Analysis: Brands find a sporting chance in special packs

Special or limited edition packs also provide a prime opportunity for packaging manufacturers to show off design capabilities that are perhaps underused in the regular production cycle. But, as with running the 100m sprint, the difficulty is making sure you come out on top.

“Lots of companies get involved in major sporting events, and it’s important to ensure that your product stands out,” says John Noble, director of the British Brands Group.

Noble suggests that, from a brand perspective, the most successful link-ups with major events are those that “enhance the consumer’s understanding of the product”, and execution of a special pack needs to show the link as distinctively as possible. “Brand managers will have a clear idea of how they are pitching a particular brand and an event may be chosen to enhance the qualities they want to imbue their product with,” he adds.

Pastures new
That’s not to say that a special pack is only for existing markets. Gush Mundae, founder of London-based packaging design agency Bulletproof, says that a limited edition can provide a “great platform for an established brand to broaden its target market and attract new consumers who would not usually engage with its product”.

One brand that has had a lot of success using special edition packs is Coca-Cola. Alongside the instantly recognisable Christmas packs featuring Santa Claus, the soft drinks giant has also offered potential clients exclusive products to break new business. “The Coca-Cola trading teams won several new business accounts by offering exclusive stock of the 2006 World Cup Contour bottles to clients that had not previously stocked Coca-Cola,” says Mundae.

Once you’ve decided on your event, the next step is to develop a pack. One of the key factors is cost. Refitting a production line could prove to be prohibitively expensive and, indeed, in the glass sector particularly a lot of special branding is done with sleeving, because it allows a complete redesign of the look of the bottle based on a standard shape. “Sleeving lends itself well to low-cost use, and there have been a lot of developments in application technology. It offers a brand a lot of design possibilities without going through a retooling,” says Sharon Crayton, head of marketing at Ardagh Glass.

Another design option is self-adhesive labels, which can be produced in short runs. Harlands Labels sales director Roy Duncker says: “In terms of promotions, we could do multi-page labels, for example for a football championship-related competition. Labels can be very flexible and we can do short runs.” But, he adds, whether it’s actually a “short run” depends on the nature of the brand. “With some of the bigger companies, you’re still talking about large volumes.”

Ardagh’s Crayton agrees that, for some product lines, retooling is an option. “If it’s something like beer bottles that are going to be sold in huge volumes, then it could make sense to retool, given the lifespan of a set of moulds.”

One of a kind
Of course, large volumes might seem to go against the notion of limited edition packs, because it can affect the uniqueness of the product. Bulletproof’s Mundae says that limited editions “work best when there is a real reason to purchase and collect” and numbers are really limited and only available through certain channels. Burn Stewart, for example, last month launched a new Tobermory whisky pack, where every bottle is unique due to the production process.

“The mistake many brands make is calling a new product variant – such as a new drinks flavour – a limited edition and then producing hundreds of thousands of packs, which are available everywhere, which no one collects and which are forgotten about all too soon,” says Mundae.

Whether output is limited or not, a special edition pack can be a vital tool in the cut-throat world of consumer goods, and with the diary full of major events, sporting and otherwise, there are plenty of opportunities for brands. Not least with the London 2012 Olympics now only four years away.

The British Brands Group’s Noble says each Olympics brings new, more creative branding and it’s crucial to start planning as early as possible. “It’s important to start looking now at what you’re going to do for the 2012 Games and ensuring you can make the most out of it.”

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