The Packaging Pitch: delving into the cultural context - FreshFruitPortal.com

The Packaging Pitch: delving into the cultural context

Countries More News Opinion Top Stories
The Packaging Pitch: delving into the cultural context

By Fresh Produce Marketing founder Lisa Cork

Lisa Cork columnistHaving just spent the past few days working in Thailand, I am pondering how much 'cultural context' should be part of the on-pack communications mix.

On one hand, I could argue the more you customize your packaging for a market, the better response you will get. On the other, that has to be balanced with the commercial and logistical realities of managing packaging across a range of geographic or target markets. It's worthy of some thought.

In an ideal world, where packaging didn't have to be ordered weeks in advance or in huge volumes, customizing packaging by targeted group ā€“ whether demographic or geographic - would be the best case scenario.

Often when I present at conferences I use the Guerrilla Marketing quote, "Talk to someone and say something", which is about picking a market and talking directly to them in your marketing. The general rule is the more you can customisz your message for a specific target market, the more support, sales and value growth you will get from that target market. It is the classic case of we all listen from a 'WIIFM' perspective: What's in it for me?

But how does this apply globally? In my thinking, I believe packaging should have a cultural context. By cultural context, I mean it needs to align with the needs and aspirations of the market. Let me give you some examples. Thai Ronald

Here are two instances of 'cultural context' that caught my eye while in Thailand.

First, in Bangkok, the Ronald McDonald that sits outside of most McDonald's restaurants has his hands folded into the prayer-like position called a 'wai'. In Thailand, the wai is used as a form of greeting, to say hello or welcome. Converting Ronald from his normal, more Western, open arms perspective to the wai has great cultural context.

The second 'cultural context' example that caught my eye was in my hotel room in Thailand. On the tray where the coffee, tea and the mini bar selection of typical snacks like nuts and chips are, there is also a small box not present in most hotel mini-bar areasā€¦a package of condoms. Let me add, I am staying at a nice boutique hotel in a good area. It is another interesting example of 'cultural context'.

Thai mini barSo what does this have to do with packaging?

As briefly discussed above, I believe packaging should have some cultural context, particularly if you want to grow your market overseas.

I am currently doing some work with a client in Asia and we brainstormed a new product/packaging concept. Before we went any further, I set up a small focus group in the market to verify that the idea and the packaging communications message had meaning and value within the market. Getting customer feedback gave us valuable ideas on how to make the product and pack even better and we built those changes into the project.

Last column, I showed you a salad pack from Shanghai. I want to show you another. The cultural context for lettuce in China is Chinese consumers don't tend to eat raw lettuce due to food safety concerns. So the salad concept is a new innovation.

What the salad company does to mitigate concerns is they triple wash the lettuce, but unfortunately, they donā€™t bring this key message to life on pack in a big and bold way. It is a missed opportunity to tie the product and pack to the needs of the shopper. See if you can find the words Triple Washed on this Tuna Fish salad pack.

Whether you target overseas markets or niche segments in your own market, the rule is the same. The more you can customize your product, packaging and packaging communications to meet the needs of the buyer, the more success your product will have.

Love reading my columns and want to meet? Attending the PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim? I will be there from today until 20 Oct. If you would like to talk packaging. Drop me an email and let's connect.

www.freshfruitportal.com

 

Subscribe to our newsletter