03.31.09
Nature's Gate of Chatsworth, CA, USA, began making its line of organic products some 30 years ago when the owners of a Venice Beach herb shop collected rainwater, added fresh herbs and made a shampoo that they gave to friends and customers. The product was immediately accepted, and now Nature's Gate is the fifth largest brand in the natural personal care industry and No. 1 in shampoos and conditioners.
Nature's Gate recently made a major change to the packaging of its Herbal Blend and Fruit Blend range, and did it right before the holiday season last year. Laura Setzfand, vice president of marketing for Nature's Gate, says, "We did a lot of research, including focus groups, and we even took two different groups of shoppers to Whole Foods Market." The shoppers, composed of a group that currently used Nature's Gate products and a second group that didn't, helped the company decide to revamp the packaging.
"Many of our current customers know which product they want by the packaging color, but those unfamiliar with our products said it was difficult to tell functionality, because we had taken up a lot of the space on the bottle with descriptive information," Setzfand says. "This proved to be a real puzzle to work out the details enlarging the words "shampoo" or "conditioner" automatically reduced the space to highlight "hair type'" or "body type." Many of our customers and prospective buyers, she adds, want to know details such as where the ingredients are grown or collected, and their relationship to the environment.
Balancing the need for an attractive, easy-to-understand package with the need to communicate as much information about the product can be challenging. Knowing what key copy points you want to stress and then communicating them in a simple and concise manner is critical. Consumer purchasing decisions are made based on a variety of attributes, including packaging, scent, benefits and price. According to Setzfand, "A key purchasing factor is the aroma customers want to open the bottle and smell the contents." "Some won't buy it if they can't smell it," she adds. Still others want to know the key benefit, where the ingredients come from and who is behind the product, i.e., the larger purpose."
These purchasing attributes were incorporated into the new labels so consumers can smell the product, identify by color or picture, and easily determine the benefits as well as know where the ingredients are sourced.
Many of the Nature's Gate Organics ingredients are grown by a family-owned organic farm located above Santa Rosa, CA, about 500 miles from Chatsworth. "Our ingredients are fresh from the field," Setzfand says, "from land dedicated to growing Nature's Gate botanical essences. At the farm, each plant receives individual care, ensuring the highest purity and quality." She adds that the farm's water source is derived from winter rains and melted snow from the the Sierra Nevada mountains.Nature's Gate also includes mention of its Clean Water for All endeavor, sharing the importance of its heritage and commitment to WaterAir America, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the provision of safe water in many of the world's poorest countries through rainwater harvesting and education.
The labeling problem was further compounded by the fact that the two lines chosen for relabeling had monochromatic (one-color) labels. "When the bottles were by themselves in a conference room or on a desk during a sales presentation, they looked great," Setzfand says. "But when they were placed on a shelf with dozens of other products, most of which were brightly colored, we could get lost in the shuffle, especially in the competition for new customers."
Tri Print LLC, of Huntington Beach, CA, which has been working with Nature's Gate for more than 10 years, took on the challenge of keeping the same bottle structure while developing a label which could show the botanical image on a heavy color background. Setzfand explained that in the highly competitive retail environment for hair care products, the retailer allots space based on bottle size and shape, so changing the shape of the bottle can be disruptive. Also, many consumers become familiar with a bottle size or shape, and change can mean lost customers.
Pam Herrema, Tri Print sales manager, says, "The strong metallic green and orange bottles make a vibrant statement on the retailer's shelf, and allow for immediate brand recognition." Previously the bottles had been screen printed, which led to inventory, warehouse space and minimum order challenges. "Nature's Gate needed more flexibility and freedom in making ingredient and/or informational changes," Herrema notes, "while creating as little waste as possible. Replacing 5,000 labels is less expensive and much more eco-friendly than replacing 5,000 bottles or over-labeling with cumbersome, block-out labels that would leave the end product looking far less appealing."
The number one challenge of this new relabeling venture was that Nature's Gate needed the "screened on the bottle" look with the flexibility of a label. Herrema says, "We chose an extremely clear film and developed a custom varnish to make the labels 'disappear' on the bottle. Screen printing was considered," she adds, "but with 36 different SKUs, the cost and time were prohibitive." By working with their ink supplier to develop specialized inks and a flexographic production method to apply those custom inks with screen-like opacity, Tri Print was able to produce the labels much faster and at much lower cost than screening.
Another challenge was to create a striking, vibrant process color image which would stand out from the strong background. Herrema says, "We needed to cancel out the bottle colors in key areas and dramatically enhance the brightness, opacity and depth of the process pictures. Nature's Gate has a very advanced in-house creative team and they provided excellent original art, but there was no way they could be able to adjust for how the orange and green base colors would affect the CMYK of the graphics." Tri Print ran preliminary press tests of three variations of each of the process color images and showed them to Nature's Gate.
It's a good thing Tri Print's operation is just a little over an hour south of Nature's Gate, because, as Setzfand notes, "With over 36 unique labels and multiple other projects occurring simultaneously, we were concerned about the extended amount of time our creative team would have to be out of the office to press-check these labels. To facilitate this process and ensure we were happy with the end results, Pam Herrema hand delivered each label right off the press, which meant we didn't have to lose several days on press. I have never worked with a vendor so committed to her client's success," she says. "This project was a success in large part due to Tri Print's superior customer service and commitment to quality and on-time delivery."
