Every year, as companies prepare to launch products, there is a flurry of market research done into the planned market these products will be entering. They always look at things like Is it priced correctly? Is there a need for this product? What is the competition like?
There are two big mistakes that can affect anyone when they go to order packaging supplies.
Incorrect Translation
The Gerber Baby Food Company found themselves in a similar situation when they decided to launch their range of products into French supermarkets.
They replaced all the labels with French translations from their packaging suppliers, shipped and stocked them in supermarkets and then the day it all went on sale.
Nothing. With almost no-sales, Gerber went into panic mode. It was at this stage where they were told by a native French speaker that the company name 'Gerber' actually translated into "Vomiting".
A quick check into the native language would have pointed this out to the company - saving them millions in packagaing supplies and logistics.
Same Word, Different Meaning
The brother to the translation problems category, this is an unfortunate situation that can potentially affect any packaging supplier or people ordering packaging. This the scenario where your product or packaging becomes an household name for all the wrong reasons.
Now AYDS wasn't going to take this lying down and tried to advertise and promote their product even harder. However the critial mistake was not changing packaging supplies.
Why was this the case? Well, a quick glance at the product packaging would reveal that the pills were called AYDS. Anyone who was alive in the 1980's would know of the large scale awareness programs going on for a disease of the same sounding name.
These are simple packaging pitfalls that can easily be avioded before launching a product. While you could argue that this falls into the domain of the packaging suppliers, ultimately they are not responsible for the success of your product.
There are two big mistakes that can affect anyone when they go to order packaging supplies.
Incorrect Translation
The Gerber Baby Food Company found themselves in a similar situation when they decided to launch their range of products into French supermarkets.
They replaced all the labels with French translations from their packaging suppliers, shipped and stocked them in supermarkets and then the day it all went on sale.
Nothing. With almost no-sales, Gerber went into panic mode. It was at this stage where they were told by a native French speaker that the company name 'Gerber' actually translated into "Vomiting".
A quick check into the native language would have pointed this out to the company - saving them millions in packagaing supplies and logistics.
Same Word, Different Meaning
The brother to the translation problems category, this is an unfortunate situation that can potentially affect any packaging supplier or people ordering packaging. This the scenario where your product or packaging becomes an household name for all the wrong reasons.
Now AYDS wasn't going to take this lying down and tried to advertise and promote their product even harder. However the critial mistake was not changing packaging supplies.
Why was this the case? Well, a quick glance at the product packaging would reveal that the pills were called AYDS. Anyone who was alive in the 1980's would know of the large scale awareness programs going on for a disease of the same sounding name.
These are simple packaging pitfalls that can easily be avioded before launching a product. While you could argue that this falls into the domain of the packaging suppliers, ultimately they are not responsible for the success of your product.
About the Author:
John McKinnon shares many tips on packaging supplies at his packaging supplies web site.
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