(excerpt)
by Joey Tamer and Lonon Smith
Some things are fine in a plain,
brown wrapper. Multimedia isn't one of them. Packaging is the primary sales
agent for a multimedia title. Developers then should make certain that their
publishers are experts in packaging and merchandising. What a retail buyer sees
on the shelf is critical in moving a product.
Changing and conflicting demands for box, sleeve and label design make it critical
that publishers work with an imaging specialist who can create a company image,
one that effectively cuts across a product line, and a packaging specialist
who can complete the packaging of the product for retail.
The front of the product box has to be a ten-second attention grabber. It has
to capture the attention of the customer from at least twenty feet away, and,
within ten seconds, convert the buyer's scanning into enough interest that he
will pick up the box and turn it over to the back panel. And the spine of the
box should be just as compelling as possible, given how rare "face-up" shelf
positioning can be. The back panel is a twenty-second sell, twenty seconds of
the browsers' attention to get that potential consumer to consider purchasing
the product. Distributors have been known to accept a new media title for distribution
on the condition that the packaging be re-worked to their satisfaction. They
will carry the product only when they are sure it will sell off the shelf.
The same's true with catalog sales. This same box design becomes the "thumbnail"
visual in CD-ROM and software mail-order catalogs. It has the same ten seconds
to stop a customer's scanning of the catalog long enough to get the potential
buyer to read the product description.
As the entertainment channels (the video and audio stores) become more active,
multimedia packaging will shift to fit into their pre-existing shelves and racks.
That means CD-ROMs in packaging that resembles video cassettes and audio CDs.
That means following the audio CD trend of smaller "jewel case" packaging. The
"long box" of audio CDs is already obsolete. Audio retailers aren't going to
refurbish their stores to accommodate awkwardly-sized multimedia CDs. Video
stores prefer a box size similar to those of video cassettes.
Publishers and packaging designers are justifiably worried that the jewel case
does not give them enough space to effectively merchandise their product which
lacks a preview mechanism like radio. We bring a different mind-set to multimedia
than we do to buying a jewel-box audio CD for instance. We may have heard the
music or we like the artist. The current multimedia market is still too small
to justify the cost of full-page advertising for any but the highest profile
products. So there is no "preview" mechanism, no movie trailer or commercials
for multimedia. With a CD-ROM in a jewel-box, we're left with "so what is it?"
This lack of standardization for packaging CD-ROM titles spreads across the
channels. There are no software box standards, no strict standards in bookstores.
Compton's New Media attempted for years to set a standard with its box design,
but so far no standard has been accepted industry-wide.
CD-ROMs sold in bookstores should, obviously, fit on bookshelves. Packages designed
for bookstores, if larger than the accepted measurements, may find themselves
in an oversized book display near the back of the store. Since bookstores are
beginning to carry CD-ROM titles inserted inside a pocket in the book itself,
the product's box itself may not be used. It's important to design a compelling
sleeve and label for the CD. This sleeve and label design can also be effective
if the product is bundled.
These packaging standards (or lack of them) for the various industries affect
the design. Software stores and bookstores are still somewhat flexible in the
kinds of boxes and packaging they will accept. The audio and video industries
aren't. If multimedia wants to move into these channels, its packaging will
have to adapt.
Excerpted from:
Convergence: Constructing Media Deals in Multimedia, Film, Television, Music,
Books & Software by Joey Tamer and Lonon Smith. Book available from the author
($35) at joey @ joeytamer.com (www.joeytamer.com); 310/581 0016. Joey Tamer consults
to CEOs and their investors to increase valuation, ROI and market dominance
in their technology and Internet companies, and to reinforce the due diligence
on potential acquisitions and investments. Lonon Smith is a veteran screen and
television writer, as well as a former fellow in screenwriting at the American
Film Institute's Center for Advanced Film Studies.
Joey
Tamer refines the vision, strategy and success of companies --
Fortune 1000, capitalized start-ups and investment fund.
www.joeytamer.com
(310) 245 5310 joey @ joeytamer.com