“Unfortunately, most clients don’t see the true value of packaging design and often view it as a reactionary afterthought in the design process,” says Vanessa Bosman, group managing director at Just Design.
The specialist packaging design agency, in a first for the South African creative industry, has repositioned its offering to incorporate rapid and interactive consumer testing in its design process, to create packaging that is already preferred by consumers and proven to succeed, before it hits the shelves.
“If we really think about it, 100% of a brand’s consumer base will interact with the product on shelf, versus a TV or OOH campaign. This makes packaging a critical part of the marketing mix, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies should be paying much more attention to ensure consumer fit,” she adds.
Design has long been seen as little more than an aesthetic choice, with design decisions often based on opinion and guesswork, and what colours, shapes and styles ‘look’ the best.
Bosman argues that the goal of any design should be results-driven and backed by empirical evidence from the consumer.
She advocates for a paradigm shift, emphasising that effective design should be measured by outcome, and not by personal preference or awards.
“Ultimately, the goal of a product launch or upgrade is to increase sales, gain a competitive advantage, and ensure a positive bottom-line impact,” she says.
“Every stage of product development should be focused on adding value and achieving results based on these objectives, and the only way to guarantee that, is to prove that it works with the people who matter the most – the consumers.”
Just Design has an exclusive agency-partnership with a global insights company, which enables them to offer the consumer testing tool to clients throughout the EMEA region.
As such, tapping into unique, locally relevant insights from a wide range of South African and regional market segments, is as easy as clicking a button (and almost as fast).
“Our new approach gives clients predictable in-market performance statistics and consumer feedback before the product goes to market. This allows them to gauge whether they will achieve the results they’re after before spending the time, money and resources necessary to place the product on shelves,” she says.
Given the tough economic climate that consumers currently face, they have become much more discerning with how they spend their money.
This makes it exceptionally crucial that brands cut through the marketing and advertising noise, now more than ever.
“Gone are the days of launching a product upgrade into market while holding thumbs that it doesn’t bomb with consumers, because creative teams followed gut instinct, personal opinion or any other factor that isn’t strictly consumer-centric,” she says.
“This is a refreshing new development for the industry and, by extension, the consumer landscape, injecting a new results-driven approach into the creative process (and hopefully the agency-remuneration model),” she adds.
