Today's society is a society with extremely rich commodities, but at the same time, it is also a society in which products are heavily homogenized. Enterprises want to make their products have a good sales situation in the market, the initial competition is the use value of the product; then the competition is the product sales channel; then the competition is the price of the product; and when the price of the product is reduced to When the market bottom line, it began to compete with promotional activities. Although these methods can increase the sales of products, they are all increasing the operating costs of companies. When the operating cost reaches a certain limit, how can companies sell their products? At this time, we saw some products in the market are changing:
Nokia's mobile phone panel has changed. Since 2004, the series of “Awesome City†has been launched in 2005. Through the differentiated design of the color, pattern, and material of the product panel, there are obvious differences from the popularity of popular panel colors in current mobile phone products.
Coca-Cola's packaging has changed. Since 2005, Coca-Cola has printed various characters in the Warcraft online game on the product packaging, launched the World of Warcraft series of packaging products, and in 2006 launched the packaging of the World Cup 06 football star series, as well as the series of Warcraft II packaging. These themed packaging products have greatly stimulated the sales of products.
Pepsi's packaging has changed. During the World Cup, Pepsi also followed Coca-Cola's products and printed pictures of the 2006 World Cup stars. In addition, PepsiCo also designed a cartoon character to endorse Qixi brand products.
Budweiser packaging has changed. Now, in order to catch the 08 Beijing Olympic Express, Budweiser has launched a new packaging product with the 2008 Olympic logo printed on the packaging and China is expected to win gold.
Uniform milk tea is also printed on the packaging of PET products, and the story of the constellation and mood is printed. Each pattern and text is a separate story. Placed on the shelves, it is clear that their products stand out from the same category of products.
These companies quickly led the sales of products through the introduction of motif-designed products. When we talk about packaging, we immediately think of its function of protecting goods. In fact, the real source of packaging magic is its promotional features. The protective function of packaging is weakening nowadays, and the promotion function is gradually strengthened. Packaging has become an important tool for business promotion.
First, thematic packaging achieves differentiation from competitors
In marketing theory, differentiation strategy is a very important theory. When multiple products are sold in the same market, companies must find a unique selling point for their products. In the same product purchase crowd, product use value is the same, sales channels are the same, even retail prices are the same conditions, packaging design changes came into being. In 2005 Coca-Cola was changed from a traditional single red wave logo to a Warcraft game character, which was different from Pepsi in the eyes of young consumers. Pepsi uses many sports stars to attract sporty young people. Then Coca-Cola took popular online games to attract people who didn’t love sports. They divided up a separate market among young people and made products available to them. Very attractive and irritating.
Second, thematic packaging meets the higher level needs of consumers
Prior to Nokia’s launch of the “Outstanding Allure†series of mobile phones, handsets produced by mobile phone manufacturers were all monotonous colors, and only used mobile phones as a means of providing communication. In fact, people's needs are hierarchical. Maslow, an American psychologist, proposed the famous "level of needs theory." He divides people's needs from low to high into five levels: (1) physiological needs; (2) security needs; (3) the need to belong to love; (4) the need for respect, and the need for honor and achievement; 5) The need for self-actualization. When consumers consume, they always meet the low-level needs first and then meet the needs of the next level. The more consumers buy high-end mobile phones, the more their demand for mobile phones is deviated from their communication functions and the pursuit of mobile phones as a symbol of personal status. The “Outstanding Allure†series of mobile phones has adopted a series of new techniques and new methods to enhance the series of mobile phones into accessories that represent the status of users. This change eliminates the competitive advantage of competing products and promotes the sales target of the brand.
Third, theme packaging facilitates the vivid display of products
With the emergence of homogenization of products, in addition to the difference in trademarks, the products of various companies are almost identical to those presented to consumers on store shelves. Now that the product packaging has been changed to theme packaging, the company’s products are displayed on the shelves and can be visually differentiated from competing products, allowing consumers to easily find their products. For example, unified milk tea is printed on the packaging with pictures and texts on the theme of the constellation, and displayed on the shelves. Because the pattern on the front of the product is very different from the design of similar products based on corporate trademarks, it is particularly noticeable and even more impressive. Attract consumers to buy.
In the use of thematic packaging strategies, we can sum up the following three types: a competitive theme packaging strategy; a demand-based theme packaging strategy and an aesthetic theme packaging strategy.
First, a competitive theme packaging strategy
The competitive theme packaging strategy is mainly applicable to the oligopoly market. Because there are not many products in the market, it is mainly controlled by a few companies. When a company changes some kind of market behavior, other companies must also take corresponding measures to respond, otherwise it is very likely to lead to changes in market share. . In terms of packaging changes, the theme packaging of each company will have a clearer target, with a view to forming a big difference with competing products to attract consumers' purchases, or adopting a follow-up strategy to launch similar themes with competing products. Packaging products, in order to offset the opponent's preemptive market share, and maintain the balance between the two parties. More typical is the cola beverage industry and the milk industry.
