With all the social networks and Brand Managers rushing to the World Wide Web to advertise their brands, it becomes important to recognize what product you want or have for the market.
Theodore Levitt a Professor of Marketing at Harvard said, "People don't want to buy a quarter inch drill bit, what they want is a quarter-inch hole".
With this in mind our machine group concentrates on selling the StandUp pouches we make on our machinery, rather than only the machines.
StandUp pouches have zippers, spouts, tear notches, hanger holes, brand shapes and top class printing. Customers buy products in these pouches because of these features. Manufacturers buy our StandUp pouch machines to make them. No pouch sales = No machine sales!
So in our case we would rather talk about the hole than the drill bit.
In the end we care about the Brand we are building and the emotional bond we have with our customers seeking the best, most economical StandUp pouch. We PPiT or PouchPac Innovations are the StandUp pouch universal brands and all our efforts are around providing the best pouches available.
Now let's look at the Redi-2-DrinQ™ ShotPak® products. This is the inverse of the above approach.
We all know what a Mojito or Margarita is and so here we concentrate on selling the features of the StandUp pouch.
These include positive theft control in the trade as well as in homes, where no under 21's can open the pouch without detection; easy open feature, after freezing just drink from the pouch; lightweight and of course zero carbon dioxide footprint when incinerated after use.
So in our marketing teams we are geared to deliver what we sell.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Safeguarding Success
Often as you grow a business you have brilliant moments and hope they will change the face of your company forever. This could be an idea that you patent or could be a new product developed for a niche market segment or both.
Sad to say there are people out there just waiting to take your successful ideas without paying for them.
For example patents are really personal ideas. It is a file record of a concept you alone developed and proved it works.
Selling your idea and watching it become a commercial success is a special exciting moment afforded very few entrepreneurs.
However, sad to say that you will never stop people from taking advantage of your patents and all you can do is hope the end user joins you in fighting for your rights and protecting their success with your patent against the copycat.
If USA businesses can’t protect patented ideas, especially from foreign companies, you will see a downturn in our growth long term.
Our PPi Global Sales machinery business has many patents to improve efficiency of the pouch production line, yet daily we are exposed to intellectual theft of these ideas by foreign competitors.
Our Redi-2-DrinQ Group has a similar challenge in that we opened the market segment several years ago for alcohol and water in a StandUp pouches. Now some big foreign companies are marching in with zero respect for our earlier efforts and just stealing our ideas. It is a tragedy in the making and we need consumers to react against this blatant theft of USA know how. What’s your view?
Sad to say there are people out there just waiting to take your successful ideas without paying for them.
For example patents are really personal ideas. It is a file record of a concept you alone developed and proved it works.
Selling your idea and watching it become a commercial success is a special exciting moment afforded very few entrepreneurs.
However, sad to say that you will never stop people from taking advantage of your patents and all you can do is hope the end user joins you in fighting for your rights and protecting their success with your patent against the copycat.
If USA businesses can’t protect patented ideas, especially from foreign companies, you will see a downturn in our growth long term.
Our PPi Global Sales machinery business has many patents to improve efficiency of the pouch production line, yet daily we are exposed to intellectual theft of these ideas by foreign competitors.
Our Redi-2-DrinQ Group has a similar challenge in that we opened the market segment several years ago for alcohol and water in a StandUp pouches. Now some big foreign companies are marching in with zero respect for our earlier efforts and just stealing our ideas. It is a tragedy in the making and we need consumers to react against this blatant theft of USA know how. What’s your view?
Monday, July 23, 2012
Experiential Sales
Today as we see more and more social activities via the internet, you might ask why should we reconsider the role of sales.
The first very important change is where customers are getting product information. You should use this to your advantage.
Also the sales experience is widely reported as customers become more vocal. Good or bad sales are often shared.
Today our sales efforts are based on customers having a delightful experience that makes them want more of the product.
The new term is experiential selling whereby the sales person becomes a Consultant and gets away from price discounting by offering product value.
The sales person of the future has to use:
Knowledge about the product and then sell and educate the customer by making them smarter.
Understand what the customer is looking for and how to solve it by buying your product.
Make sure the customer has all the facts to buy and use the internet plus references to empower them.
Make the customer feel they are important to you which is better experience than buying from the internet. A person to person sale.
The sale must be smooth and easy for the customer. No false promises.
Finally make sure the customer feels buying from you is the best sales experience they will have.
