Consider this- You haven’t heard about a brand or haven’t even crossed paths with its promotional ATL activities, let’s say it’s a new energy drink or a milk brand. However, while running your errands at the nearby store, some portion packs attract your attention that’s away from the clutter of other products and are kept aside. Surprisingly, you find out, these are milk portion packs that are kept at the usual rack like any other dry or non-perishable product.
A thought – ‘Shouldn’t this be kept in a refrigerator or a see-through freezer?’ crosses your mind and yet, you are attracted to this quite distinguishable pack and want to try it out just for its never-seen-before looks. Will you be tempted to pick this pack and buy it for once? Will you think about it if you haven’t picked it up while waiting at the checkout counter queue? The chances of you saying yes are quite high because you want to experience it and know more about it.
This effectively presents a great BTL advertising scenario for any brand looking to benchmark itself in the market, where the product itself becomes an advertising tool. Enter the new age of aseptic liquid packaging that is likely to change the tone of marketing and advertising for the future to come. Customers, like me and you, would be interested to know interesting facts about it. Isn’t it?
One of the leading companies in packaging innovation, Uflex-India‘s largest multinational flexible packaging material solutions company, has created Asepto (aseptic packaging for liquid) that can really play a big role in creating brand differentiation.
For any big beverage company, the emphasis is on advertising and brand recognition. However, both these parameters can fall flat if the packaging isn’t right. As per a study, almost 60% of people who shop at retail stores find out about new brands through in-store browsing.
Also, a high percentage of shoppers make impulsive in-store decisions about products they wish to try based on packaging unless they are too brand loyal for a particular product. This means a company has to work relentlessly within the store using BTL activities to grab the attention of potential customers.
However, promotional BTL activities inside a modern hypermarket or retail store cannot be a daily routine. Hence, the ‘point of display’ has to strongly become the ‘point of sale’ to attract a customer like me. And, only packaging can help companies turn my head towards the products they want to sell to me. This is the exact area where Uflex is pitching in strongly with its innovative solution.
According to the company, brand managers try to make the most with the point of sale materials by decorating them with shelf-talkers, huge danglers for retail merchandise to motivate and encourage customers to pick their product. But they tend to forget what goes back with them is the packaging and the experience they enjoy to make a repeated decision. It is all about that first impression ‘inside a store’ that would henceforth matter, the company adds.
How does Asepto liquid packaging help and who all are getting the benefits? This is where this concept offers dual benefits. It not only addresses the concerns of a company to promote products simply by great packaging but also enables customers to get hygienic products with longer shelf life.
For example, even milk can be kept without refrigeration for nine months from the manufacturing date, if the packaging hasn’t been opened—thanks to six layers of protection used in manufacturing the packaging material. Although once opened, milk can be preserved for only three days in a refrigerated condition.
Further, the option of foil stamping and holographic effects make this packaging approach way more progressive. The various processes like integrating metallic impressions through flexo printing technology to various metalized patterns approaches are new technologies that carton packs can make use of for a truly unique shelf statement.
Modern aseptic packaging is a really promising solution and guarantees a great experience. However, we all are price-sensitive consumers and need the best quality at the lowest prices.
On the other hand, companies would need to shell out more on their packaging budget, which could only be sustained by reducing BTL activities. This brings them to a big dilemma – Will this be a good idea? Only time will tell the answers to these questions. Until then, keep the lookout for unique liquid packaging in retail stores—you may get to see a popular brand rebranding its product packaging to stun you, keeping itself away from clutter, or you might see a new brand disrupting an existing product category.