Today’s Journal of Marketing Debate is titled “Design and Packaging: The Last Touchpoint (or is it?), and Why we ignore it”.  Hosted by Jeremy Maggs, the panel of experts for today’s debate includes:

The panel included:

• Brain Ferns – Y&R Touch, Creative Director
• Adelle Wapnick – MD, Creative Strategist, Cross Colours Consultancy
• Nathan Reddy – CEO of Grid Worldwide Branding and Design
• Bill Marshall – MD, Syndicate Graphics (Pyt) Ltd
• Janet Kinghorn – Creative Director, Coley Porter Bell South Africa
• Brian Steinhobel – Steinhobel Group of Companies

“Packaging plays an important role in the marketing mix of today. It doesn’t matter how good your advertising is, the last hurdle to purchase is and always will be the allure of what is on the shelf and whether hands will reach out and guide said item to the shopping trolley”.

The interesting points from the morning debate include:

Brian Steinhobel – Steinhobel Group of Companies

• The power of packing is never to be underestimated – it is extremely important.
• The way a product feels is also as influential as the way it looks.
• Packaging design must be careful not to over shoot in its packaging design as consumers mostly know what they will purchase before they get to the shop.
• Progressive and technology consciousness are the characteristics of great designer in packaging.

Adelle Wapnick – MD, Creative Strategist, Cross Colours Consultancy

• Carrying out the brand strategy should be reflected in the packaging.
• Use all mediums to show branding/packaging – online and print should be the same.
• Take into consideration the product and the consumer and how it all fits in together.
• The marketer is the most critical person in the mix in order to understand the dynamics of engagement, budget, target market – he/she is the custodian of the brand.

Janet Kinghorn – Creative Director, Coley Porter Bell South Africa

• Breaking down the user is important in packaging – for example gender, or age of the user (done to relate to the consumer).
• Packaging must be tactical – when someone walks down the aisle, you have literally 2 seconds to grab the consumers attention.
• Simplicity is key in packaging: focus on creativity and avoid focus on constraints (e.g budget).
• The Marketer should communicate and make the designer understand all the portions of the business and the product.

Nathan Reddy – CEO of Grid Worldwide Branding and Design

• New trend: Bio-degradable packaging – for example Puma campaigns with shoe packaging and t-shirts.
• Use of initiatives such as bio-degradable packaging is gaining popularity among consumers.
• Consumers are generally prejudiced so you have to mix beauty and intelligence in your packaging.
• Brands fight for product positioning through their packaging to differentiate themselves from the competitor.
• Clever brands are looking at new ways of packaging to their consumers.
• Consumers are now more conscious: thinking where a product comes from and where it is going.

Brain Ferns – Y&R Touch, Creative Director

• The story of the egg: everyone understands what it is and where it comes from, therefore product packaging should aim to catch the eye of consumer and he knows what the product is.
• Create packaging that goes back to the basics – simple, innovative and works.
• Packaging has to match the product – there has to be a fine balance.
• Talk and engage with the ‘above-the-line’ department in order to get the packaging right.
• Best packaging considers new trends in the market (keep it fresh) and works around the constraints.

Bill Marshall – MD, Syndicate Graphics (Pyt) Ltd

• Understand the technology that your packaging will use consider all constraints.
• Test your boundaries in your creativity – always ask “Why can’t I do this”.
• Every aspect part of your packaging must match your brand positioning and brand strategy.
• Packaging is very diverse and designers should challenge the way the consumer thinks of the product.

Look of for the next Journal of Marketing Debate: “Squawking About Winning Advertising”.

Date: Thursday, November 4

Time: 7:30am – 12:00pm

Location: Michelangelo, Sandton

Welcome to another interesting Journal Debate and this month’s marketing breakfast takes an in-depth look at cause-related marketing with a range of experts. As always, the hour long debate will be hosted by Jeremy Maggs.

Cause-related marketing can, and should, become a cornerstone of your marketing plan, highlighting your company’s
reputation – but …how do you make sure you do it correctly?

The panel includes:

• Joanna Oosthuizen – Managing Director of Ogilvy PR
• David Barnard – Executive Director of the South African NGO Network (SANGONET)
• Dr Ivan May – South Africa’s pioneer in the area of Cause-Related Marketing
• Trisch Rosema – Trustee of the Dis-Chem Foundation
• Marilyn Dutlow – Director of Procter and Gamble’s Pampers/UNICEF ‘One pack one vaccine’ campaign

Cause related marketing has been with us since a local store setup a collection box in 1893. The phrase was coined by American Express to raise money for the statue of liberty, so it has been around for a long time….

Having said that though, does cause marketing still have appeal and does it add any value to your brand?

The interesting points from the morning debate include:

Dr Ivan May

• Cause related marketing is a secret weapon and not many people in SA know exactly what it is.
• Generally companies look at how to differentiate the products from one another as in banking.
• In the case of Nedbank, the profitability of Green alone was bigger than the entire KZN region (it made over R430 million rand). Just illustrating the power and profitability of cause related marketing.
• NGO’s need to develop themselves as businesses and brands, they need to show compliance and their legal compliance so they stay on the radar and get noticed
• NGO’s need to be positioned not as trustee, but more as a trusting relationship
• Cause related marketing needs to be treated separate from regular brand marketing and not confused as the same thing, but needs to be integrated with all marketing initiatives

Trisha Rosema

• There is always something bigger with cause related marketing than just the cause.
• Cause related marketing helps take away the guilt by giving users the chance to contribute to something meaningful.
• Customers will tell you about Causes, so you need to listen and this will help find causes worth contributing toward
• If staff gets involved in the cause as it helps productivity and also makes them believe more in the initiatives of the company

Marilyn Dutlow

• Cause related marketing allows one to have that warm fuzzy feeling when it comes to helping out.
• The cause though has to contribute towards the profitability of the brand as well.
• People are more loyal to Brands that utilise cause related marketing.
• A brand has a heart, a soul and a body… what does the brand stand for… Brands need to understand their consumers well enough to know what causes they relate to most.
• You need to know how to market the cause correctly to consumers in order for them to care and actually know about the cause supported by the brand.
• There has to be a quantifiable result at the end of the campaign / relationship

Joanna Oosthuizen

• PR is more about awareness of the cause.
• The digital space is definitely the best place to start.
• The challenge is always on how do we get buy-in and the online space creates a platform where people can engage and interact with the brand and the cause.
• Igniting the conversation helps ignite the cause.
• Its all about sustainability at the moment.
• Understand your customers and make sure the cause matches and talks to your brand.
• Cause marketing should not be your sole purpose if you want to build your brand.
• Always look at making your cause media worthy.
• There is no need for a product to be used in cause marketing, a brand can be used as well

David Barnard

• Need to get the message out from social media platforms, to corporate websites.
• Your general standing in the society at large also contributes to the cause
• CRM is something that NGO’s need to consider to expanding their funding base
• Cream of the crop NGO’s have powerful brands and people believe that their causes are worth following
• Companies need to investigate causes to make sure the money is distributed correctly and the cause is “clean”

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The next Journal of Marketing Debate: “Outdoor & Mobile Media” -Thursday 9 September.

The topic says it all… the upcoming Journal of Marketing’s Breakfast Debate moderated by Jeremy Maggs is sure to be an interesting event. The panel that will participate consists of a variety of well known and exciting individuals in the online marketing arena: Continue reading