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Let The Four Cs drive your innovation initiatives

Packaging innovation has the potential to deliver results in a big way. But be sure to keep your innovation initiatives grounded in what we like to call The Four Cs: Consumer, Customer, Category, Company.

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In order to be successful, it’s critical that positive economics result from the The Four Cs. Changing an existing package configuration in an attempt to better meet a Consumer need will often add unit cost and capital. The more radical the change, the higher the cost and therefore the greater the business risk. As such, the reluctance on the part of management to invest in new equipment and technology commonly results in a compromise to the product. When a Category is void of real packaging innovation over time, Consumers do not have a choice but to compensate in their own innovative ways.

Accordingly, the apparent lack of Consumer complaints (even with the ease of 8oo numbers) gives rise to a perception that there is no issue with the current packaging. But there are sufficient statistics in the Consumer research industry to show that a lack of consumer complaint is not a good gauge of product quality. Technical Assistance Research Programs Institute (a Washington based consulting firm) conducted a study and found that on average, 96% of unhappy Customers never complain. For every complaint heard, the average Company has 26 other Customers with the same problem. This is not a good thing! It’s critical to uncover Consumer insights beneath these camouflaged issues and create innovative packaging solutions to better address these Consumer needs.

To be more effective in selling innovative packaging solutions within an organization, there are three tenets of success: 1) demonstrate how this new packaging idea can strategically differentiate your brand from the competition, 2) gain alignment on The Four Cs with a focus on solving a relevant consumer issue, and 3) achieve positive economics.

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