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4 steps to faster packaging launches

iStock-531849064-2Do you often find yourself struggling to meet packaging launch deadlines?

Unfortunately, many FMCG marketers experience continual delays and missed deadlines while moving a package concept from design to print.

It’s a serious problem – in a highly competitive retail market, getting products on the shelf on time is essential. There’s the risk of losing shelf space to competitors, with no guarantee that you could get it back again. Plus, the costs associated with failing to launch products on time can be considerable.

So, what can you do to get your products on the shelf in half the time? Follow our four steps to faster packaging launches today.

Step 1 – Demand designers with the right design skills and print expertise

One of the best ways to speed up production is to work with a design supplier who also has the necessary print knowledge to ensure that packaging concepts, artwork, prepress and proofing will be 100% colour accurate and print ready the first time.

Look for a supplier who has enough resources for fast turnarounds of designs and print ready artwork.

Having 100% press-ready files from the beginning will eliminate the time required to fix errors and make changes down the track, ensuring the project is completed on or ahead of schedule.

Step 2 – Reduce the number of suppliers and touchpoints

In our experience, brands can halve the time it takes to get products onto the shelf, just by having a packaging partner responsible for transforming brand designs into colour-accurate, print-ready files for the printers. The right supplier can create the packaging master concept, artwork, prepress, and proofing.

Reducing the number of suppliers and touchpoints involved in packaging production results in a streamlined approach and eliminates the time-consuming duplication of steps and errors that can occur.

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Step 3 – Finalise your pack copy at the right time

Don’t rush and fall into the trap of rolling out your master design concept to the product SKUs before all your pack copy is finalised. It can be tempting to use placeholder text in place of the final copy during the artwork stage. However, in our experience, this always leads to delays down the track and costly rounds of changes.

The best way to avoid these delays is to finalise the pack copy while your agency is developing your packaging design concept, and before any artwork rollout to SKUs takes place.

Make sure you collect all the relevant pack copy such as product information, ingredients, nutritional information, recycling information, storage instructions and get it signed off by all relevant stakeholders before rollout.

Step 4 – Streamline your internal design approvals process

Involving the right departments and stakeholders at the right time in your project is critical to preventing costly time-consuming changes downstream.

Unfortunately, stakeholders are often asked for feedback too late in the design process, creating more rounds of changes, which ends up holding things up and causing delays.

It is essential to identify all the key stakeholders and let them know what you need at the very beginning of the packaging design process, making sure you include the necessary deadlines for feedback.

Also, a lot of time is wasted when brands have a manual approvals process. Often printed copies of PDFs are sent to stakeholders who comment on them by hand. Collecting, collating and tracking changes then becomes very time consuming and can lead to mistakes and delays.

Having an efficient process can speed up approvals by 40% and reduce bottlenecks. We recommend using an online collaboration software to enable all stakeholders to comment on a single file in real time, eliminating collation and simplifying tracking of changes.

For more information about how to speed up your new product launches, contact info@taskbykirk.com.au or go to taskbykirk.com.au

Task is a boutique packaging design agency helping brands achieve outstanding packaging with maximum shelf appeal.  We are your trusted partner for the entire creative process from packaging concept design through to product launch.

Our unique mix of packaging design expertise and deep print knowledge ensures designs are done correctly from the very beginning, preventing the errors that cause poor print quality, delays and budget blowouts.

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