So stop peddling and start the experiential sale.
The first very important change is where customers are getting product information. You should use this to your advantage.
Also the sales experience is widely reported as customers become more vocal. Good or bad sales are often shared.
Today our sales efforts are based on customers having a delightful experience that makes them want more of the product.
The new term is experiential selling whereby the sales person becomes a Consultant and gets away from price discounting by offering product value.
The sales person of the future has to use:
Knowledge about the product and then sell and educate the customer by making them smarter.
Understand what the customer is looking for and how to solve it by buying your product.
Make sure the customer has all the facts to buy and use the internet plus references to empower them.
Make the customer feel they are important to you which is better experience than buying from the internet. A person to person sale.
The sale must be smooth and easy for the customer. No false promises.
Finally make sure the customer feels buying from you is the best sales experience they will have.
So stop peddling and start the experiential sale.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Think Big!
We recently attended several industry awards and were highly motivated by some of the strategies detailed by the CEO's who attended.
The main theme seemed to be "Think Big" and look for ways to move beyond economic uncertainty, by capturing market share and strengthening customer relationships.
The 'Think Big' theme and willingness to experiment with new products based on customer needs was an essential part of the success stories.
Some of these exceptional leaders believe the future is in innovation and what it does for customers.
So our PGS machinery team have developed a high speed beverage line that is getting rave reviews.
The Redi-2-DrinQ™ ShotPak® products will have an additional 6 new cocktails in the next 90 days.
So innovation and big ideas are happening in our little company. It is an exciting time.
The main theme seemed to be "Think Big" and look for ways to move beyond economic uncertainty, by capturing market share and strengthening customer relationships.
The 'Think Big' theme and willingness to experiment with new products based on customer needs was an essential part of the success stories.
Some of these exceptional leaders believe the future is in innovation and what it does for customers.
So our PGS machinery team have developed a high speed beverage line that is getting rave reviews.
The Redi-2-DrinQ™ ShotPak® products will have an additional 6 new cocktails in the next 90 days.
So innovation and big ideas are happening in our little company. It is an exciting time.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Great Brands
A brand is much more than a product or a business.
The definition I like the most is that a brand is the overall experience that consumers have with a company.
So our machinery business brand and its success are totally dependent on innovative solutions, trust and great customer service.
The Redi-2-DrinQ™ beverage brands depend on innovative products, effective communication on use and sustainable low carbon dioxide footprint pouches.
So these two brands, machinery and beverages reflect the personality or identity of the business.
We try to offer a whole new experience to the consumer rather than offer a "me too" machine or copycat beverage.
We continually gauge the customer or the consumer needs and take the appropriate decisions to solve their ìmust haveî requirement. Thus we constantly update our machines and introduce new products in our beverage lines.
Customers demand change like faster speeds or more flexibility on machines and consumers want healthy drinks, which requires us to innovate on a continuous basis.
Embracing the right strategies means we must not stretch our resources but focus on what can be done in-house and what can be leveraged outside by outsourcing it to a partner.
So we believe our brands know-what customers want long before the customer knows.
Our machinery group understands the importance of having strategic business partners who understand their requirements and respect their IP patents and bring domain experience to the table and thus enhance brand loyalty.
To ensure our brands are recognized we invest in good people, processes and partnerships and enjoy having winning brands.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Behavior and Your Health
More and more people are looking at their bodies, their lifestyle, their eating and their health habits. The Obama health care plan with many future restrictions on easy access to medical assistance has made many of us aware that we are going to have to depend less on Doctors as we grow old.
However, in this technological world, key health care metrics can now be monitored daily with the help of Technology.
Those of us who are over 30 should be aiming at getting into shape and using our 25 to 30 years of age profile as the target.
The technology people have made available for home use several methods to daily track your statistics:
- Body weight / try as your goal to get back to the weight you were at twenty-five
- Blood pressure / check with your Doctor but 120 over 80 seems to be the norm
- Mood metrics / uses a scale of 0 to 4 to score optimism level; agitation level; energy level
- Physical activity / using a sensor enabled Body Media band tracks your steps over the day. Your aim should be 10,000 minimum
Food log app records the calories and nutrition in what you eat. Don't exceed the 2000 level. Number of cigarettes smoked etc.
Zeo Sleep Manager has an embedded sensor that you wear as a headband which records your REM and deep sleep times.
Now with all this information you can see where you are heading in regards to expected life span. It takes some serious money to do this and get all the results to your Smart phone, but the results could help improve your quality of life.
