Background

The infant nutrition category is undergoing premiumization and organic popularization in the Chinese market.  

After the local infant formula safety scandal in 2008, Chinese parents have been increasingly emphasizing on baby’s health and intelligence development and meanwhile getting more sophisticated & precautious in brand/product purchase decision-making.  

Being aware of the market trend and the importance of packaging strategy in communicating brand message to consumers, Friso Global Packaging Innovation Lab was seeking packaging-related insights from the China IFT market and to understand holistic and precise cues in packaging that deliver Green and Premium quality.  

Challenge

Friso Prestige faced the challenge of enhancing the premium and green quality perceptions of packaging. The objective was to understand the packaging cues that lead to higher quality perception and the role these cues play in delivering the green premium message in Friso Prestige. To establish a universal understanding of how brands communicate premium-ness with higher quality through packaging, a packaging innovation research is needed to get clear identification of ultra-premium/premium associations and cues (e.g.: kinds of colors, coding, embossing), and highlight multisensory interactions (e.g.: Closures, openings, mechanisms, weights, sounds), ease of use and overall user experience. Research is also needed to identify firsthand understanding of consumers’ acceptance, preferences, and drivers of Premium/ultra-premium packaging, and to understand Premium and green (green/sustainable/organic) readiness in China for the IFT category. These actions could validate Premium & Green communication efficiency directly from consumer perspectives. 

Solution

Labbrand used semiotics to structure a holistic landscaping and evolution trend of Premium & Green cues through packaging in the IFT category with extensions in baby caring and the F&B market, revealing the potential opportunities for future brand packaging innovation. Through a qualitative focus group, Labbrand deep-dived into consumers’ lifestyles and values, discerned needs for fetus/baby growth, expectations, perceptions of premium-ness & sustainability, as well as their intuitive feedback toward potential Premium & Green codes by the prototypes from the semiotic study.

Result 

The premium & sustainability codes generated from semiotic and relevant to the consumer perception themes. Consumer insight provided by Labbrand reveals that Ift pack can move from the current conventional perception towards more emotional & empowering. Based on the packaging innovation research findings, Friso Prestige should leverage the more contemporary packaging concepts that provide stronger empowerment and emotional value to moms to drive premium and sustainable connections.