SubscribeProduct innovation is high on major brand agendas for 2008 and much of that innovation will come through packaging, according to a new study called the easyFairs® Packaging Report.
Product Development Specialists
The study of 248 new product development specialists and marketers working with leading consumer and business brands, shows a community in a bullish mood with 55% planning to move or extend their brands into new product areas, 64% set to launch a major new product for an existing market and a third planning a new product for a completely new market in 2008.
Not surprisingly this ambitious schedule is having a major knock on effect on marketing plans, with most areas of the mix set to receive greater budgets - 43% plan to spend more on promotions, 36% will increase their advertising budgets while PR and online marketing are going to player a greater role for one in four.
However, it is in the area of packaging where the biggest changes are set to be made, with 53% saying their packaging spend will increase over the next 12 months. These increases are because major brand owners admit their ability to innovate with their products is inextricably linked to their ability to harness new packaging concepts. Indeed, of the brand managers, packaging technologists, product development experts and marketers studied, 74% say packaging is integral to new product development, 30% say packaging forms the bulk of their innovation while over half say it is a quick and cost effective way to innovate.
Packaging Strategy
There are many high profile examples of packaging concepts which have spawned completely new products and categories - from microwaveable packaging's impact on ready meals, and controlled or modified atmosphere packaging's role in the chilled foods sector right through to the widget used in beer cans. However, what the easyFairs® study shows is how this level of packaging innovation now has to be the norm for major brands if they are to stay ahead.
Peter Heath, managing director of easyFairs® UK comments:
“In the old days new packaging ideas and concepts used to come along every now and then. When they did they would herald the start of a new category or a major new direction for a product. But today new product developers and marketers are under such immense pressure to innovate regularly, that they now have to be constantly on the look out for the next big thing and their packaging strategy has to be razor sharp. They simply cannot afford to be outsmarted by a competitor in the packaging stakes. That's why our packaging innovations show has grown so fast. When we launched our first show in the UK three years ago it attracted a healthy 107 exhibitors; in March more than 330 companies will show at the NEC."
Environmental Packaging
One area brands are trying to get to grips with is environmental packaging. A more sustainable packaging strategy offers real commercial benefits in terms of reduced materials usage and waste. However, marketers and innovators working with major brands also recognise it offers them the opportunity to grab some all-important differentiation from competitors - the dominant innovation driver for 59% of those studied. Indeed improving environmental performance has superceded retailer pressure in terms of its influence on innovation plans.
Peter Heath again:
“People just aren't sure which way to go. They know it's a growing issue and they are nervous that a competitor may outsmart them in this sphere - equally they don't want to do something that smacks of tokenism...environmental packaging is an area where there's real scope to steal a march on your competition or be left behind."
To help new product development specialists, marketers, specifiers and packaging technologists get to grips with the latest products and thinking in environmentally responsible packaging, easyFairs PACKAGING INNOVATIONS show is being co-located with easyFairs ECOPACK.