The Beauty of the Bottle

How do you like to start your morning?

A kiss? Sun streaming through your window? An espresso?

Don't answer that question just yet. Stretch with me first!

Do you hear that fizzing sound? Chances are, somewhere right now someone is probably opening a bottle of Coke, juice or water.

Does that sound like a great start to your day?

Do you ever think about what a single bottle could deliver to you, apart from the contents?

Around 80% of the amount of money we pay for each normal PET plastic beverage bottle only covers the cost of packaging. So the next time we purchase something to quench our thirst, maybe we should eat the bottle instead of drinking the beverage? Ok, that was a joke. However, it's really important to note that in the future, packaging will be essential when working in the FMCG industry.

According to Karine, a Senior Packaging Analyst,

'Beverage packaging enjoys a healthy outlook, with retail volume sales set to reach 1.3 billion units by 2018 on the back of a 3% CAGR. Emerging regions will, to a large extent, fuel this global growth, with Asia Pacific accounting for 64% of additional unit volumes. PET and liquid cartons will see strong volume growth in soft drinks, while glass and metal will expand in beer and carbonates. And yet, against a challenging economic backdrop, brand owners will need to work harder still together with their packaging suppliers to innovate in order to meet consumer demand for good value and convenience, as well as stand out on crowded shelves.' (Dussimon, 2014)

A prestigious worldwide competition, called Pentawards, was founded to help brand owners be more creative and to stand out from the crowd. Pentawards, which is exclusively devoted to packaging design in all its forms, was created in January 2007 to increase the stature of packaging design, designers and to improve the overall customer experience.

Each year, in different cities in Europe, Asia, or the Americas, an official ceremony is held to host hundreds of designers from around the world. The goal? To provide a unique opportunity to meet, exchange ideas, and to strengthen the reputation of their professions. (Pentawards, n.d.)

Several Pentaward recipients

How do we understand the product at a glance?

We even don’t need to understand the language on the label. But we are able to interact with the product directly by the image that is presented to us. That’s the beauty of the bottle and the art of design.

It sounds simple, right? Umm, well actually a lot of collaboration was necessary to conceive 'the bottle'. As an example, take the above orange juice from Orangina, a French beverage producer.

This is a limited edition drink for the summer season. The full sleeve label design is on trend for premium juices in the market. Why? Well, to avoid suspended solids being found by customers while purchasing from the shelf. The 'sweating peeling' label and 'orange shape' bottle represent the purity and freshness of the product.  Such innovative design inspiration had originated from customer feedback, brand owners' expectations and the design agency's experience. They all serve as stakeholders, driving this product successfully.

As to what we learnt thus far from the Internal Marketing course:

“Co-creation offers firms and their network of actors significant opportunities for innovation, as each actor offers access to new resources through a process of resource integration.” (Frow, Nenonen, Payne, Storbacka, 2015)

It is all about collaboration to enhance the value of the brand and to improve the perspective of shareholders themselves.

So finally, what gets you going in the morning?

Maybe just a simple word on the label of a bottle.

Hazel Chen
Current student from the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School.