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The beverage sector is home to some of the most iconic packaging but sometimes a change is needed, writes Simon Clarke.

Any marketer who fancies giving a beverage brand a quick facelift might be tempted to change the packaging. After all, it’s easier than changing the product and is an obvious opportunity to breathe new life into an old staple.

But the beverage market is complex and any change needs careful thought. Market research firm Relevant Insights claims that 90% of all packaging redesign fails to increase sales, and it’s all too easy to get it badly wrong, as PepsiCo discovered a couple of years ago when it revamped its Tropicana brand in the US. The redesign gave the drink a trendy new stripped-down minimalist branding that looked good on the shelf but which consumers mistook for an own-label product. Sales stuttered, forcing PepsiCo to backpeddle on the change.

“To alter the brand packaging just because some young marketer is bored is perilous,” says Adrian Collins, managing director of Ziggurat Brands, who is against the idea of change for change’s sake. But he stresses that just sitting on the brand and saying “we can’t change anything because I’m scared” is equally fraught.

Packaging innovation must be driven by a clear understanding of the brand’s values and heritage, as well as an understanding of consumer needs. As a result, designers tend to work within a range of restrictions – as Samantha Dumont, creative partner at Dragon Rouge, says: “We rarely have the opportunity to create blue sky design that is totally new and unique, but will be given parameters and tolerances that we need to work within.”


Design challenge

When a brand’s packaging is undeveloped, though, designers do get a chance to stretch themselves. Prior to Dragon Rouge’s work with Extreme Drinks, Dumont says that “the packaging was simply the brand logo, was pretty dull and didn’t convey any sense of what the brand was about”. This gave plenty of scope to rework the design, focusing on the key brand ideas of personal adventure and reward through sport.

Alcohol packaging can be particularly conservative. “There are so many established codes and if brands neglect these too much the product will not be seen as credible,” says Dumont. However, new brands can get away with being more leftfield.

Aside from branding concerns and consumer preference, there are practical considerations. Any change in brand packaging can have a knock-on effect on the entire manufacturing and distribution supply chain.

“Manufacturers have to run down stocks of old designs while ensuring they meet demand,” says Susan Frame, marketing and product management director at Tetra Pak. “They also have to manage their stock into the supply chain to ensure there are no incidents where the old design is on shelf next to the new one, which would damage brand equity. Managing timelines for this can be tricky, especially if the brand is supporting the re-design with a full blown marketing campaign on television.”

Sometimes the functionality or performance of a pack can be adversely affected by changing shape. “Plastic containers can behave in unexpected ways during processing,” says Peter McGeough, co-founder and executive director of Bapco Closures. “Warpage, panelling and distortion can be exacerbated when the product is hot filled or retorted, leading to delays in bringing the product to commercial launch.”

McGeough suggests manufacturers need to work very closely with brand owners and creative agencies to develop the redesign from the beginning of the project to ensure the creative process is balanced with manufacturing experience to give best results.

So should you even bother? “Consumers in the main are creatures of habit,” says McGeough. “They like what they know and they know what they like.” Avoiding change can keep the consumer in their comfort zone and also save money in terms of R&D. But doing nothing can also have its costs. Differentiation remains key to brand owners and 90% of purchasing decisions are still made at the point of sale so it’s vital to keep packaging stand-out appeal.

According to Marianne Freund, innovation and new product development manager at can maker Rexam, one key emerging theme is event-specific design – such as Canella’s Bellini wine drink, a New Year’s Eve special edition, which used Rexam’s aluminum Fusion bottle. This allows brands to create novelty but which doesn’t change the core brand packaging or values.

Sometimes, however, change can be forced on to a sector. “Over the past couple of years, we have seen a sustained drive from retailers and brand owners to increase the environmental credentials of their packaging,” says Tetra Pak’s Frame. “This has led to carton being explored and subsequently deployed into traditionally non carton-core segments.”


Fresher products

Environmental concerns and distribution benefits have also given a new lease of life to the bag-in-box format – which is striving to overcome the less-than-positive image legacy of the 1980s wine box. But the format’s ability to keep product fresh for up to six weeks after opening has helped it gain traction with consumers seeking fresher tasting products, and recent independent life-cycle assessment studies have underlined the environmental credentials of bag-in-box compared to other packaging media, says Mark Rose, business development director of Rapak. New developments in the format include special low taint films that prevent the polymers in the bags reacting with water, allowing the technology to be adopted as an alternative packaging format for bottled water.

Dev Brahmachari, sales and marketing director at CRP, which also produces bag-in-box packaging for beverage brands, says the format has gained 50-60% penetration in the Nordic wine market, thanks to the social prevalence of an outdoor lifestyle, picnics and holiday homes.

But while the difficulty with a redesign can be striking a balance between attracting new consumers to the brand without alienating the existing customer base, don’t forget that consumers can change. Independent research by Rexam in April 2011 suggests that yesterday’s wine conservative is today’s relaxed drinker. Among a sample of 1,000 18- to 34-year-old wine drinkers, 58% said the idea of wine in a can was appealing, with the highest levels of acceptance among women. Such changes in attitude pushed the firm’s wine-in-cans sales up 44.5% in 2010.

The same process has transformed wine bottle opening. Wine connoisseurs may have loathed the emergence of the screw top in low- to mid-level wine, but consumers loved its convenience. And the competition from the new format had a knock-on effect on wine cork makers, leading to a better quality product and a reduction in ‘corking’.

In the end, says Ziggurat’s Collins, consumer acceptance is key. “You can do all the work you like, but the consumer will figure out how they drink it.”


Five of the best

Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak’s Tetra Gemina Aseptic package (bottom left) comes in four sizes, from 500ml to 1000ml, and combines a one step, resealable closure with a roll-fed gable top package. Its Quick-Change feature allows production to switch easily between sizes to meet changing market conditions, and it’s FSC-certified. The pack is currently available in UK Asda stores for both own label and branded premium ambient juice and nectar products.

Nampak

Nampak has managed to cut the weight of its plastic milk bottle range by an average of 15% with its new Infini design. The saving has been achieved by a design that does not force the material as far into each of the bottle’s corners, so cutting the amount of material used. The bottles also feature a repositioned handle that make it easier for the consumer to remove from the fridge.

Rexam

Is it a can? Is it a bottle? Rexam’s drawn and wall-ironed aluminium Fusion bottle manages to mix both in a near unbreakable container that boasts premium look and feel and aids chill retention and freshness.

Pepsi

Launched in the US, PepsiCo has rolled out five eco-friendly alternatives to the fountain-filled plastic and paper cups. Made from recyclable and compostable materials, the branding is designed to communicate the brand’s green stance.

SIG Combibloc

Fast, easy opening has always been a key benefit to consumers SIG Combibloc’s combiSwift mechanism provides a single-twist opening thanks to its three-part screw cap fitting over a pre-punched hole coated with thin aluminium and polyethylene layers.