You can get a “first look” at one of FPA’s key 2015 research projects at the Fall Executive Conference. It is the Brand Value Study: How Flexible Packaging Adds Value to Brands. It delivers an in-depth look at communication targets and messages about the positives of flexible packaging.

The study brings insights from brand owners, FPA member sales and marketing staffs, UPC scanner data and consumers. Integrated into a “big picture,” the study is expected to give FPA members insights to information flow among the brand influencers. It will also indicate what content should be most effective in creating packaging opinions among those audiences.

The study is done by Gibbs-rbb, a strategic communication consulting firm; it focuses on the space between consumers and manufacturing and processing companies.

In the FPA study, research taps several levels to paint an integrated picture of communication needs; it includes:

• Insights from FPA member company sales and marketing teams; it helps define issues that brand owners see in packaging.
• Information from brand owners themselves to determine their “take” on consumer-related packaging issues.
• UPC scanner data to explore trends and correlations by unit price and total sales in selected consumer product categories
• Consumers research that points to perceptions and purchase decisions around packaging. It also examines end-of-life issues and the relative values consumers see for flexible packaging.

The research builds on emerging communication patterns; they involve brand owners, consumers, retailers, non-government organizations and government bodies. The patterns are more complex than the traditional value chain. By understanding it better, FPA members can better target messages to those who influence package format.