Ahead of the Curves

Schering-Plough Speaks to Female Shoppers in New Category-Leading Packages

by Ron Romanik

"Are you gellin'?" "I'm gellin' like Magellan."

So goes a memorable catch line from a recent advertising campaign for shoe gel inserts by Dr. Scholl's, a brand that has become a household name through years of careful brand evolution. The company that cares for the brand, Schering-Plough, may not be a household name, but they have many brands that certainly are. Schering-Plough is a global science-based healthcare company headquartered in Kenilworth, NJ, that has grown its portfolio of prescription and non-prescription drug therapies into many market-leading positions.

The Schering-Plough packaging departments for over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and personal care products handle a wide variety of packaging projects that vary in length from a couple of weeks to a couple of years. The Schering-Plough packaging philosophy is to convey to the consumer that the product inside is high-quality, advanced, and efficacious. The recent introduction of the Dr. Scholl's for Her line showcases this philosophy with category-leading packages that border on luxurious.

"We let the consumer tell us what will satisfy their needs," says Ken Kaminski, director of integrated commercialization at Schering-Plough. Kaminski's responsibilities include package graphics development, project management, and executional excellence for the Consumer Health Care division. Kaminski says his staff works hard to avoid package designs with a very short shelf life, so to speak. To avoid introducing these short-lived packages on the market, it is critical to connect with the shopper on all consumer touch points.

"First and foremost, we listen to the consumer," echoes Mike Tune, director of packaging science and technology at Schering-Plough. Tune says the great success of their Coppertone continuous spray package and product is a good recent example of Schering-Plough staying out in front of the crest of the wave. The new package was also a lesson for the future because it showed unequivocally how consumers are demanding more convenience.

Tune explains that Schering-Plough performs a variety of research they collect under Research Guidance Studies. They might use mall intercept questionnaires as much as traditional focus groups to get at the motivations of their target shoppers. Plus, there's the wealth of knowledge inside Schering-Plough that is resourceful in developing specific design strategies. "We base a lot of it on experience, on what we already know about the segment," says Tune.

James Brady, principal packaging engineer on the Dr. Scholl's for Her line, explains that while their packages may border on luxuriousness to have shelf impact, it's never luxury for luxury's sake. Instead, the packaging structure and graphics departments work in parallel to conjure consumer confidence. Heidi Graham, senior packaging engineer for the Coppertone product line, says that the packaging departments never lose sight of their primary goal: making their customers feel like they're getting their money's worth. "We're going for the efficacy message," Graham says.

Dr. Scholl's new curves

The Dr. Scholl's for Her products are revolutionary because they are designed specifically for women's feet and for shoe shapes that women wear. Tune says that this was the next logical step in a category that has evolved quickly in recent years. The for Her products comprise an attractive line of products and packages that includes a range of insoles, inserts, lotions, balms, and treatments.

The Dr. Scholl's for Her packaging has a uniform hierarchy of brand and product information, and a uniform color palette. Softer curves and contouring cuts create a more feminine look, and the packaging itself is slimmer and less bulky-but not radically so. "I think there's more subtlety to the design for that feminine impression," Brady observes. "It's very hard to put a definitive finger on any one thing. It all comes together as a unit."

Schering-Plough knows aisle browsers like to test the product before buying, and the gel shoe products have holes both in back and in front for an ample pinch area accented by a "Try Me!" teaser. However, Brady notes that there is a balance to be struck between the amount of area to offer good access and the amount that some consumers might feel comfortable with.

Through research, Schering-Plough designers have learned that, in this case, some of their retail store customers might not view more as more. A large testing or touching area might be uncomfortable for customers who worry that too many other shoppers have touched the same product and it might not be perfectly clean.

Overall, Brady and his team tried to use less packaging on the Dr. Scholl's for Her line, or at least reduce the gauge of the plastic. The gel insole products are packaged in a very clear APET with offset printing. Tune says that the clear strategy to show off the attractive Dr. Scholl's for Her products inside. It's also Brady's job to strike the balance between product protection and ease of opening. "One thing we've done is to reduce the amount of sealing area," says Brady.

