Wholepackage

the

Let’s be honest: No longer do people believe they need a

special product for every function. In fact, if their cars,

phones or remotes can’t multitask, they view them as

inferior. Package deals have gone from a perceived

disadvantage to a boon as consumers find they possess the

performance and quality they want. Consumers clearly crave

convenience, but they are not pleased with almost good-enough

items. They are most satisfied when a single purchase saves them

time, money and fulfills all their needs. The same goes for

branding and package development. Thousands of research firms

and design agencies exist worldwide that generate excellent outcomes.

Similarly, many suppliers and manufacturers do very well in their own

niche. However, a company that specializes in combining design

thinking with front-end research and back-end application propels a

brand to complete consumer satisfaction: The final package is

aesthetically attractive and functionally delivers. R&D/Leverage is that

company. Having researchers, designers, engineers and a

manufacturing floor all in one place is not just convenient for a brand

that needs packaging — it makes a considerable difference in that

package’s success.

MORE THAN A PRETTY FACEA great packaging concept is crucial to a brand’s success on shelf,

especially since that package may be the only interaction a consumer

has with the brand. It has to communicate that the product fills the

consumer’s need — and good looks alone are not enough.

Excellent design is a combination of a package’s appearance plus

strong functionality. If it looks good but

does not work, that’s art. Many brands find

themselves in this position for a variety of

reasons. Aesthetic components may get the

consumer to buy a product the first time,

but if the pack fails to deliver the tenets of

functionality — protect the product, easy to

transport, easy to store, easy to open — the

brand will not be getting a repeat purchase. On the other side, if the

package works well but does not look good, that’s engineering. This is

just as much of a danger to brands, because if the package has not

grabbed the attention of consumers, they will not be buying the item

inside. Sales levels will stagnate, and the brand will not see growth. A

good package design combines appearance with functionality to

deliver against consumer insights in a way that is attractive, operative

and ultimately grows your business.

A NEW BEGINNINGAbout ten years ago, structural brand development and mold

manufacturing firm R&D/Leverage was more and more frequently

seeing designs that were not manufacturable. CPG companies were

spending copious amounts of time and money getting a beautiful

design, only to learn that their new packages-to-be were nothing

more than artwork. It was simply not possible for the packages to be

made, let alone enter the market. As R&D/Leverage saw the number

of these non-manufacturable designs rise and brand owners

subsequently becoming increasingly frustrated with the added

costs and delays from modifying their structures, it also saw an

opportunity to help the industry by using its deep manufacturing

knowledge to influence and impact design in the creative

generation stage. The company believed that integrating design and

engineering from the beginning of the project could solve these

growing woes. That hypothesis proved correct — by marrying

what is creatively possible with what’s able to be structurally

manufactured, CPG companies could get to market faster and at a

lower cost. And with that, a new chapter of the 37-year-

old company was born — and the industry’s package

development-related headaches began lessening.

RIGHT PLACE TO STARTWhile R&D/Leverage helps brands at any stage of the

package design and development process, the biggest

impact and return for a brand comes from early

engagement with the team of researchers, designers and

engineers. A three-legged stool without all its legs is useless.

In the same way, if an agency gives a brand a concept

that misses one of the backbones of a good package —

research, design or engineering — the final execution is

not robust enough to stand on its own on shelf.

R&D/Leverage has built and brought ideas to market where

brands have had research or design work done elsewhere, but it

often requires rebuilding one leg of the stool — a missing user

insight, a design which fails to deliver against the brand promise or

a concept which would require complex manufacturing that kills

the product launch economics. This wastes time and resources

which could have been saved had the design been integrated with

engineering and manufacturing earlier in the creative process.

By combining design thinking with front-end research and back-end application, a brand achieves

consumer satisfaction.

Early engagement with R&D/Leverage ensures

that the design your brand and consumers love

is grounded in consumer insights, delivers

against consumer needs and the brand promise

and is — by design — feasible and cost-effective

to manufacture. Because R&D/Leverage’s design

team works side-by-side with the researchers

and engineers, brand owners will only ever

receive designs that make sense for the brand

and are ready to be structurally executed.

RESEARCHING THE DESIGNThe R&D/Leverage team works closely with the brand owner to

deeply understand the brand identity, insights and expectations. Every

step of the company’s integrated approach actively works to reduce

time to market. They unlock the emotions the brand wants to the

product to evoke, as the package will need to do nearly all the legwork:

A consumer may never see the brand’s advertising or marketing

materials, but 100% of the consumers who purchase the product will

interact with the package. Though the team is comprised of artistic

and creative individuals, they will not make decisions based on how

the piece will look in their own personal portfolios. Rather, R&D/

Leverage believes in the necessity of brand- and consumer-driven

design. Every package is designed to further your brand’s purpose

and please consumers — elements uncovered by careful investigation.

The research R&D/Leverage is capable of executing is immense, be it

qualitative or quantitative, in a focus group, a shop-along or a category

audit. Official and unofficial guerilla research is a given: The designers

and engineers soak in the market space whenever they are out.

One can imagine that their families prefer not to send them on any

urgent grocery store runs. A simple trip for milk is not simple when

a teammate views every excursion as an educational opportunity.

