Uncategorized

http://annehoweassociates.com/2011/04/packaging-is-the-silent-salesman-whispering-in-the-shoppers-ear

The role of packaging is to be the silent salesman, according to Vickie VanHurley, Ph.D. and Package Design Team Supervisor for Meijer.  Being a regular Meijer shopper, I recently reached out to Vickie to engage her in a packaging methodology dialogue.  Frankly, I wanted to know why they made the private label potato chip bag dark green. What was the insight?

But Vickie works in general merchandise, and while my question on chip insights goes unanswered for now, we had a great discussion on the role of insights in packaging.

Meijer moves fast in private brand product development, and Vickie’s team rarely has the luxury time to complete in-store testing. The company relies on the prowess of the entire team and its ability to write an insightful branding statement as the creative direction for any private brand packaging in the general merchandise area.

Vickie’s job is to interpret an emotional connection to desire for the product and translate it to the shopper via packaging as if she were the sales associate telling you the story at the point of purchase.  She wants you to feel something visceral, but she doesn’t get as much space as the ad and display designers. But working as a team gives her the opportunity to “nail it” on packaging, sometimes using just a wrapper.

So I journeyed to the aisles of Meijer to see what examples I could find of Vickie’s craft in action. And find them I did.  Although the temp outside was only 38 chilly degrees, I felt The Summer of Color connection in an warm and sunny manner. The silent salesman spoke to my desire to update my kitchen and linen closets with fresh, fun items to add pops of excitement to my summer entertaining. The entire concept was visually stimulating, from display to packaging to the products themselves. Even the beach towels were inspiring. Take a look at how integrated all of the elements are!

Vickie’s team is doing a great job with the Katie Brown line of home accessories as well. The display and packaging instantly conveys a sort of stylized, rustic yet approachable vibe. “Simply at Meijer” and what look to be an updated version: “Keeping it simple at Meijer” is a nice packaging tagline that assures the shopper she’s going to get it right without too much fuss and distress. I also loved the cutout towel wrapper, allowing just one more hint of saturated color to peep through the cutout. That silent salesman is telling me that the up-market design cues are an important part of feeling good about buying home furnishings at Meijer.

I can’t wait to see more of what this team is up to. Vickie and her crew obviously get it when it comes to arming the silent salesman with what to say to shoppers without uttering one spoken word. They’ll show us more at the Shopper Insights conference in July. I hope they bring some sample products of the new DRINK line for the cocktail party!

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=23312&Title=Clever_ways_that_brands_are_integrating_augmented_reality_into_their_packaging

How Lego, Heinz and Red Bull are using augmented reality technology

May 29, 2012

Related Links

• ·Point of sale – this time it’s personal
• ·Seven predictions for retail in 2012

By Steve Osborne, Managing Partner, Osborne Pike

Packaging was once famously dubbed the ‘silent salesman’, a reference to its role as a mute object which nevertheless tells a powerful story.

By adding layers of emotional storytelling to an often generic product inside, packaging is responsible for creating what I term user anticipation. This is far more than being reminded of advertising for the brand. By its very proximity to the product, packaging is also able to perform an almost magical trick known as sensation transference, where the perceived attributes of the pack (elegance, clarity, naturalness, slimness etc) become transferred to the perception of the product, and the brand. In other words, how smoothly your scotch pours from the bottle will actively influence how smooth you think it tastes.

But with new digital technologies such as augmented reality now being applied to packaging, it is perhaps time to see it in a more contemporary way: as a user interface and a major part of the user experience.

Lego was one of the first brands to use fledgling augmented reality technology to allow consumers a 360º view of the finished model, simply by scanning the pack with a smartphone.

Digital enhancements permit truly immersive storytelling, such as Ardaich’s use of augmented reality to illustrate its defining theme of ‘the water that whisky drinkers choose’. The bottle (or in this case an image of the bottle) tells the story, and then bottles it back up afterwards, so it truly does augment the impression of what is contained inside.

