Global Trendsetters

Trans-Atlantic Media

A European Perspective Emphasizes the Importance of Packaging for Enticing Movie and Music Lovers

By Elizabeth Toppin

George Bernard Shaw described Great Britain and the United States as two countries divided by a common language, and this is also true in the case of packaging. When it comes to packaged media, Europe, including the U.K., differs from the U.S. on a number of levels.

The consensus about the primary reason for this among many package design and manufacturing companies, somewhat obviously, is that the U.S. is a more homogenous market while Europe comprises a number of different regions, cultures, and languages. This fact combined with the reign of the mass market retailers, means that in the U.S., much packaging is geared to high volumes and low prices. In Europe, by contrast, smaller runs mean there is more scope—and demand—for packaging that concentrates more on materials and esthetics.

Similarly, the European consumer attitude has traditionally been more of a "library" approach as opposed to the more "throwaway" attitude in the U.S. This was also reflected in the earlier adoption of multi-disc sets in Europe, where consumers have historically been more likely to buy television shows on CDs and special releases of movies that have bonus CDs with special features.

Reviving a fading market

The world of prepackaged entertainment is in a state of uncertainty, with plummeting margins and threats from alternative content carriers such as downloading and solid state. Paradoxically, however, this has meant that, in many cases, packaging has become increasingly important, especially for older, back-catalog content. Music, feature films, and television programs are being issued and reissued in premium and special packages.

Italy's Pozzoli design firm relishes the opportunities in European entertainment packaging to experiment with printing, finishing, and formats.

At package design company Burgopak, with branches in the U.S. and Europe, the views are consistent on both sides of the Atlantic. According Jeremy Billy, President of Burgopak LLC in Massachusetts, "With music, particularly, the rise of the iPod and downloading of music has meant that packaging is useful to add value to a product—good, creative packaging reaffirms a good purchase. This is not a new concept in Europe; but in the U.S., more companies are realizing that they can charge more for a product with special packaging."

Burgopak's innovative slide-out package is used for a number of applications besides media, but in Europe it is currently helping to launch the TDK recordable/rewritable Blu-ray Disc™. (Blu-ray is competing with HD DVD to be the next generation hi-definition portable movie format). This TDK package was developed in conjunction with Danish company Scanavo's SteelBook metal packaging solution.

At Scanavo's SteelBook division, sales and marketing director Jeanette Sølling explains how metal is becoming accepted as a standard material for "premium"—not "special"—packaging. "We are seeing some premium branding for new release movies, which we believe will make the content more valuable to the consumer, and help to combat things like downloading and video on demand," Sølling says. The premium SteelBook was designed as a high-volume product capable of automation, and initially took off in Europe in the multi-disc format. Now, says, Sølling, they are receiving bigger orders in the U.S. and a number of day-one releases are expected later this year from major Hollywood studios.

Crafting collectible packages

"The U.K. and France in particular appear to be the real collector markets," says Rick Bluett of Burgopak's German division. "We did a video pack for Arsène Lupin (a movie about a jewel thief) and the promotion press pack included the DVD and a pocket watch in a leather case. This created a huge amount of interest in the title itself and the DVD was sold out before it hit the shops—that was largely due to packaging."

Burgopak believes the European market has many more collectible-minded consumers who are willing to pay a premium price.

"Catalog titles make the money for the studios and that's where the budget is," Sølling emphasizes. "They can charge more for titles and they have more time to spend on design and artwork. In contrast, new releases have tighter budgets and shorter lead times."

This sentiment is underlined by John Stanley, managing director, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Ltd (U.K.). The studio chose the SteelBook format for its "Cinema Reserve" prestige film series. "In a world where we continually search for new ways to excite DVD buyers, packaging can play a big role in driving someone to buy a film they might not have seen before, or even to get them to repurchase a great film they already owned on VHS," Stanley explains.

