BrandWizard Technologies

Global Packaging Graphics

Streamlining and automating your organization’s global packaging graphics

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212 798 7600
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212 741 7672
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www.brandwizard.com

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................Page 3

The Problems of Global Packaging Graphics .............................................................................Page 4

The BrandWizard Solution....................................................................................................................Page 6

The BrandWizard R.O.I. ..........................................................................................................................Page 8

BrandWizard in Action
Object-oriented Packaging Graphics..............................................................................................Page 9

Loading a Master Template...............................................................................................................Page 10

Localizing a Packaging Graphic .....................................................................................................Page 11

Nutritional Facts Wizard.....................................................................................................................Page 13

Batch Processing Changes ...............................................................................................................Page 14

Automatic Beauty Shots for E-Commerce ................................................................................Page 15

Automatic Product Coding................................................................................................................Page 16

Postscript
About BrandWizard Technologies .................................................................................................Page 17
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Introduction

Executive Summary
Some of you are well aware of the significant time and
costs associated with global packaging graphics. For
others, this may be a new area of responsibility. Either
way, your organizations are spending too much time and
money in implementing and managing your global
packaging graphics. And, if you are like most companies
that we meet with, you are not achieving the results that
you desire in implementing a consistent brand message
on your packaging graphics.

This white paper details a different process. As we will

demonstrate, your organization will save significant time
and money while improving the quality and consistency
of your packaging graphics.

Our approach is innovative, but it is not new. Companies

like General Motors and Delphi Automotive Systems
have been using our software and achieving significant
return on investment for years. Some of the new
BrandWizard innovations that this paper details are
ideal for implementing and managing retail packaging
on a global basis.

In order to compete in the international marketplace,

you must develop product packaging that is specialized
for the languages, laws, and customs of each individual
market, while maintaining a unified and consistent
global brand voice. The BrandWizard Packaging System
will enable you to do this quicker and more efficiently
than previously possible.
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The Problems of Global Packaging Graphics

The problems inherent in managing your organization’s
global packaging graphics are many. The overarching
problem is that even with your high level of execution
and diligence, your current process is still too slow,
expensive and problematic.

Current processes are too slow

The success of your business is heavily dependent on
getting new products to market quickly. By doing so,
your organization is able to attain a larger market share
and higher profit margins before competitive products
move in. Unfortunately, in many instances, new product
launches are delayed while you wait for the completion
of the product’s packaging graphics.

Our research shows that products can commonly be

delayed by up to two months while you wait for
packaging graphics to be completed. In fact,
multinational corporations sometimes wait from one to
two months for a packaging graphic to be localized or
regionalized for an international market, even though the
product is currently on the shelves in the United States.

These delays are caused by insufficient communication,

lack of graphics integration and lack of graphics
automation. The fact is that when you introduce a
product to twenty different markets, your product launch
will be delayed by the time it takes your current design
resources to create and approve twenty different stand-
alone packaging graphics.

Current processes are too expensive

There are many redundancies built into creating and
managing global packaging graphics. For instance,
product copy is often keystroked into your computers
multiple times because there is little integration between
your graphic (Macintosh) computers and your back-end
databases (PC’S or UNIX machines).

These redundancies are costly. When you launch a

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product in twenty different markets, your corporation

will absorb the cost of creating twenty different stand-
alone packaging graphics even though 80% of the
graphic elements on the packaging will be the same.

But perhaps the biggest expense you will face will occur
when you need to make an across-the-board change to
some or all of your packaging graphics. This can occur
when your corporate name changes or when a
product’s attributes or formulation changes. This will
cost your company significant resources of both time
and money. It is not uncommon for a simple corporate
name change to take six months to a year to be updated
on all packaging.

Current processes are too problematic

In addition to being slow and expensive, your current
process is most likely highly problematic. Even though
many companies publish packaging standards, the
execution of those standards is usually left up to artistic
interpretation. In the case of global packaging, this
independent artistic interpretation leads to inconsistency
in your branding and packaging graphics. In many of
our global audits, we have documented significant
packaging inconsistencies and brand fragmentation, as
displayed in the illustrations on the left.

