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Six Essentials To Managing Packaging Innovation

“Your goal as a packaging professional is to develop innovative packaging solutions that empower the developers to provide new product offerings.”

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There's been an awful lot said and written lately regarding packaging innovation. Everyone is in favor of it. Everyone wants more of it. But, how do you start to take those first steps toward creating an organization, much less a culture that supports packaging innovation?

1. Partner early and often. When attempting to shift an organization from a mindset of “business as usual” to one that is constantly looking to shake things up and push innovative ideas, it is critical to partner early on in the process. Who should I be partnering with? It's simple. You want to build as many alliances in the process as possible.

2. Start with your sales/marketing partners. In most organizations, this is the team that is closest to your consumer. Partner with them to conduct research to gain critical insights into what's working and not working with your packaging, identify emerging marketplace trends, and ensure alignment with their business strategy. Everyone within an organization should be constantly monitoring the marketplace and interfacing with their customers. These guys live it day in and day out.

You'll need to partner with your operations and purchasing counterparts. If brought in the loop early, they can provide feedback that could negatively impact the business if ignored until later in the process. If they can't economically produce your innovation, it doesn't matter how good it is or how many consumers or customers want it. If you want to make your innovation reality, you have to be able to manufacture it efficiently.

Don't forget to involve your product developers. Whether you're packaging food, cosmetics, chemicals or furniture, there are aspects of the product that can only be adjusted if you're talking early. Your goal as a packaging professional is to develop innovative packaging solutions that empower the developers to provide new product offerings.

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