This successfully extends the concept of sensation transference described earlier and opens the door to a new world of packaging-based user experiences.

The digital touch also gives consumers reasons to keep coming back for more – as with Heinz Tomato Ketchup’s use of blippar technology on-pack, to inspire Ketchup lovers with a virtual recipe book.

As designers and brand owners explore the possibilities that augmented reality technologies can unlock, packaging is gaining the potential to communicate brand values at a new, heightened level.

Suremen have transformed their deodorant cans into game controllers which, when pointed at a webcam, let (freshly deodorised) players face a range of adventurous challenges from mountain biking to water skiing, all in a bid to win cash prizes or sports gear.

Canada’s Lassonde have also done this with their Oasis brand, using augmented reality to turn the Tetrapak juice carton into a virtual goalkeeper in the Oasis All-Stars soccer game.

Meanwhile Red Bull encourage drinkers to collect their cans and line them up to create a virtual racing track. Using an iPhone to photograph the front of the cans for calibration, an app generates a virtual version of the track which can then be raced with a virtual car – probably one of the clearest incentives to consume more product I have yet encountered.

Digitally enhanced packaging is changing the way we experience products and brands. It is adding to the user anticipation and user experience that great packaging already delivers. But it needs to take care that it enhances what the brand already stands for, not replaces it with a short-term technology hit.

In Thomas Hine’s book, The Total Package, Hine reminds us that ‘advertising leads you to temptation, but packaging is the temptation’. With the possibilities afforded by new digital technologies, these two media could effectively become combined in self-promoting packaging. Hardly the silent salesman anymore then, but for those occasions when the design aesthetics are more than enough, I hope they remember to add an ‘off’ button.

http://www.dfnionline.com/article/Ray-Tobacco-reveals-positive-response-following-IAADFS-show-1862745.html

4-May-2012

The company is negotiating with potential clients from places such as Honduras, Ecuador and Jamaica

Hong-Kong based tobacco company Ray Tobacco has revealed a positive response since exhibiting for the first time at the International Association of Airport Duty Free Shops show in Florida.

Export director Chris Pfister, who joined the company last year from Swiss tobacco supplier Villiger, has helped incorporate whisky and beer, as well as cigarette brands, into duty-free and travel-retail markets worldwide. He said: “Luckily we were able to join forces with Alfa Brands, who represent many different brands and were generous enough to offer us part of their booth to display our products for the first time in this part of the world.

“The response was tremendous with many good contacts made, not only due to Alfa’s large number of clients, but also through independent duty-free operators from north, central and South America. They all showed great interest in our products. We are now in the process of negotiating with potential clients from Honduras, Ecuador, Jamaica, Panama, Mexico, Paraguay and duty-free trading companies in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean. Besides out main Walton and Ray cigarette brands our Walton Royal Blend whisky has created quite a stir.”

According to Pfister, some operators have ordered full containers, while other smaller customers have started with mixed containers of cigarettes, whisky and beer. “Our Walton Royal Blend Whisky has turned out to be a big seller, as those who tasted it were really surprised by the quality and excellent flavour of this blended whisky.”

Ray Tobacco also exhibited at the World Tobacco Exhibition in Dubai, which took place in early April. Pfister commented: “Listing with Dubai Duty Free was our key achievement. We were also visited by potential customers from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Armenia, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Egypt, but only a few from the rest of Africa. The demand for cigarettes as well as our Walton whisky was enormous, although our whisky was not on the shelf.”

Article Printed at http://www.dfnionline.com/

What happened to the doom and gloom predicted by Legco tobacco legislation opposer Tommy Cheung ?

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released the latest provisional figures on restaurant receipts and purchases today (May 3).

The value of total receipts of the restaurants sector was $23.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012, up by 6.0% over the first quarter of 2011. Over the same period, the value of total purchases by restaurants increased by 5.2% to $8.6 billion.