The point being that just training, running, lifting weights without a goal might not be enough. According to various food magazines our food today is so different and technically unhealthy compared to 50 years ago that it is essential that you monitor eating habits. So get a set of health goals and enjoy yourself.
As regards the technology out there look at 'fitbit.com' it tracks calories, steps walked and sleep hours.
'Body Media' worn around the arm for 24 hours a day tracks 5000 data points per minute.
'Withings scale' tracks weight, BMI and lean and fat mass and sends it to your phone.
With all of the above on your mind, settle down and select your favorite pouch of Redi-2-DrinQ ShotPak® cocktail add soda water over ice and enjoy a Spritzer cocktail.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Intellectual Property an
American Code of Business
Intellectual Property or IP is often a company's most valuable asset. Packaging is intimately involved in IP and early on in my career in South Africa, it was deemed of absolute importance that each brand retain its own image and structure, meaning, time and time again never change a component, given that many people were illiterate and thus the product's image and color was the only recognition point.
Package design can be the subject of trade dress protection or even copyright protection and patents are used to protect structures, designs and how to make the product.
Thus trade dress, copyright and a patent can be what differentiates your product from another and more important consumer recognition.
Our PGS machine group has many patents around machine improvements in pouch making. Huge savings are involved with the use of these patents.
The Redi-2-DrinQ ShotPaQ™ companies use trade dress IP to protect the overall look of a pouch package, including its size, shape, materials and label.
It can be infringed if someone copies it so closely that "the public is likely to be confused about who made the product". This is considered unfair competition and could cost the loss of product sales.
The Redi-2-DrinQ ShotPak® brands are patented and pouch trade dress is protected. Some of our customer pouches have the same protection.
It nevertheless is a surprise to us when major Corporations have total disregard for IP and pay lip service to an authors expression of an idea.
We have recently seen a patented pouch design copied 100% and worse the initials of the product owner's company also copied to further confuse the public into believing the new product is part of the original. This is easily defined as IP theft.
So what can be done? First is to go the legal route and then in today's social experience world is let as many consumers know that the little guys idea is being stolen, and maybe ask for support by not buying any of the offending party's product lines until they agree to change.
Sort of guilty verdict by the masses and showing the offending Corporation we are not supporting your lack of morality any more.
This is pretty deep, and in the old days the public hardly ever knew of these infringements. So using the world wide web and all the social sites we are considering a web page to list these offending large Corporations and their supporters, who have a total disrespect for IP in the USA. We will appeal to consumers to stop buying any of their products.
Let me know your comments.
Package design can be the subject of trade dress protection or even copyright protection and patents are used to protect structures, designs and how to make the product.
Thus trade dress, copyright and a patent can be what differentiates your product from another and more important consumer recognition.
Our PGS machine group has many patents around machine improvements in pouch making. Huge savings are involved with the use of these patents.
The Redi-2-DrinQ ShotPaQ™ companies use trade dress IP to protect the overall look of a pouch package, including its size, shape, materials and label.
It can be infringed if someone copies it so closely that "the public is likely to be confused about who made the product". This is considered unfair competition and could cost the loss of product sales.
The Redi-2-DrinQ ShotPak® brands are patented and pouch trade dress is protected. Some of our customer pouches have the same protection.
It nevertheless is a surprise to us when major Corporations have total disregard for IP and pay lip service to an authors expression of an idea.
We have recently seen a patented pouch design copied 100% and worse the initials of the product owner's company also copied to further confuse the public into believing the new product is part of the original. This is easily defined as IP theft.
So what can be done? First is to go the legal route and then in today's social experience world is let as many consumers know that the little guys idea is being stolen, and maybe ask for support by not buying any of the offending party's product lines until they agree to change.
Sort of guilty verdict by the masses and showing the offending Corporation we are not supporting your lack of morality any more.
This is pretty deep, and in the old days the public hardly ever knew of these infringements. So using the world wide web and all the social sites we are considering a web page to list these offending large Corporations and their supporters, who have a total disrespect for IP in the USA. We will appeal to consumers to stop buying any of their products.
Let me know your comments.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Future Is Remember Your P's
Most of the electronic and social media companies were started by Entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are fortunate today in that there are a lot of smart people out there with unique skills that they can hire.
For sure to be successful you need the talented people in place ready and able to fix the Entrepreneur's mistakes!
