In the race to get products onto the shelf and into shoppers’ carts, coming in second isn’t an option. As retailers work to better leverage and differentiate their private brand offerings in today’s competitive landscape, many are realizing that you can have the perfect product, branding strategy and package design—but if it takes too long to execute, it means missed opportunity with the customer and ultimately missed revenue for the retailer.
That’s the challenge Daymon’s Creative Services team recently set out to help its branding and packaging design partners overcome.
“The idea that a product can take a year to come to market is a thing of the past,” says Aimee Becker, Vice President of Strategic Services for Daymon. “A common concern we are hearing from retailers is that they need to move faster through the product development process to drive profits. They recognize that every day a product isn’t available can translate into thousands of dollars of lost revenue. So we took a step back and looked at our design processes to see where there might be opportunities to improve.”
Becker goes on to explain that the idea wasn’t to rush the actual creative process, but rather to find potential process-related efficiencies. “We looked at things like ensuring we were connecting with the right stakeholders at the right times, holding ourselves and our retailer partners accountable to timelines, and even becoming more efficient in meetings and on calls. All of these things add up because every day matters,” she says.
Another change the Creative Services team made was to create project hubs for each customer. The goal was to establish a connection between the design, production and prepress teams, and the customer. “This helps us link all elements of the process from start to finish, so we don’t run into unforeseen challenges, like creating a design that you can’t execute on the chosen packaging substrate,” explains Becker.
“It also allows us to better leverage our industry knowledge and experience,” Becker continues. “Unlike most design agencies that work primarily with national brands, we’ve been executing private brand package design for over 30 years and have successfully executed thousands of SKUs across all categories in the store. We understand category dynamics and have an appreciation for how designs might play out on the shelf.”
Thanks to changes like these, the Creative Services team has helped cut the design process for the typical retailer partner from 18-20 weeks down to just 12 weeks—and in some cases, even 8. “We’re working toward the same goal of getting the product to market. Because when our retailer partners succeed, we succeed,” says Becker.
To learn more about Daymon’s branding and package design services, contact Aimee Becker, Vice President of Strategic Services, at abecker@daymon.com.