Tune emphasizes that though the category is moving toward sleekness in design and materials, Schering-Plough is not necessarily trying to emulate a cosmetics level of tactile experience. However, Tune notes that consumers notice if you do not keep up with the competition, from big and small competitors, as even the smallest upstart companies have access to more design possibilities today. "The trend that I'm seeing is a lot of stock packages that have a custom look to them," says Tune. "Today's consumer is starting to expect a lot of personality in their packages." Dr. Scholl's packaging succeeds, says Tune, by having a lot of textures and feels that communicate quality.

New tones for Coppertone

Kaminski says Schering-Plough is in the process of reorganizing Coppertone lines that had become somewhat disjointed. Over the years, the company would introduce individual SKUs for specific target consumers or use situations, and the packaging reflected that. The current redesign was a well-planned campaign that relies heavily on systematic, consistent architecture to help customers shop the category, and also help the package designers design.

"We're very sophisticated about it," says Kaminski, who is pleased with the way the Coppertone graphic communication flows on the new packaging. "We were very careful that we made changes only where required. Now we have ownership over the architecture. Once you get that done, it helps you bring new products to market."

Graham says that ethnographic studies can reveal consumer feelings that may be surprising but cannot be overlooked. It seems that a certain segment of consumers reserve sunscreen spray application for "specific-use" situations, such as when participating in sports activities, because they would still prefer lotions in most situations.

Coppertone's traditional lotion bottles are iconic with their wide flat panels that are easy to squeeze and a waist that's easy to hold, but there's already equity in the continuous spray aluminum can packages. When the cans launched they had a unique profile on shelf and a twist-lock cap innovation to set them apart. The cap connects with the consumer by eliminating the hassle of an overcap, saving time when using, reducing accidental discharge, and offering a low profile that is easy to hold and use. "We feel we have the best performance," says Graham. "The cap doesn't get in the way, it's recognizable-there's equity there."

Schering-Plough has recently introduced a new package and product to one-up themselves in the spray sunscreen category. The new lotion-style continuous spray is hoping to be a category leader yet again by combining the popularity of the sprays with the popularity of lotions. The new "Quick Cover" lotion sprays took a great deal of effort in fine tuning the performance of the spray action. To create the optimal performance required the correct combination of valve, propellant, cap, and lotion viscosity. "It was very involved," says Graham. "We're hoping to meet their needs with a lotion that's easy to apply. We don't want them to have an additional learning curve."

It seems the "for Her" concept may be able to extend to lines in other Schering-Plough products, as it has done with this Lotrimin formula.

Bringing it together on shelf

Tune agrees, saying, "We want the package to facilitate the way the consumer should use the product." This reflects both on safety of use and more frequent use of the product. More frequent use, hopefully, also means more product used and more repeat sales. Graham sees this as part and parcel of the Schering-Plough's package design strength in evolving each product's "sense of quality."

One way to touch consumers is to guide them into your products at retail with color strategies that grab shoppers' eyes in both broad and specific ways. The new consistent position of the Coppertone logo and the consistent use of dark blue closures identify an shelf area as Coppertone-dominant. "The cap helps to tie all those in, so you have a consistent block on shelf," says Graham.

Claritin is an interesting story about bringing a prescription drug into the OTC market, which Schering-Plough has more than a little experience with. That package design project pulled from a number of sources, including television advertising and prescription bottle visual cues.

"We leveraged what equity we could," says Kaminski of the Claritin launch, which was over a year in development. "We knew we had to establish a brand that would last a long time." Kaminski explains that a lot of brand colors on Schering-Plough packages are actually blends of two colors, and that the success of the instantly recognizable Claritin boxes can be partly attributed to the luscious blues of the sky and the greens of the grass. Kaminski emphasizes that senior management at Schering-Plough is often intimately involved in approving the brand messages on the packaging. "We take packaging very, very seriously," Kaminski says.