Beyond branding issues, there are significant business

and legal issues concerning the accuracy of your
packaging graphics. As we have seen through our
global audits, there are unique legal requirements for
packaging graphics in certain industries and markets.
For instance, the pharmaceutical and food and beverage
industries need to meet government requirements
regarding how product information is expressed
graphically.

For both business and legal reasons, it is of the utmost

importance that your global packaging accurately
reflects your product and brand attributes.
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The BrandWizard Solution

BrandWizard’s Global Packaging Management System
can help you to optimize your packaging artwork
design cycle by providing both your internal designers
and local vendors with global access to master artwork
templates customized to their specific regions and
access levels. The system will be made available to
your global users over a secure and password-
protected Internet connection.
Our patented Adobe Illustrator and Adobe
InDesign plug-in technology automates many of the
tedious, mechanical and often redundant elements of
your graphic design and administrative revision
processes, allowing design projects that used to take
days or weeks to be completed in mere minutes. Your
company’s corporate headquarters will have
centralized control of worldwide operations at the click
of a mouse, while your local vendors will get access to
the information they need to customize master artwork
for their local markets, ensuring efficient execution for
global branding initiatives. Enabling ready reference to
existing global templates will save you significant cycle
time in the creative process, and allow you to get your
new products to market faster.
Specific benefits include:
− Reduced collaboration time for global
packaging projects
− Increased accuracy of master brand expression
− Reduced errors in local packaging artwork
− Expedited revision and approval workflow
− Quantifiable, first-year R.O.I.
BrandWizard products are based on industry
standards and are engineered to easily integrate
into your existing relational and legacy database
architectures.

The BrandWizard Global Packaging Management

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System provides much needed functionality for

your corporation:

− It enables worldwide distribution of packaging

graphics over the Internet.

− It automatically sends master artwork

templates customized to a vendor’s region.

− It disables vendor ability to alter customized

master graphics layers, while enabling
modification of local text layers.

− It enables live uploading of new master

templates.

− It keeps detailed usage statistics.

Since it is Internet-based, any user with a Web

browser can access it regardless of whether they are
using an Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows
computer. Examples of your colleagues and vendors
who can benefit by accessing this system include:

− external designers

− external production studios

− internal colleagues

− your company’s global offices

− printers and separators

The built-in BrandWizard user database will enable

your Administrators to manage the access privileges of
all of your users, locking in total operational control.
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The BrandWizard R.O.I.

The BrandWizard Global Packaging Management
System will provide the platform for your packaging
graphics to be distributed to your colleagues and local
vendors around the world. Your company will no longer
be forced to load artwork files onto digital storage
media and ship them all over the world every time a
packaging graphic needs local modification. This will
greatly reduce the amount of money your packaging
department spends on airmail, and eliminate production
delays that result from shipping lag time. Additionally, by
improving your worldwide communications process
through expedited file sharing and automated archiving,
your packaging staff will spend much less time
collaborating with global colleagues, which means
further reduced production time and improved speed-
to-market for your products.

By using BrandWizard, your company will capitalize on

the following benefits:

− Decreased shipping costs

− Decreased lead-time for creating packaging

graphics

− Enhanced brand consistency

− Improved speed-to-market for packaged

products through graphics automation

− Improved efficiencies through Web-based

graphics collaboration

− Improved efficiencies through Web-based

packaging archiving

These savings and captured efficiencies translate into a

solid R.O.I. for the BrandWizard client; typically, a
BrandWizard system pays for itself in less than a year.
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BrandWizard in Action

Object-oriented Packaging Graphics

Traditionally, consumer packaging graphics files have been
treated as stand-alone units. Although many of the master
logos and artwork elements were common to hundreds of
SKU’s, they were locked up in separate files. Consequently,
automation of any aspect of the graphics creation and
distribution process was impossible.

The BrandWizard Global Packaging Management System

releases the untapped potential of your packaging artwork.
Every graphic layer that you upload to the system can be
used and re-purposed in many different ways to maximize
its usefulness while minimizing your cost. We call this
approach “object-oriented packaging.”

