New-generation 3D product visualisation is enabling faster iterations, cost-effective experimentation and enhanced creativity for all FMCG brands.
During a webinar hosted by Inside FMCG focused on how brands can efficiently deploy 3D visuals to achieve comprehensive cost benefits, two experts shared their experiences with the technology: Mark Henderson, GM of Visual Lab, the company that has set the standard for product visualisation globally with its continuous 3D innovation and Scott McGregor, PepsiCo digital e-commerce manager at PepsiCo, Visual Lab’s largest multinational client to date, with a wealth of digital and marketing knowledge.
Henderson highlights that one of the key marketing pain points for FMCG companies is achieving a consistent representation of the brand and its product range.
He says that today’s consumers can access information about a product across many different interfaces and shop multiple platforms ranging from brand dot-com sites, marketplaces and online grocery stores to various physical retail formats.
“For a brand, maintaining a consistent look and feel for their products on digital shelves is becoming increasingly front of mind. Companies want to get the pack imagery up to date and ensure that vital product information, such as regulatory declarations of ingredients and nutritional information, is consistent – and that it complies with the regulations of the markets where consumers are accessing that information.”
This is where product visuals play an essential role in ensuring the ongoing success of FMCG brands by building familiarity and trust among consumers. 3D visuals, especially, have the potential to significantly enhance online product presentations, ultimately driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
Accuracy underpins the central touch point for consumers
McGregor says PepsiCo is committed to ensuring accurate packaging art makes its way into every single piece of communication the company produces, whether that’s in-store, online, out of home, or on TV screens. “This is the central touch point for our consumers. When we do it well, it helps us to build trust and build our brands; when it’s not done well, it can undo years of global or local investment in making these brands what they are,” he says.
“Adopting Visual Lab’s 3D solutions was not only about improving the experience of Pepsico’s customers. While the consistency of our branding is a core component driving sales growth, adopting 3D renders is also about drastically improving our working methods.
“Previously, we had seven agencies across three countries reproducing previously approved renders. That’s seven times the cost and seven times the workload, and managing those files required seven times the approval process. Ultimately, that leads to errors, which leads to diversification from what was previously approved or had been worked on. So we’re excited about the potential of centralising that within Visual Labs.”
Visual Lab’s web-based platform allows users to upload a 3D model that agencies can access.
“They can play around with the angles, the lighting, and so on, and once they’re happy with that working version, they can download it and drop it into their creative,” explains Henderson. “Once the creative is signed off by the brand and the third-party agency, the designer simply files a request with Visual Lab, using that as a reference image for a high-resolution render. Then we can create that and supply it straight into the agency.”
The upsides for FMCG brands using Visual Lab’s 3D renders
Henderson says the versatility and speed of Visual Lab’s proprietary 3D rendering solution is a key competitive advantage.
Traditional methods of 3D rendering would take a 2D image and make it look like a 3D version. “If you take that approach, every time you want to adjust it, or every time you want to change it, in the conventional sense, it means an agency or vendor going in and starting again, changing the angle of the pack, for example, making it visible from a three-quarter perspective. All that takes time, scheduling, expense – costs which are always passed on.” The alternative is to hire a photographer and then ensure lighting consistency, for example.
“The original product shot might have been taken a particular way four weeks ago. When you put the product back into a studio, the lighting can change, which leads to a different outcome. With our 3D modelling, we open the file. We can rotate it or change the angle in any way we want and give the brand an immediate output. The versatility and speed of our solution are second to none. With the quality of our renders, you have a very powerful digital asset that can transcend more than just the brand requirements for a grocery channel – you can incorporate it into any digital channel you wish. This render will sit there beautifully.”
McGregor says PepsiCo has been excited not only by the cost benefits and efficiencies of reducing seven renders to one but also by witnessing how its design partners’ creativity has been unleashed.
“Instead of investing time to rebuild a pack that’s already been designed seven times before and approved years ago, they can now invest time and energy into getting the most creative solutions they can to our problems. We are getting better creative as a result of this. So there’s a cyclical relationship here that’s better for our customers, and it is better for us. The rising tide raises all the boats.
“Furthermore, the agencies can access it with speed, ease and fluency. It means that they can continue their creative flow and ideation without having to stop and go, Oh, no, we need to get a different render. Or, oh no, this is the incorrect or outdated render. That process has been replaced. Now, all they need to do is drag and drop the file from an online portal. It is easy.”
A DIY solution for small companies
Meanwhile, Visual Lab is now putting the finishing touches on a platform called You Create, essentially a do-it-yourself solution that allows customers or their agencies to create some of their own lifestyle images and creative digital assets. You Create is aimed at small to medium enterprises that can log in at a low cost and produce high-quality assets to use around their brand and products.
“We took the best of the design packages and the best of current global online DIY apps, and we created our platform around that.”
- Learn more about Visual Lab’s 3D rendering solution – and PepsiCo’s experiences as a customer – by viewing the Inside FMCG-hosted webinar here.