A lot of hard work went into the production. The result is that both the creative and marketing departments at Nature's Gate are happy with the major improvement and everyone from finance to the executive level is pleased with the immediacy of the sales increases. Herrema says, "Tri Print is proud to have engineered a positive solution to a significant project, which provided Nature's Gate with the superior service and quality they have come to expect."
To phase in the new label look, Nature's Gate enlisted Hangtags.com, a subsidiary of Tri Print, to come up with a strategic $2-off coupon hangtag when they started to ship the new product at the end of October and early November 2008. There was some concern about how the new packaging would be received, but the company saw a terrific month in December, up 6 percent in the organic hair care line, which was a positive impact on sales.
More info: www.natures-gate.com, www.triprint.com.
Nature's Gate recently made a major change to the packaging of its Herbal Blend and Fruit Blend range, and did it right before the holiday season last year. Laura Setzfand, vice president of marketing for Nature's Gate, says, "We did a lot of research, including focus groups, and we even took two different groups of shoppers to Whole Foods Market." The shoppers, composed of a group that currently used Nature's Gate products and a second group that didn't, helped the company decide to revamp the packaging.
Before (left) and after labels on Nature's Gate products.
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Balancing the need for an attractive, easy-to-understand package with the need to communicate as much information about the product can be challenging. Knowing what key copy points you want to stress and then communicating them in a simple and concise manner is critical. Consumer purchasing decisions are made based on a variety of attributes, including packaging, scent, benefits and price. According to Setzfand, "A key purchasing factor is the aroma customers want to open the bottle and smell the contents." "Some won't buy it if they can't smell it," she adds. Still others want to know the key benefit, where the ingredients come from and who is behind the product, i.e., the larger purpose."
These purchasing attributes were incorporated into the new labels so consumers can smell the product, identify by color or picture, and easily determine the benefits as well as know where the ingredients are sourced.
Many of the Nature's Gate Organics ingredients are grown by a family-owned organic farm located above Santa Rosa, CA, about 500 miles from Chatsworth. "Our ingredients are fresh from the field," Setzfand says, "from land dedicated to growing Nature's Gate botanical essences. At the farm, each plant receives individual care, ensuring the highest purity and quality." She adds that the farm's water source is derived from winter rains and melted snow from the the Sierra Nevada mountains.Nature's Gate also includes mention of its Clean Water for All endeavor, sharing the importance of its heritage and commitment to WaterAir America, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the provision of safe water in many of the world's poorest countries through rainwater harvesting and education.
The labeling problem was further compounded by the fact that the two lines chosen for relabeling had monochromatic (one-color) labels. "When the bottles were by themselves in a conference room or on a desk during a sales presentation, they looked great," Setzfand says. "But when they were placed on a shelf with dozens of other products, most of which were brightly colored, we could get lost in the shuffle, especially in the competition for new customers."
Pam Herrema, Tri Print sales manager, says, "The strong metallic green and orange bottles make a vibrant statement on the retailer's shelf, and allow for immediate brand recognition." Previously the bottles had been screen printed, which led to inventory, warehouse space and minimum order challenges. "Nature's Gate needed more flexibility and freedom in making ingredient and/or informational changes," Herrema notes, "while creating as little waste as possible. Replacing 5,000 labels is less expensive and much more eco-friendly than replacing 5,000 bottles or over-labeling with cumbersome, block-out labels that would leave the end product looking far less appealing."
The number one challenge of this new relabeling venture was that Nature's Gate needed the "screened on the bottle" look with the flexibility of a label. Herrema says, "We chose an extremely clear film and developed a custom varnish to make the labels 'disappear' on the bottle. Screen printing was considered," she adds, "but with 36 different SKUs, the cost and time were prohibitive." By working with their ink supplier to develop specialized inks and a flexographic production method to apply those custom inks with screen-like opacity, Tri Print was able to produce the labels much faster and at much lower cost than screening.
Another challenge was to create a striking, vibrant process color image which would stand out from the strong background. Herrema says, "We needed to cancel out the bottle colors in key areas and dramatically enhance the brightness, opacity and depth of the process pictures. Nature's Gate has a very advanced in-house creative team and they provided excellent original art, but there was no way they could be able to adjust for how the orange and green base colors would affect the CMYK of the graphics." Tri Print ran preliminary press tests of three variations of each of the process color images and showed them to Nature's Gate.
It's a good thing Tri Print's operation is just a little over an hour south of Nature's Gate, because, as Setzfand notes, "With over 36 unique labels and multiple other projects occurring simultaneously, we were concerned about the extended amount of time our creative team would have to be out of the office to press-check these labels. To facilitate this process and ensure we were happy with the end results, Pam Herrema hand delivered each label right off the press, which meant we didn't have to lose several days on press. I have never worked with a vendor so committed to her client's success," she says. "This project was a success in large part due to Tri Print's superior customer service and commitment to quality and on-time delivery."
A lot of hard work went into the production. The result is that both the creative and marketing departments at Nature's Gate are happy with the major improvement and everyone from finance to the executive level is pleased with the immediacy of the sales increases. Herrema says, "Tri Print is proud to have engineered a positive solution to a significant project, which provided Nature's Gate with the superior service and quality they have come to expect."
To phase in the new label look, Nature's Gate enlisted Hangtags.com, a subsidiary of Tri Print, to come up with a strategic $2-off coupon hangtag when they started to ship the new product at the end of October and early November 2008. There was some concern about how the new packaging would be received, but the company saw a terrific month in December, up 6 percent in the organic hair care line, which was a positive impact on sales.
More info: www.natures-gate.com, www.triprint.com.