The domestic cola market is almost monopolized by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. As the second brand, Pepsi has maintained its offensive against Coca-Cola. In the 1990s, a new slogan called "Next Generation" was introduced. At the same time, Pepsi launched products with sports stars who endorsed it. At this time Coca-Cola is still continuing its own traditional packaging. As a result, Pepsi's share of the younger generation has increased rapidly. Since then, Coca-Cola has continued to maintain its leading position in the market by launching a promotional packaging product that “wins the golden coverâ€. Through a higher winning rate and a new way of promoting publicity, Coca-Cola renews the attention of consumers. After entering the year 2000, the two companies continued to update the packaging of sports stars series and the packaging of pop singers series to seize the consumer group of young people. Especially in 2006, Coca-Cola launched the theme package for the World Cup players, and Pepsi launched the theme package for the World Cup participating countries and their representatives. However, after the World Cup, Coca-Cola quickly launched the theme packaging products of the Warcraft series, targeting the target market for young people enthusiastic about online games. During the World Cup, because the products of the two companies all use stars as the main body of the package, consumers do not feel the difference between the two, and thus maintain the original balance of the market. However, when Coca-Cola became the theme of online games and Pepsi failed to follow suit, Coca-Cola had a difference with the competition products. Youngsters who play games at Internet cafes are significantly more likely to consume Coca-Cola than Pepsi.
Looking at the domestic milk industry again, Mengniu has launched a super-female endorsement of the theme packaging product this year after continuing its activities with Hunan Satellite TV to launch “Super Girls†activities. At this time, Yili organized an extremely similar campaign for the 2007 Yili Yogurt Advertising Endorsement Competition, and launched the theme package of the event, and adopted a follow-up strategy to eliminate the impact of Mengniu “Super Girl†on itself.
From these two examples, we can see that to adopt a competitive packaging strategy, the company must be one of the market leaders, and has considerable financial strength and product support capabilities. It is possible for such companies to take countermeasures in time when their opponents change. Only the actions of market leaders are worth the attention of other companies.
Second, demand-oriented theme packaging strategy
This type of theme packaging strategy is mainly applicable to those products that are insensitive to price or have high added value. Such as mobile phone products or leather goods, clothing and other products. In addition to the use value of these products purchased by consumers, it is mainly to meet the needs of individual values. Because these products can represent the user’s identity and personal achievements in a specific location. In ancient China, there was an old saying that “people rely on clothing and horses to rely on saddlesâ€. It also reflects the proper packaging from one side to improve others’ perceptions and attitudes towards themselves. When you are in a place of communication, in order to pass on your identity and status to other people, in addition to revealing your identity through direct introduction, others can learn about your dress, accessories, briefcases, or communication tools. you. At this point, consumers place demands on the added value of the product. If the product launched by the company just meets this demand of the consumer, it can stimulate the purchase. Nokia Corporation is a representative.
In 2004, Nokia launched the "Outstanding Allure" series of products. In 2005, it launched the "Admiration" series of products. With the unique concept of leather materials, etched metal patterns and creative designs, this series of products has become an art treasure. At this time, when consumers purchase this series of mobile phones, they are more likely to have a look at its luxurious design, which makes it different from ordinary people. This is also like when the mobile phone first appeared. Those rich people like to have their big brother appear on various occasions. Because that means that he is a rich person and different. This satisfies the consumer's dedication to vanity. Even if the price of the product is high, the buyers are still in an endless stream.
Since a satisfying package design is designed to improve the user's psychological needs, the two must be refined and fine when designing the package. The design does not require much practical use, but it must enable the consumer to be psychologically satisfied and highlight the user's status. This theme packaging can achieve its purpose.
Third, the appearance of the theme of packaging strategy
This type of theme packaging strategy is generally used in a mature, fully competitive market. Because in this market, many similar products, homogeneity is also very serious, consumers do not carefully choose sometimes it is difficult to buy the products they want. At this time, the appearance of the theme packaging may reproduce the magical effect of the ancients' buying and returning beads. Typical industries include bank card industry and beverage industry.
With the entry of foreign banks and the increase in residents’ spending power, the competition in the domestic bank card market is constantly increasing. In order to compete for a limited target audience, banks have launched themed bank cards to attract more consumers to open accounts in this bank. CCB first introduced the CCB dragon card with the Chinese zodiac theme, China Merchants Bank opened the “Sunflower Sunflower†bank card, Minsheng Bank launched a bank card with women as the main body, and Industrial Bank launched the bank card with the theme of Garfield. Although the functions of bank cards are similar, bank cards printed with different motifs are more attractive to consumers than ordinary bank cards. Because the motifs that can be attached to bank cards as topics, most of them need to be authorized. Some consumers are willing to open an account with a new bank in order to get their favorite cartoon picture products. Although it is a bit of a cart before the horse, it is a clever trick for the bank.
Although most of the products on the market have not yet started the design of theme packaging, some companies are actively promoting and implementing the theme packaging strategy in order to carry out low-cost product promotion and maximize corporate profits. . Maybe we can't be sure that products relying on theme packaging will definitely have the absolute advantage in the market, but we can expect that the themed packaging products will win the final victory in market competition. Because they represent