With BrandWizard, you don’t have to re-create the same

graphic over and over again. Our BrandWizard system
dynamically creates a packaging graphic from its
constituent art elements at a user’s request. One of the
best illustrations of this object-oriented approach is the
way BrandWizard uses master global templates to create
localized packaging graphics. A local user simply specifies
which SKU he or she needs, and the system serves up a
perfect localized graphic built from all local art elements
stripped into the appropriate master template. The next
two pages explain the uploading and localization procedure
in detail.
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Loading a Master Template

A centralized BrandWizard Administrator (on your staff or
ours) will create a global master template and upload it to
the system. The template will be a multilayered Adobe
Illustrator or InDesign file that has been specifically
designed for global use.

In addition to creating and uploading the master file, the

BrandWizard Administrator will also enter the business and
branding rules for how localized versions of this master
template can be created by local users around the world.
The types of rules that the Administrator can enter include
but are not limited to the following:

Imagery Options
The Administrator can select images from the BrandWizard
Image Library that are appropriate for a given master
template. Additionally, the Administrator can recommend or
constrain the use of certain images in certain situations
and regions. In some cases, the Administrator can enable
the local user to upload a new image file for the package.

Brandmark Options
In like manner, the Administrator can associate a master
template with one or more brandmarks and packaging
content options. As with imagery options, the Administrator
can set up recommendations and/or constraints for
brandmark and packaging content usage in certain
situations and regions.
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Localizing a Packaging Graphic

The BrandWizard system will facilitate the process of
localizing master templates for packaging in all of the
global markets in which your company does business.
Specifically, the system will eliminate the time- and cost-
intensive procedure of manually sending master artwork
files via airmail to various parts of the world. It will also
enable your local users to make language modifications to
specified areas of packaging artwork without allowing them
to manipulate master art elements in any way.

The following steps outline the procedure of loading a

master template and localizing the graphic using the
BrandWizard system:

Step 1a: Administrators create master Adobe Illustrator

templates with global and local layers.

− Existing master templates are broken down into

elements that are common to all markets, and
elements that are specific to a given market

− Separate layers are created for each market, each

containing all the artwork elements for that market.

Step 1b: Administrators set up the global templates rules

and constraints in the BrandWizard system.

Step 1c: The master files are uploaded to the BrandWizard

artwork server.
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Step 2: The local user selects and localizes the template.

− The local user selects the master template and

enters the information that BrandWizard needs to
complete the local packaging artwork.

− BrandWizard automatically builds a new graphic

based on the selected master template and the
local user’s choices.

Step 3: The BrandWizard server creates all other file

formats for the localized template and stores the template
and corresponding files in the Packaging Archive.

− These file formats can include but are not limited to

Adobe Illustrator (*.ai), Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) and
Encapsulated Postscript (*.eps).

Step 4: The BrandWizard server notifies the Administrator

of the newly stored template.

− The Administrator can now route the PDF

for approval.

− The internal design team can now make any

necessary additions to the artwork.

− Once approved, the Administrator can set the

status on the artwork in the Packaging Archive
to “Approved.”

Step 5: The Adobe Illustrator file can now be routed to an

offset printer for final production of your package.
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Nutritional Facts Wizard

The presentation of product ingredients on packaging
is becoming more standardized each year. In fact, in
some markets, it has become a legal requirement to
present your product’s ingredients and formulation in
a standard, government-approved design. For instance,
in the US market, the Food & Drug Administration
has stringent graphic guidelines that all food, beverage
and pharmaceutical packaging must
adhere to.

As with other aspects of global packaging, these

Nutritional Facts graphics are both time-consuming
and ripe for automation. At BrandWizard Technologies
as part of a current engagement, we are developing
a Nutritional Facts Wizard. This Wizard is similar to
our other graphic Wizards and offers the following
benefits:

− The product information, ingredients and

formulations are drawn directly from your
corporate product databases, eliminating data
input errors.

− The Nutritional Facts Wizard automatically sets

all of the product information according to
FDA graphics guidelines based on the size
available on your packaging graphic.

− The time savings of this type of automation

easily translate into dollar savings in today’s
fast-paced production environments.
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Batch Processing Changes

Since your BrandWizard Global Packaging Management
System operates as an object-oriented, database-driven
Web application, all packaging artwork changes can be
quickly updated and automatically promulgated
throughout thousands of SKU’s in a matter of hours.
This batch processing functionality allows you to make
minute or wholesale changes to packaging artwork on
the fly, rather than having to open each file individually
and change each instance manually. So the next time
you need to alter an address lock-up or pictogram
across hundreds or thousands of artwork files, you will
be able to accomplish this task in hours, instead of
weeks or months. This feature will save you time and
money while ensuring that the packaging change is
applied correctly worldwide.