A tiered packaging approach

In contrast to the movie business, downloading for the music industry is a current competitor rather than a potential threat, and Universal Music in Europe has devised a three-tier system for new-release CDs. This may be seen by many as a way of reviving falling sales but, according to Universal Music spokesperson Selina Webb, flagging CD sales are a myth. "About 90% of music sales are still physical," says Webb.

The Universal Music three-tier structure is to take into account that the vast majority of consumers still buy physical media, but also to adapt to changing methods of buying music. The basic disc with a simple cardboard case is priced on a par with downloaded music. The second tier or "standard" disc is now packaged in the Super Jewel Box, which is a more robust version of the traditional case.

The battle between Blu-ray Disc™ and HD DVD has reached a packaging truce, at least, with differentiation by color—blue for Blu-ray Discs and red for HD DVDs.

The third or top tier of products is for serious collectors and fans and provides more elaborate, added-value packaging in a limited edition release that harks back to the days of album covers for 12" vinyl records. "These are aimed at serious fans and collectors, and have done very well," Webb says. "The extra features provided can include DVDs with concert and studio footage."

Jan Schuurs at Super Jewel Box explains how the case came to be adopted by Universal following several years of discussions and reluctance on the music label's part. "The declining fortunes of the audio CD and the growth of music downloads made them rethink packaging," Schuurs explains. Universal used many test-market panels in several European cities, where consumers sitting around a table were given a variety of package types and asked to choose their favorite. "Now, there is international interest in this idea, from New Zealand to Canada and the U.S.," says Schuurs.

Differentiation at every level

While the battle between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD has raged behind the scenes for some time, packaging developers have waited to see what the format developers are likely to want. The guidelines have now been drawn up and the basic package has been decided. The new packages will be plastic, "Amaray-style" cases similar to the current standard DVD package, though they will be slightly smaller with more rounded edges. The industry has also agreed to go with a blue case for Blu-ray Discs and red cases for HD DVD.

Already trans-Atlantic differences are apparent, according to Sean Maddox, marketing manager of AGI Amaray in the U.K. "The Blu-ray Disc package in Europe is different in a number of key aspects—it has a thicker spine, more booklet capacity, can take trays for second discs, has a more rigid, 'premium' feel to it, and has the Red Tag security feature. The HD DVD story is still unfolding."

Why a special European package? "More importance is placed on packaging in Europe generally across all consumer industries, and media is no exception," says Maddox. He explains that Europe has historically used more special colors than the U.S., along with gold and silver, and incorporated finer detail.

Also in Europe, more second, bonus discs tend to be used in Europe than the U.S., and the new Blu-ray Discs may even be bundled with a standard DVD version of that title. "As far as next generation media goes, the key thing at the moment is to market the product as unconfusingly as possible," Maddox explains. "The new formats need differentiation."

Distribution packaging options

Another company with feet on both sides of the Atlantic is Univenture, traditionally involved in binders and sleeves for recordable discs and promotional material. While staying away from single disc packaging for new formats, the company has added its special multi-disc touch to solutions for both of them. That involves the standard pack with a slightly wider spine and rings for binding in up to six sleeves.

"Our focus is not on single disc packaging for pre-recorded media, as this is a crowded segment of the market," says David Coho, director of sales at Univenture. "Despite the higher capacity of these discs, at some point the studios will need room for extra discs: promotional discs, movie trailers, soundtracks, etc."

Coho also has a strong presence in packaging for the largely European phenomenon of cover mounts. Once used often for floppy disks attached to magazines for distributing demo versions of video games, they gained in popularity and moved to music CDs and DVDs. Today, it is almost commonplace to find European newspapers and magazines with DVD videos of major movie titles attached.

Coho explains that in the U.S. magazines tend to be subscription and come in the mail, which provides its own challenges for packaging any discs that come with it. In Europe, magazines are distributed mainly on newsstands and are more of an impulse purchase. "There are a lot of jewel cases and Amaray cases taped to publications," Coho explains. "There is also a demand for adhesive tamper-evident sleeves with disc graphics that can complement the magazine cover and will also be visible on the publication when the disc is removed."