After discounting the effect of price changes, total restaurant receipts slightly fell by 0.2% in volume in the first quarter of 2012 compared with a year earlier. The relevant components of the Consumer Price Index are used as deflators.

Analysed by type of restaurant, total receipts of fast food shops increased by 10.7% in value and 5.7% in volume in the first quarter of 2012 compared with a year earlier, while total receipts of miscellaneous eating and drinking places increased by 9.6% in value and 2.4% in volume.

Total receipts of Chinese restaurants increased by 5.1% in value but decreased by 1.6% in volume in the first quarter of 2012 compared with a year earlier. Over the same period, total receipts of bars increased by 4.4% in value but slightly decreased by 0.1% in volume. As for non-Chinese restaurants, total receipts increased by 4.2% in value but decreased by 1.6% in volume.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, the volume of total restaurant receipts decreased by 1.2% in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.

To facilitate better understanding of the short-term business performance of the restaurants sector, statistics in respect of the restaurant receipts and purchases in individual months of the reference quarter are also compiled.

Analysed by month, the value of total receipts of the restaurants sector was provisionally estimated at $8.4 billion, $7.3 billion and $7.7 billion respectively in January, February and March 2012. The provisional value of total purchases by restaurants was $3.1 billion, $2.7 billion and $2.9 billion respectively in January, February and March 2012.

After discounting the effect of price changes, total restaurant receipts increased by 2.4% in volume in January 2012 but decreased by 2.7% and 0.6% respectively in February and March 2012 compared with a year earlier.

It should be noted that as the Lunar New Year fell on January 23 this year but on February 3 last year, the above year-on-year comparison might have been affected by this factor to a certain extent.

Table 1 presents the revised figures of total purchases by the restaurants sector and restaurant receipts by type of restaurant for the fourth quarter of 2011 as well as the provisional figures for the first quarter of 2012.

Table 2 presents the revised value indices of restaurant receipts by type of restaurant for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the provisional indices for the first quarter of 2012, with the average value index of restaurant receipts from October 2009 to September 2010 taken as 100.

Table 3 presents the revised volume indices of restaurant receipts by type of restaurant for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the provisional indices for the first quarter of 2012, with the average volume index of restaurant receipts from October 2009 to September 2010 taken as 100.

Table 4 presents the year-on-year rate of change in total restaurant receipts in volume terms based on the original quarterly series, as well as the quarter-to-quarter rate of change based on the seasonally adjusted series.

The revised figures on restaurant receipts and purchases for the first quarter of 2012 (with breakdown by month) will be released through the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/index.jsp) and relevant publications of the Department starting from June 20, 2012.

The classification of restaurants follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC), which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes.

More detailed statistics are given in the Report on Quarterly Survey of Restaurant Receipts and Purchases. Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/statistical_report/commerce_and_industry/index.jsp).

Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Distribution Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2123 1040 or e-mail: qsr@censtatd.gov.hk).

Ends/Thursday, May 3, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:30

http://www.sciencecorruption.com/ATN165/00063.html
read and be educated
then apply the same to what EPD is doing with its ‘trashcoat experts’

Victory !

This now makes Hong Kong the third ‘country’ and largest financial centre in the world to divest from tobacco stocks behind Norway. New Zealand and the Province of Alberta..

From: NancyWong@mpfa.org.hk [mailto:NancyWong@mpfa.org.hk]
Sent: 14 March, 2012 14:22
To: James Middleton
Cc: Frederick_WS_YU/FSB/HKSARG%GCN-NOTES@mpfa.org.hk
Subject: Re: MPFA Trustees – investments in tobacco stocks must be divested to comply with the International ratified FCTC Treaty

Dear Mr Middleton,

Thank you for your email of 8 February 2012 and 10 March 2012 expressing your views about MPFA’s compliance with FCTC guidelines in its investments. Our Managing Director Mrs Diana Chan has instructed me to reply on her behalf.