The following are examples of how your company will

benefit immediately from this technology:

Corporate Name Changes

Mergers and acquisitions are a constant in today’s
business environment. Along with many other costs, a
merger will require you to update all of your combined
company’s packaging. BrandWizard will allow you to
batch process a corporate name change across all of
your packaging graphics overnight.

Image and Brandmark Changes

Product features, formulations and marketing strategies
can change very rapidly. BrandWizard can quickly batch
process any and all changes to your packaging
graphics, including but not limited to illustrations,
photographs and pictograms.
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Automatic Beauty Shots for E-Commerce

With the pervasiveness of e-commerce and corporate
product databases, there is an increasing urgency for
three-dimensional beauty shots of your product’s
packaging. The BrandWizard Packaging System
delivers on this need by automatically generating a
picture-perfect three-dimensional view of your
product’s new packaging graphic.

These beauty shots that the BrandWizard system

creates can be automatically sent to your corporate
product database or referenced in an online
e-commerce catalog. Again, as with other
BrandWizard functionality, this feature will greatly
increase your company’s speed-to-market with new
products. This feature will increase your company’s
speed-to-market and costs by eliminating the
following:

− The costly creation of a three-dimensional

comprehensive mock-up of the new package

− The time and cost it takes a photographer to

take the photograph of the new package

− The time it takes a DBA (Database

Administrator) to update your
photography database
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Automatic Product Coding

Another aspect of your packaging graphics that is
particularly well-suited for digitization and automation is
your product’s coding. By integrating your BrandWizard
Packaging System with a third-party code generating
software, you will realize two benefits.

Accuracy
The first benefit will be that your product coding will be
more accurate. Your BrandWizard Packaging System will
seamlessly integrate all of the tasks associated with
product coding. These tasks include but are not limited
to inputting the correct number, generating the correct
code and sizing and positioning the code properly on
the packaging graphic.

Speed
The second benefit will be that the process of accurately
coding your products will be a lot quicker. Product
coding is a persistent but usually overlooked bottleneck
in your global packaging process. This is partly due to
the fact that there are so many different types of codes
that are necessary in global packaging.

We have worked with the following codes in creating

global packaging systems for past clients:

− UPC (Universal Product Codes)

− EAN

− Code 39

− Code 128

By automating the production, sizing and placement of

these codes on your global packaging, you will eliminate
one of the time-consuming and expensive bottlenecks
associated with global packaging.
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Postscript

About BrandWizard Technologies

BrandWizard Technologies is a consulting firm that
offers companies a fully integrated global solution
for all of their brand management requirements. Our
Web-based custom tools work in concert with an
organization’s wide array of digital assets, empowering
employees and vendors around the world with instant
access to corporate identity materials, brand
guidelines, packaging artwork and more. Our patented
Wizards offer clients unparalleled branding
automation. No matter how large the corporation or
how complex its product offerings, BrandWizard can
harness the reach and speed of the Internet to tailor a
complete turn-key brand management solution.

The packaging illustrated here was all created with

BrandWizard Packaging Systems. For more
information on these and other BrandWizard systems,
please call or e-mail us at our corporate offices.

BrandWizard is a member of Omnicom Group, a

strategic and financial holding company that manages
a portfolio of market-leading companies in the
disciplines of advertising, marketing services, specialty
communications, interactive media, and media buying
services. Omnicom is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange (OMC).

The Nabisco brands shown in this White Paper are the property of Philip Morris
Companies whose principal wholly-owned subsidiaries are Philip Morris
Incorporated, (Philip Morris U.S.A), Philip Morris International, Inc., Kraft Foods,
Inc., Miller Brewing Company and Philip Morris Capital Corporation. Rubbermaid
is a registered trademark of Rubbermaid Home Products. Band Aid is a registered
trademark of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company, division of
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. ACDelco, GM GoodWrench, GM
and Genuine GM Parts are registered trademarks of General Motors Corporation.
Telfast is a registered trademark of Hoechst Marion Roussel. Delphi is a registered
trademark of Delphi Automotive Systems.