In 1985, the event of Jack Daniel launching square whiskey bottle style was considered as the beginning of packaging design industry. From here, the role of packaging does not just stop at the value of use such as protecting products, providing information about goods … but has been raised to new heights associated with the branding strategy. effect. In Vietnam, it took hundreds of years for the packaging design to gain the attention of marketers.
Product protection tools
More than twenty years ago, many consumers still remember printing printed queues to buy fat yellow cheesecakes, bottles of black locust oil or some shrimp noodles squeezed in sketchy nylon bags. . Even if you try to remember who manufactured the products, many people could not mention an exact name. Many years later, with the opening of the economy, the investment in packaging design activities was focused more. Initially with a product-oriented marketing strategy, packaging became an important P in this strategy – the Package, however, only stopped at the level of a product protection tool.
Tool to make a difference.
The 1995s marked the excitement of Vietnam’s economy with the joining of a series of leading consumer groups in the world such as Unilever, P&G, Coca-Cola …
The number of consumer products on the market increases exponentially. In the field of powdered milk, if previously Vietnamese people only knew Vinamilk’s products, now there are more than 250 brands. The development of retail corporations in Vietnam recently has also become a challenge that requires brands. With the media distribution channels such as markets or retail stores, customers are less able to contact many products at the same time due to limited display space of products.
Meanwhile, with an area of thousands of square meters in supermarkets, consumers can have access to a product forest.
To attract the attention of customers, each brand needs to make a difference. Difference from brand personality to shape, color, product quality … All these things need to be shown on the packaging because this is the first element that customers see when in contact with the product. Products.
Sales tool
Until now, there are still many Vietnamese businesses that think that a beautiful packaging is successfully designed. This is not entirely wrong, but it is also not the truth that marketers aim to. An evaluation of the packaging system is not only about design elements, but also the degree to which buying behavior affects. On the shelf, packaging is the only information about the product, so it is responsible for helping consumers feel about the product: the quality of the goods contained inside, the value of the brand … When standing in front consumer shelves compare goods through packaging, before making purchase decisions. Therefore, the packaging must carry out many cases to attract customers in a very short time, usually only 10 to 20 paper. There are even many brands that set the goal of delivering the product message to customers within seconds. An Eye-Tracking study shows that the packaging that appeals to consumers in the shorter the time, the greater the opportunity to sell.
Communication tool
Eliot Young, president of Perception Research Services, a company that has conducted more than 400 annual studies of packaging in the past 30 years, confirms that customers find the packaging form of the product easier to remember than good ads forever. When advertising, with 30 seconds appearing on television, consumers have enough to remember the message about the product? In addition, from watching a movie trailer to buying a long time, how many% of consumers who like to watch a commercial movie will go to the supermarket to bring the product home right away? Speaking of brands is associated with intangible values. Throughout the brand identity system, packaging is the tangible thing – bringing products and brands to consumers most clearly. A successful packaging in conveying the message to consumers, will have more advantages than advertising thanks to the “right time, right place” factor. Communication by packaging, helping brands appear in the minds of consumers right at the time of making a purchase decision, that’s why ready-to-use brands spend a lot of money to be displayed at the starting locations. consumers’ eyes like the top of a shelf.
Awareness changes the role of packaging
In Vietnam, how many% are fully aware of the above functions of product packaging? The answer is not much. If arranged according to the pyramid model, the top of the tower is foreign corporations and some domestic companies with strong brands such as Vinamilk, Kinh Do, ICP, … and a rather interesting small group, that is companies, brand shops are small in art and fashion. A small number of these companies are fully aware of the role of product packaging design and have made proper investment in professionalizing this activity. They are willing to hire professional design units for a new packaging project …
Target group 2, which has more numbers than group 1, is also beginning to become aware of a change in product packaging design. But unlike the above group, packaging design has not been professionalized yet. These businesses often look to agencies designed to build a brand identity, including packaging. The next work when the business launches a new product, new packaging design … Made by the internal design unit (In house design).
Ranked at the foot of the tower, accounting for the largest number, are small and medium enterprises. Most of these have not yet considered packaging as a branding tool, but simply protect the product. Therefore, the point of this business group is to look for the design units with the cheaper cost as possible, if the more economical design of packaging production is preferred. due to the fact that the packaging design has not yet calculated the right price, the market share of this business is also small, the brand is not appreciated by consumers. However, this is the most potential market for design companies.
The market of packaging design in Vietnam
It is possible to temporarily divide the current packaging design market in Vietnam into four service-providing groups:
The packaging design company has foreign elements
Foreign advertising companies provide packaging design services
Domestic advertising companies, which provide packaging design services
Internal design units at the enterprise.
Vietnam’s fast-moving consumer goods industry is growing at an annual rate of 11%, the second fastest in Asia, after China. This also means that the competition will also become more and more fierce in bringing the brand engraved into consumers’ minds. The task of designing unique and creative packaging continues to follow designers as companies continue to find ways to differentiate their products and brands on store shelves. .
According to Vietnam Marketing Magazine