The new Disruptive Technology is how entrepreneurs handle talent management and how they teach the Five P's.
Talented staff is taught the five P's all over again. Who would have thought these P's would be so important 50 years after they were first introduced.
PEOPLE - ensure that all employees know how they contribute to the success of the company. Every employee must be able to contribute and talented Managers know this or they get rid of them.
PRODUCT - it must fill a need. It can be unique or mundane but it must be needed. Customers must need or want it and of course the more frequently the better. Think of the cola market. Why Coke over Pepsi? Some claim it is the "thirst satisfaction" solution others claim it's "a modern fun drink solutions" all the time. What's your need "flavor" or "action & fun"?
PLACE - so much today with social networks is about where we can get the product? Can it be used anywhere? Why wait for it? It must be freely available whereever the consumer is. Think aspirin for example, available in stores, pharmacies, airport stores, vending machines all over the place in all types of packages and price points. Is your product available everywhere?
PROMOTION - no question print advertising in magazines and the press is long gone. It's all about social media today. How can the company find out where the consumer is so they can be reached with a specific promotion? GPS tracking is going to grow beyond all recognition. Think your cell phone, car radio, home computer, credit card payments and tracking devices in shoes and on your body. In the future with that information, a brand owner can design specific promotions around a consumer's needs.
PRICE - used to be number one! Why pay $0.50 for water in a chain store, $1.29 at the service station and $3 at a sports game, all for the same product? It's the 'need it now' syndrome. So how can the manufacturer get top dollar all the time for their products? The answer is in the other four P's.
Business plans have to be written about availability, package size, convenience, social recognition and recommendation and, of course, enjoyment when using the product. Just this past month Coke announced it made an error with its new white can replacing the old traditional red can. The new white can became confused with Diet Coke’s white can with devastating confusion in the marketplace. Result, new white can gone! Tropicana had similar confusion with a design that made this Premium product look like a store brand and resulted in consumer rejection. What was the result? Bring back the old printed package.
So for 2012 and beyond Brand owners have to mind their P's.
People
Product
Place
Promotion
Price
A very successful 2012 to all our supporters.
Entrepreneurs are fortunate today in that there are a lot of smart people out there with unique skills that they can hire.
For sure to be successful you need the talented people in place ready and able to fix the Entrepreneur's mistakes!
The new Disruptive Technology is how entrepreneurs handle talent management and how they teach the Five P's.
Talented staff is taught the five P's all over again. Who would have thought these P's would be so important 50 years after they were first introduced.
PEOPLE - ensure that all employees know how they contribute to the success of the company. Every employee must be able to contribute and talented Managers know this or they get rid of them.
PRODUCT - it must fill a need. It can be unique or mundane but it must be needed. Customers must need or want it and of course the more frequently the better. Think of the cola market. Why Coke over Pepsi? Some claim it is the "thirst satisfaction" solution others claim it's "a modern fun drink solutions" all the time. What's your need "flavor" or "action & fun"?
PLACE - so much today with social networks is about where we can get the product? Can it be used anywhere? Why wait for it? It must be freely available whereever the consumer is. Think aspirin for example, available in stores, pharmacies, airport stores, vending machines all over the place in all types of packages and price points. Is your product available everywhere?
PROMOTION - no question print advertising in magazines and the press is long gone. It's all about social media today. How can the company find out where the consumer is so they can be reached with a specific promotion? GPS tracking is going to grow beyond all recognition. Think your cell phone, car radio, home computer, credit card payments and tracking devices in shoes and on your body. In the future with that information, a brand owner can design specific promotions around a consumer's needs.
PRICE - used to be number one! Why pay $0.50 for water in a chain store, $1.29 at the service station and $3 at a sports game, all for the same product? It's the 'need it now' syndrome. So how can the manufacturer get top dollar all the time for their products? The answer is in the other four P's.
Business plans have to be written about availability, package size, convenience, social recognition and recommendation and, of course, enjoyment when using the product. Just this past month Coke announced it made an error with its new white can replacing the old traditional red can. The new white can became confused with Diet Coke’s white can with devastating confusion in the marketplace. Result, new white can gone! Tropicana had similar confusion with a design that made this Premium product look like a store brand and resulted in consumer rejection. What was the result? Bring back the old printed package.
So for 2012 and beyond Brand owners have to mind their P's.
People
Product
Place
Promotion
Price
A very successful 2012 to all our supporters.
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