23rd November 2016
Expert advice from Essentra: Packaging design as a margin enhancer
Packaging Design and Branding as a way to help improve Business success
Packaging design and branding isn’t just for FMCG brands, where consumer choice and the continual battle of ‘choose one product over another’ plays out on every supermarket shelf.
These are tools that can be utilised by all types of companies to maximise product traction, NPD success and ultimately margin and market share gains.
Essentra’s Design Hub takes inspiration from many of the techniques used by product developers, such as semiotics, ergonomics, colour theory, trend interpretation and focus groups, and applies them to medical and pharmaceutical packaging. The result is packaging that engages and enhances the customer experience from first sight, leading to improved patient and business outcomes.
In this article, I will review a hypothetical example based on an in-home medical device to explain some of the ways that using good design practices with packaging can benefit multiple stake-holders.
Packaging’s basic role is to:
- Physically protect
- Contain its contents
- Communicate about its contents
- Provide security
- Help transportation
In-home medical devices are commonly recommended by busy medical professionals, from physicians to pharmacists to patients. By understanding the challenges of communication that exist between these professionals and patients, it becomes apparent that packaging can serve as an integral part of the communication process, by aiding the medical professional to quickly recall key information about the product and its usage to share that information with patients.
The importance of accessibility should not be overlooked. Thinking carefully about the way a pack opens is essential. Depending on the circumstance, a pack that allows the clinician to demonstrate the item, easily re-pack and issue to the patient helps ensure the product and related information stay together. This then gives the patient and caregiver confidence in their home environment, as they have all the packaging and information required to support proper usage.
Following the initial consultation, the package will serve as an educational tool for the patient and potential care giver. When at home, delivering easily digestible information using info-graphics and quick start guides help aid understanding and reassurance for the patient’s treatment and help keep critical information at hand.
Every one of these basic elements has the ability to add more value by utilising intelligent targeted design practices.
The ability to improve a product’s benefits through its packaging are already readily available in the materials that are already being created to deliver its basic requirements. Starting with the secondary packaging and including what is inside from inserts to labels and leaflets is where design and branding can help the most without incurring additional costs into the manufacture of the product.
In some instances, packaging is becoming a focal point for IP protection, as it can aid brand differentiation by improving usability and limiting potential confusion in the intended environment.
In summary, developing a successful product should not end with the product itself but enhancing the delivery of that solution with effective and relevant packaging, as this could be the difference between a successful market entry or a great idea confined to the research lab.