Svensk förpackningsdesign.
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Package design constitutes an important marketing and differentiation tool in an increasingly competitive food market, particularly in the category of daily consumer goods where the turnover rate is high and the purchases are based on self-service (Hine, 1997; Spethmann, 1994; Underwood, 1999). Media fragmentation undermines the traditional marketing tools and the demands for packaging are bigger than ever. A package must not only sell a product, but also tell, through design, how the product is used and express the values that the trademark owner wishes to convey to the end customer (Underwood, 1998). The understanding of the role of packaging as a marketing tool has increased, but the initiators inside the packaging industry in Sweden still think that the Swedish packaging industry is developing slowly. They often describe Swedish packages as homogeneous and unimaginative. We have identified several problems that may explain the slow development of the packaging branch by unstructured interviews with Swedish packaging branch experts. These black spots are as follows: large-scale production of packages which leads to uniformity in design, lack of end customer focus, indication that packaging resources are not fully utilized as a marketing channel, attitudes against the costs of packaging development, design restrictions caused for example by the demand for a return system and finally, inadequate co-operation between the actors involved in relation to introducing packages. Our research question discusses who and what have the most influence on how the Swedish packages look like today. An interesting additional question is what the actors involved should do with the packages in order to utilize the marketing resources that so often are emphasized. In this paper our prime focus will be on discussing the role of packaging as a marketing tool. This means that we will discuss the communicative aspects that package design generates, rather than the logistical aspects. The actors involved in package design can be dealt into four branches: raw material producers, converters, trademark owners and package designers. This study is empirical and its material was gathered with semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. We have used the theory of design process to study the co-operation between the actors and end customers in relation to introducing packages and the influence of others factors on this. With the help of theories of differentiation, trademark communication and a theory that considers packaging an element of the marketing mix we have reflected the actors? attitudes towards packaging as a marketing tool and the use of packaging in marketing communication with the end customer. Our conclusions stress the importance of co-operation, both within and between the actors, when decisions about packaging are being made. At present the converts make the decisions concerning the form of the packages, whereas the trademark owners have the most influence on the graphics of the packages. The holistic view, which we believe to be the foundation of design methodology and which, according to us, is crucial in utilizing the marketing resources of packaging, is hence missing.