Originally Published PMPN
September 2003
Viewpoint
Boosting Your Brand
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| Nancy Kane, marketing coordinator, Zeller Plastik |
With 70% of purchasing choices made at the point of sale, marketers can build brand recognition and drive sales with packaging that makes an immediate impact on consumers.
One way to attract consumer attention is to add customized closures to tubes and bottles. When combined with technologies like embossing, engraving, shaping, and colorization, closures help packages stand out, building brand loyalty and increasing market share.
Color. Consumers rank color as one of the top packaging elements influencing buying decisions. Colorizing standard closures can effectively distinguish products from competitors. Suppliers can match colors to Pantone numbers provided by customers. Custom colors can then be created with advanced technology that blends select resins with value-added colorants. Incorporating customized colors into a closure line is not cost- prohibitive, and color matching to
the product or package is an easy process. In addition, closures can achieve a unique look by varying standard color hues.
Value-Added Features. Features that protect product integrity or extend shelf life, such as tamper evidence and tamper resistance features, also impact consumer buying habits. For example, shrink-wrapped closures convey messages of safety and protection, while closures with enhanced barrier properties, such as liners, extend shelf life. Making these features prominent to consumers significantly increases brand loyalty and results in repeat sales.
Customized closures can also provide enhanced functionality with specially designed seals that prevent moisture penetration, a spud-to-orifice seal to reduce product waste, and a recessed tab for easy opening. Closures may feature enhanced hinges that facilitate dispensing. A hinge articulation of 120 degrees, for instance, maximizes consumer convenience and reduces product accumulation beneath the lid.
Product Promotions. Compared with costly advertising campaigns, customized promotional closures are powerful in-store marketing vehicles. They provide multiple opportunities to attract consumer attention via promotional mediums such as peel-off coupons and labels for contests.
There are many other customization options available to enhance shelf presence. For example, embossing etches a product name or tag line in raised letters, and debossing engraves lettering on the closure. Such decoration performed during molding enables consumers to see and feel a brand’s uniqueness. Pearlescent closures are an eye-catching point-of-sale attraction, created by adding metallic hues to virtually any color.
For on-shelf displays that take on a uniform appearance, orienting closures are an option. These are created when threads stop and start in the same position on every closure and package. To appeal to targeted demographics, such as children, shaped orifices dispense product in a variety of shapes. These can also correspond to package graphics. Finally, removal of knockout pins and supporting ribs eliminates all markings from the underside of a closure, significantly enhancing aesthetic appeal.
By using production resources such as consultation, SLA models, and prototypes, customers can evaluate the branding and productivity of designs and make changes prior to production. These evaluation tools are useful for conducting internal company reviews of customized designs. Efficient design processes minimize time to market by exploring all customization options before committing to a design.
Nancy Kane is marketing coordinator for Zeller Plastik, the plastic closures division of Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc. (Philadelphia).
Copyright ©2003 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
