Savvy marketers are leaning on value-added labels

Market niches are becoming more defined, with shorter production runs. With a shift in thinking, brands can improve ‘pickup power’ via an under-leveraged portion of the package—the label.

NO-LABEL LOOK. New eight-color labels for Jarritos provide more creative freedom to enhance the product image and improve brand
NO-LABEL LOOK. New eight-color labels for Jarritos provide more creative freedom to enhance the product image and improve brand

onsumers are bombarded with marketing messages, and they want help sorting the need-to-know from the nice-to-know information. What is the product, what does it do, and why should they buy it?

Labels are an excellent but underutilized way to convey essential decision-making information quickly to shoppers. Among those that are doing a particularly good job of supporting brand sales efforts are those that communicate a value-added proposition. Consumers may be more likely to pick up a product when the packaging presents them with an added incentive.

For Jarritos fruit drinks, the additional value comes in the form of the “no-label” look, which enables shoppers to see the vibrant colors of its beverages through a clear bottle, adding “pickup power.” The clear, pressure-sensitive label, combined with a newly designed bottle, enhances perceptions of a premium product.

In the search for the best way to adhere a label to Aquafresh toothbrush packages, GlaxoSmithKline, working with its supplier, achieved the wrinkle-free label it needed. Along the way, it also gained an unexpected benefit that’s new to the category: an on-pack, instant redeemable coupon.

On other packages, the label is attracting niche audiences of passionate consumers and building brand loyalty. One example is Honest Tea’s limited-edition label on its Maqui berry variety in support of breast-cancer awareness. Beyond cause marketing, the label manages to keep communications simple while also calling out the tea’s calorie-free and organic benefits.

The following three examples show how these labeling trends work for specific product categories.

1. Clear label provides ‘grab factor’
Life cycles for package redesigns are getting shorter as marketers are under increased pressure to continually deliver sales results—even when the brand is performing well. So marketers are responding to consumer desires for contemporary packaging that easily distinguishes between product varieties.

That was the case for Novamex, of El Paso, TX. The company’s Jarritos fruit drinks target Mexican immigrants longing for home-country brands. The firm posted more than 20% annual sales growth for the past five years, yet the company was facing mounting pressure from competitors’ nonalcoholic beverage brands. Novamex responded by contemporizing the brand with a new label and bottle and discarding the previous wraparound label, which distracted from the bottle contents.

“Our goal was to upgrade the brand’s image to a cleaner, more up-to-date and premium look that would pop on shelf,” says David Flynn, Novamex marketing director.

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