1. Leave Room For The Buyer
Every project I have been part of for a big retailer has this one element to it: The corporate buyer will have a say in the packaging design. Sometimes it’s not just the branding on the packaging design, but also in structural design. Some clients I work with have become pros at handling this part of the relationship, and purposely present a somewhat rough version of the packaging to start. Then during the revisions stages we show the evolution of the packaging that we would have created anyway, but it makes the buyer feel like they’ve had a say.There are occasions where heads butt, differences of opinion on branding and structure come into play, but a quality corporate buyer should know when to back down. Same goes for the manufacturer – be prepared to give a little to your buyer. What you lose in control you will hopefully make up for in the volume of the order and sales.
Keep in mind that the buyer’s job isn’t to ruin your brand. Buyers know their store and department(s), and simply want to help you and the retailer sell as much as possible.
2. Ask About Translations
There are good odds that you will need the copy on your packaging translated to South American Spanish if you are selling your CPG to a big retailer. There is too much market share for just about anything for a big retailer to ignore their spanish-speaking consumer. If this is the case, then I suggest you get in touch with the buyer(s) from the stores you’re not yet in, and ask what standards, if any, they have for translations.Here’s why: Several years ago I designed packaging for the RotoZip® brand, and the main buyers were The Home Depot and Lowe’s (of course). We soon learned that one of these retailers had wisely established a lexicon for all products sold in their stores, and only store-approved translators could provide translated copy with a special code so as to keep all the words in a store consistent. This was really smart. This method meant that CPG sold wouldn’t have ten different translated variations of “drywall” – it would have one.
The lesson learned was even when we weren’t designing for the smart store, we used their translator (whom wasn’t a store employee – just a vendor) so that when/if the same product needed to be re-purposed for the smart store, it was a one-time expense. What’s more, all of the copy for all of the packaging used consistent translated text. A huge cost-effective win-win for the brand and buyers. Translations are one of those seemingly “little things” that can really cut in to slender margins over time. But now you know how to be smart about it.
3. Do Not Over-Think Your Product Packaging
When I begin a packaging design project I often am given the following instructions: “Keep the design clean, simple, and eye-catching.” But over time, as we get into the design process, and pressure mounts on a brand manager or business owner, we soon enter into the time trap of trying to over-think how a product should be branded on the packaging.Over-thinking can show up by trying to be overly clever with the logo treatment, or trying to cram a lot of little violators that point out product benefits on the primary face panel. It’s avoidable. If your branding was created by a branding professional, then the best thing you can do is to stay consistent with your branding.
The best sales pitch a packaging design can make is one that is simple and direct on the face panel, and then provides the consumer a logical hierarchy of information spread out on the packaging that points out other benefits and uses. Trying to cram all that onto the front will make for a busy, ugly package… that doesn’t sell as well as it could have.