develop a wealth of insights on the perceptions and rituals associated with packaging in a generic sense, as well as for glass packaging in particular. And we involve groups of all ages.
As part of a recent project with Design Futures, we worked with students at Sheffield Hallam University to develop innovative concepts in glass packaging for the spirits industry, with the objective of encouraging more blue sky thinking in the sector.
Along with insights from all the many different forms of consumer research, we have proactively generated a wide range of concepts, which can be built into the design process right from day one. We believe that we are adding value to the process for brand owners and hopefully pushing the boundaries of glass packaging design.
Rockware has undertaken focus group research for some time but in the coming months, a new Ethnography project will look at the experience of the consumer once they have got the product home. It is important that we learn how to enhance the whole consumer experience once they have chosen the product from the shelf, and the current brief addresses a need to understand more about the needs and behaviours of very busy 'time poor' consumers.
Ease of use is a key function of any design and one that should always be in the design brief. Other recent research projects have included a web-based survey of 18-21 year olds preferences for drink packaging and an ethnography project that involved a group of 50+ aged consumers being videoed during a dinner party.
Consumers often tell you what they think you want to hear in consultative research and so videoing people in their homes, and then questioning them about it afterwards, can often bring more meaningful results.
One of the findings from a previous piece of ethnographical research was that consumers frequently adapt and modify their packaging. Therefore, personalising packaging can raise the emotional appeal of the product to the consumer. Based on this insight, we worked with an ink supplier to develop a coating that could be chalked on. We call this our chalk talk bottle.
We have also taken this idea through to the Design Futures project, with the concept of a spirit bottle that consumers can record details associated with different occasions when it was consumed.
Much of the generic research that we have done shows that the single, most overriding thing that consumers want from packaging is ease of use. A comment such as " I think that the people who make these spend too much time thinking about the design and not enough time thinking about making them work properly" is all too common.
In my experience of carrying our consumer research we see environmental issues slowly but surely moving up the agenda for consumers.
It is alarming to hear examples therefore of wine products in America that have doubled the weight of their wine bottles to over 600grammes each to convey the brands' premium connotations. Could they not find more sustainable ways to premiumise the packaging than doubling its weight?
We should therefore do more to communicate with consumers about the environmental credentials of our packaging. Highlighting the package's recycled content is a great story. Or we could simply reassure consumers by communicating its recyclability through more prominent use of a recognised logo.
Glass enables distinctive brand personalities to be literally moulded, and creates a quality of packaging that reflects the core values of the brand whilst truly standing out from the crowd. Myriad techniques have been developed by the industry to allow this unique material to delight the senses with shape, colour, design, transparency and structure and even smell.
Rockware is able to take full advantage of this. With the approval of the Competition Commission late in 2005, parent company Ardagh Glass UK was able to expand its glass business in the UK with the acquisition of Redfearn Glass at Barnsley. This is great news for Rockware and the Ardagh Group and provides the UK operation with some excellent facilities and opportunities, including those for innovative decoration.
Redfearn will remain a separate business under Ardagh Glass UK. It will complement the Rockware operations in the UK and bring with it extensive brand enhancement facilities within a state of the art decorating centre at Barnsley.
The forthcoming rebranding of the decoration facility at Barnsley as a "Brand Enhancement Centre" underlines the commitment from the business to work proactively with our customers to develop new decorative finishes with clear points of difference. There is a growing portfolio to suit needs and budgets, which covers every possibility from a single promotion to a major product launch.
Methods such as shape and embossing, Sleeving, Pressure Sensitive Labelling (PSL) Coating and Applied Ceramic Coating (ACL) can be used separately, or combined to create almost any effect that the designer or brand owner has in mind. You are restricted only by your imagination.
Shape has dominated the success of so many famous brands. The use of evermore sophisticated 3D computer aided design has enabled embossing and debossing to become more precise and effective to create premium packaging. If the glass container has a complex curved surface, heat shrink sleeves are the ideal labelling solution. The all-round graphics can provide stunning effects with real on-shelf impact and strong branding.
Film labelling has become one of the fastest growing added value techniques. PSLs deliver a very precise "no label look", offering total flexibility in colour and shape with the quality appearance of screen-printing but without the output restrictions of that method.
The two major drivers for using PSL labelling are increased graphic capability and cost. As far as graphics are concerned, a variety of speciality films, inks and effects such as pearlescent inks, foil effects, peel and reveal can provide differentiation for brands, or create limited edition versions or promotions. Thermochromic inks can be used to produce colour changes on text and graphics, and labels can also be produced with a high tactile build to give a distinctly tangible feel to the product.
By combining different label substrates with gravure, flexo and screen-printing technology, a variety of effects and finishes can be achieved to enhance brand image. They have also become more competitive as an option to paper glue labels, as they become more widely used and materials more readily available.
Spray coating has advanced dramatically over the past decade. This effect is achieved when specially formulated colour pigments are sprayed onto the container and fired. Users can choose from an extensive range of solid or translucent colours and textures to meet their branding requirements. Recent innovations have been a metallic coating that gives a mirror finish in any colour, thermochromic, phosphorescent and aromachromic coatings that really delight the senses.
We in the packaging industry - at a time when consumers are seeing through the material attributes of products - and demanding more in terms of stories, values and lifestyles - have an opportunity to overhaul the stereotypical design brief to make it less about 'size impression' and more about functionality or reducing the environmental impact.
As a glass manufacturer, I feel that we are particularly well placed. Glass espouses most of these credentials. It is natural, 100 per cent recyclable, conveys heritage yet looks very contemporary. Above all, it is a material that consumers can talk about in very emotional terms. Brand owners recognise that when consumers choose a glass container, they do so with confidence and a high quality image perception.
By responding to consumer needs, looking forward and being innovative, glass will take pride of place on the shelf and the table for the foreseeable future.