Blue Lab – road to 100 % performance at the P.O.S.

DS Smith extends full service offer with new creative agency.

Bringing 100 % brand impact at the point of sale – in order to reach this goal, several hurdles have to be overcome during the launch or relaunch of a product till its presence at the point of sale. With Blue Lab, the new creative agency, we now support our customers even more intensively in realizing display and packaging solutions, which optimally translate the brand DNA. The German packaging magazine “neue verpackung” spoke about the new creative offer from Blue Lab – its content and goals – with Wim Wouters, Creative Director Blue Lab and Michael Lamprecht, Sales & Marketing Director DS Smith l Packaging Division D-A-CH.

Wim Wouters und Michael Lamprecht, DS SmithLeft: Wim Wouters, Creative Director, Blue Lab
Right: Michael Lamprecht, Sales & Marketing Director, DS Smith l Packaging Division D-A-CH

neue verpackung: With Blue Lab you have further extended your full service approach. How is this new service offer positioned within DS Smith? 

Michael Lamprecht: Blue Lab is an entrance into our supply cycle approach. Our customers benefit from our 360 degree perspective and therefore from a large spectrum of goods and services, which are a key part of our range alongside the production of packaging and displays. It is not just the packaging or the display itself that is the focus here, but the entire supply cycle of the product. With Blue Lab we offer our customers comprehensive creative services in the area of graphic and creative design solutions. Our services range from creative design and development, to consumer-/retail-packaging and displays and right up to P.O.S. media. Our new design agency is what you might call the creative part in our supply cycle thinking and particularly supports the trade marketing and marketing departments of our customers.

neue verpackung: Where does Blue Lab come in?

Wim Wouters: Again and again we discover that brand expectations are not fulfilled at the P.O.S. The reason for this is that the focus at the product launch is often just on the product itself and the advertising. The packaging and in store presentation are often forgotten about. The consequence is a discrepancy between the brand experience communicated via the advertisement and the actual presentation of the product at the P.O.S. The story of the brand is often no longer recognisable to the consumer. This is what we call the "marketing blindspot". With Blue Lab we support brand manufacturers to overcome this "blindspot" and ensure the brand promise is translated into all touch points in store.  This is most successful when Blue Lab is involved as early as possible in the process, preferably right at development of the product.

neue verpackung: What does Blue Lab achieve with its 360 degree assessment?

Wouters: Blue Lab develops creative, integrated packaging concepts, which reflect the brand DNA 100 % and that can actually be manufactured. "Can be made" is our motto and sets us apart from conventional packaging agencies. We do this by bringing our specific expertise as a packaging expert to the development process. With our approach we reduce the duration of the development process and at the same time increase the effectiveness of the packaging. Our years of experience as well as our technical expertise ultimately guarantee the perfect implementation, of course, in close cooperation with the marketing departments and agencies of our customers.

neue verpackung: What does Blue Lab actually offer?

Wouters: The Blue Lab services are tailor made to the individual requirements of our customer. We always aim to achieve the highest possible brand impact, taking into account individual circumstances such as specific market requirements. We do this through informing our customers of current trends, which play an important role in their market and therefore have an impact on their products, packaging and presentation in store. We also assess the performance and effectiveness of existing packaging in order to optimise the current packaging strategies. The Blue Lab offer covers both, structural and graphical design, always considering all the touch points. We can even make packaging virtually visible to our customers, in a 3D store environment, so that together with the customer the impact of the concepts is evaluated right in the early development stage.

neue verpackung: In your experience, how can you achieve optimised consumer experience and shopper navigation?

Lamprecht: The number of different products within a product category is often unmanageable to the consumer. The increasing number of brands, which are often visually very similar, complicate the navigation by the consumers. It is therefore even more important to stand out from the crowd. However, this should not result in overloading packs with graphics or create more complex shapes.  On the contrary, shoppers want clarity, true to the motto "The Power of Less".

neue verpackung: How can you guarantee your customers the successful implementation of creative services?

Wouters: We are a team of international designers, with different expertise and experience in various disciplines. We guarantee our customers a highly efficient process across the entire supply cycle via a selection of the appropriate construction, graphics and material. We get our inspiration from trends, methods and tools from various industries, which we believe can be applied to packaging design and the P.O.S. presentation. Over the past years, we have adopted various methods for creating ideas, which allow us to continuously generate new ideas in a very short time. With our own software tools we are in a position to quickly convert these ideas into practical solutions, ensuring our customers get very early on a good impression of what their packaging and P.O.S. presentation will look like. When possible, we aim to integrate the product, the primary pack or consumer good, retail-ready packaging as well as the P.O.S. presentation and ensure the brand promise is translated in all the touch points.

Mehr Effizienz und Convenience durch die geschickte Verschmelzung von Primär- und handelsgerechter VerpackungInfobox:

Blue Lab Focus Area:

  • Insights & outsights: Future trends reimagined for packaging.
  • Strategy & direction: Packaging evaluation to highlight opportunities for maximum performance in store.
  • Ideation & creation: Ideation workshops to create bespoke packaging solutions fusing consumer and retail packs.
  • Shoppers & impact: Validating impact of packaging on shoppers through virtual reality and consumer tests.