February 2, 2017
In the B2B world, marketing is often linked directly to sales, with features and benefits, lead generation, and data-based email and direct mail campaigns front and center. For Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB), representing both the packaging and paper sides of the industry in a single promotional campaign means we don’t have just one product to sell or an array of product lines to promote. Charged with stemming the decline on the paper side and helping grow the demand for packaging, how does the marketing campaign, launched just a year and a half ago, help create real preference for our industry’s offerings? How does it help the independent corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box industries?
After just one year on air, we saw some statistically significant improvements.
First, what is the marketing campaign? The multiplatform integrated marketing campaign, Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds™, features TV ads, print ads, digital and online advertising, and a full suite of social media channels, with the website www.howlifeunfolds.com as the hub. Based on research, the advertising was developed with a consumer audience in mind.
How do we know it’s working? In addition to immediately available marketing data on campaign performance (likes, shares, video views, website hits), P+PB tracks performance and impact using an attitude and use tracking survey. Consumer attitudes about the industry’s products and their propensity to use them were measured before and after they saw the ads, both in print and on TV. Continued measurements about consumer recall are done after each TV flight airs.
After just one year on air, we saw some statistically significant movement. Key metrics on perceptions of paper and packaging products among our target audience are shifting. They are listed below with 2015 ➝ 2016 totals, results August 2015 through May 2016. An asterisk (*) denotes significant improvement.
Personal Relevance
Among the target audience members who recall seeing campaign ads, measures related to personal relevance have held steady or improved since the start of the campaign, and some show significant improvement. Survey respondents agreed with the following statements:
- I think storing/keeping information on paper is still a valuable thing to do: 64% ➝ 78%*
- Paper-based product packaging is an essential part of everyday life: 56% ➝ 68%*
- Corrugated cardboard boxes are essential to the way I live my life today: 60% ➝ 63%
Product Quality
Attitudes among the audience members who recall seeing campaign ads have shown significant improvement around the quality of paper bags and paper-based product packaging:
- I prefer paper shopping and grocery bags to plastic: 48% ➝ 63%*
- Products that come in paper-based product packaging tend to feel more premium: 52% ➝ 66%*
- When a company decides to package its products in paper-based packaging, I think more highly of that company: 44% ➝ 63%*
Attitudes around the quality of corrugated boxes are already high and remain steady:
- I can rely on corrugated cardboard boxes to get my merchandise shipped/delivered safely: 83% ➝ 84%
P+PB continues to share results and data through an industry partners program. If you’d like to know more about the program, contact lauer@paperandpackaging.org and/or sign up for the newsletter at www.paperandpackaging.org.
Joan Sahlgren is director of public relations at the Paper & Packaging Board.