Which consumers are shopping a category? How are they grabbing

and carrying the pack? Why does a certain brand dominate a shelf?

Thoroughly understanding the market space allows R&D/Leverage to

continue placing cutting-edge structural innovation on shelf.

THE SOLUTIONThe designers apply all insights to the design directions, create several

educated concepts and present them to the brand. Because of the

onsite application capabilities, brand owners can be certain the team

has taken into account the pragmatic constraints of manufacturing.

The design team is keen to note that they will not show spaceships

if the result will be a Chevy. Every option they give could be the final

design — no structural changes will be necessary for manufacturing.

R&D/Leverage provides cost projections and supply chain options

at the very beginning of a project — a luxury an integrated approach

can offer because the designers involve the engineers throughout the

entire process, from kickoff to engineering drawing release.

CREATING THE PACKAGEAfter the team and brand together explore the options, R&D/

Leverage again engages consumers to validate user insights about

the design concepts. Validating a design through this re-focus

group lets a brand know which designs will resonate with their

target consumers, ultimately leading to more retail sales. From

there, the team takes the relevant consumer commentary combined

with final engineering constraints and hones the design. This

iterative process happens until the design is right — consumers are

excited, the brand is excited, and a clear execution path is defined.

Once the final refinements are complete and the brand agrees they’ve

created the perfect solution, the design makes a seamless internal

move to engineering development and mold tooling.

GET IT FASTClients who have made use of R&D/Leverage’s “idea-to-mold” approach

see the value in designing and manufacturing at the same place. R&D/

Leverage’s integrated process between design, engineering and application

reduces time to market. Costs are controlled, and speed to market is

accelerated. The typical headaches associated with project handoff from a

design firm to engineering do not exist at R&D/Leverage. Case in point?

When the Dr Pepper Snapple Group came to the team for a revamping

of its 15-year-old “Splash” bottle that held 7UP and other popular drinks,

the R&D/Leverage team completed the entire process in 26 weeks —

including consumer research, design, application and implementation —

about half the time it would have taken without this integrated approach.

Even more impressive than the project’s speed is the bottle design: Though

Dr Pepper Snapple Group desired to replace the “Splash” bottle to keep

the brand fresh, the company had never been able to change it because of

a lack of consumer preference — the new bottles were pretty, but they

weren’t different enough to drive growth. The “Legacy” bottle R&D/

Leverage’s designers created through their company’s integrated approach

has greatly outperformed the previous bottle in consumer satisfaction.

Perhaps even more importantly, the “Legacy” bottle has delivered at shelf,

growing business for Dr Pepper Snapple — even in the face of strong

category headwinds where the category captains have seen sales decline.

Brand owners will also be pleased to know that the intellectual property

R&D/Leverage creates for them is all theirs. The company’s approach

allows a brand to turn its package into ownable, patentable IP and equity:

a critical step in differentiating its products from competitors on shelf.

AN EXCELLENT MINDSETR&D/Leverage knows a desirable package in both appearance and

functionality is critical to retail adoption, and the company is skilled at

fulfilling brand expectations and consumer desires. Its research, design and

engineering teams thrive on combining their creative and technical skill

sets. The hands-on approach helps brands grow their businesses by giving

them truly innovative products. When the team is composed of creative

individuals whose love for invention is what gets them out of

bed every day, you would expect nothing less.

Stacked WinesStacked Wines LLC was conceived by creator and company co-founder Matt Zimmer, who sought a stylish, portable and recyclable packaging solution for informal consumption. He and his team envisioned a practical and easily stored four-pack of stemless wine glasses that vertically stacked to form the equivalent of one full 750ml bottle of wine. Each individual serving was to communicate the look and feel of a real wine glass and deliver the durability of plastic. A foil seal would preserve the wine’s freshness within each single serving, and an overwrap would deliver brand messaging and product information.

“R&D/Leverage was highly recommended by an industry source,” Zimmer says. “We needed expertise into how to commercialize our vision. Time was of the essence, since we compete against standard bottled wines and boxed wines, which are increasingly popular. As a start-up, we needed to get into production fast and have the design and tooling right — the first time. R&D/Leverage delivered on all counts.”

Jeff Beason, project engineer, R&D/Leverage, and his team tweaked the customer’s initial product sketches and delivered a manufacturable design with a precision undercut snap-together feature to enhance functionality. The design was completed and approved in just three weeks on April 22, and the production tool was built and shipped by November 10.

“The wine industry is gravitating towards alternative packaging solutions. Sometimes, today’s on-the-go consumer just wants one glass of wine without opening an entire bottle,” Zimmer says. “Thanks to the technical support of R&D/Leverage, we commercialized a breakthrough concept loaded with consumer and trade appeal. Regional sales volumes have validated our vision. As a result, we will continue to expand distribution and, in time, become a national brand.”

R&D/Leverage (www.rdleverage.com) is the First, Best, Only Company to bring consumer research, industrial design, and prototyping to manufacturing and validation — all from one company. Ideas move faster. Inspiration flows from one process to the next. Teams are aligned and working toward one goal. The result is better products made faster than ever before. From idea, to tooling, to manufacturing, our packaging solutions support the branded product.