The MPFA does have investments managed by external fund managers and we will ensure that such investments comply with the Guidelines for Implementation of Article 5.3 of the FCTC. In this connection, please be informed that we are making arrangements to divest from tobacco-related investments and will refrain from making such investments.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Regards,
Nancy Wong
Manager
Corporate Affairs Department
Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority
Phone:(852) 2918 0102
Fax: (852) 2259 8806
Email: nancywong@mpfa.org.hk

Download PDF : ii13.full

14 feb 2012

Clear the Air says: This pre-2011 Budget newsclip below is an example that the Tsang administration involving Henry Tang and himself has pandered to big business and ignored their responsibilities under the WHO’s FCTC Treaty binding Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Administration in their 2012 budget made no increase in excise tax on tobacco even though the important U19 age group was shown to have increased its smoking prevalence in 2011 and evidence that HK retail prices were less than half of Australia ,Ireland and New York.

Now 16 days after the 2012 Budget we find that Tsang and his wife were entertained in Macau on the yacht of Hong Kong Tobacco Company Ltd tycoon Charles HO Tsu Kwok in further complete and utter disregard for the FCTC Treaty guidelines on interaction with the tobacco industry  and its obvious conflict of interest.

Ng Yuk-hang
Feb 14, 2011

Anti-smoking activists say government officials breached an international health guideline by meeting tobacco companies ahead of next week’s budget.

They say this violated the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which states governments should protect public health policies from the interests of the tobacco industry.

The government is under pressure from doctors, health groups and the anti-smoking lobby to raise the tobacco tax. The consensus seems to be for a rise of at least 75 per cent of the retail price, from 62 per cent. This would add about HK$5 to a pack of cigarettes but still leave them among the cheapest in the developed world.

Public health academics will submit a statement to Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah today in protest at the meeting. They want a full disclosure of what was discussed.

“What is the tobacco industry trying to lobby for ahead of the budget?” asked Professor Judith Mackay, an adviser to the World Lung Foundation and a policy adviser to the WHO. “Since so many health groups have advocated a tobacco tax increase this year, it will be extremely suspicious if tobacco tax is not raised to 75 per cent in the budget. We will then have to look if there were other influences.”

About a dozen members of the Tobacco Control Concern Group – which comprises manufacturers, retailers and newspaper vendors – met government officials on February 8. Officials from three government departments were present: Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Food and Health Bureau and the Customs and Excise Department.

Mackay said it was a violation of Article 5.3 of the convention, which states that “in setting and implementing public health policies with respect to tobacco control, parties should act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.

According to the WHO’s guideline in implementing Article 5.3, governments should only interact with the tobacco industry when “strictly necessary to effectively regulate the tobacco industry and tobacco products”. Whenever possible “interactions should be conducted in public”.

Mackay said nothing was known about the meeting and she is demanding a full disclosure of the proceedings.

The chairwoman of the Tobacco Control Concern Group, Deanna Cheung Kin-wah, who is a senior executive at British American Tobacco, said there were similar meetings every year. “I have been in this business for 10 years, and every year we would give our opinions on the budget.” She said under the convention, governments were not forbidden to meet tobacco companies, “only we have to do it in a transparent way”.

“The atmosphere of the meeting on February 8 was friendly. It was just a normal dialogue in which we hoped our voices were heard.”

A spokesman for the financial secretary said that during the process of drawing up the budget, the government would listen to opinions from all sides, including political parties, lobby groups and chambers of commerce.

A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said it was always the government’s policy to discourage smoking. “The group requested a meeting with the Treasury and so a meeting was arranged. It was just to listen to opinions from different interest groups.”

Between 1990 and 2002 the government raised tobacco tax nine times. In 1991 it raised it by 200 per cent, only to reduce it to 100 per cent two months later. The tax was frozen from 2002 to 2008. In 2009 Tsang raised the tax by 50 per cent “for public health reasons”.

Copyright (c) 2011. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Download PDF : TsangHoTsuKwoknohilite