Introduction to packaging

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DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND
MANAGEMENT STUDIES
PROGRAMME: Bsc. MARKETING
COURSE TITLE: PACKAGING AND BRANDING
COURSE CODE: MAMA213
TOTAL CREDITS: 3
BY
NGANG PEREZ (MAJOR 1)
PAN AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT
-WEST AFRICA (PAID-WA) BUEA
LECTURE NOTES FOR PACKAGING AND
BRANDING

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WEEK 1:
SESSION 1/CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PACKAGING
1.0 Brief Introduction:
Physical products require packaging to protect them from damage and to present both the product
and its brand attractively to a target group of consumers. Packaging provides a surface upon which
to communicate information about the product and the brand, and as such, it is an essential element
of product branding. Through the use of text, images and other communication devices, packaging
can articulate the attributes and benefits of a product to consumers. Packaging also works to convey
the brand characteristics that will position it within the minds of consumers and that will ultimately
differentiate it from its competitors.
Packaging is often the first point of contact that a consumer has with a brand, so it is hugely
important that it initially draws their attention and also quickly conveys the messages that both
present and support the brand. Communicating a brand message extends beyond the information
and visual content of packaging. The physical materials used for packaging products also
importantly contribute to the overall brand statement projected. A brand cannot be positioned as a
high quality or luxury product if its packaging is fragile and low quality. There has to be a direct
correlation between the packaging’s physical attributes and the messages that the brand seeks to
project.
But what is packaging? How best can we understand its evolution from man’s primitive time to
present modern day? This chapter will explore some general concepts and describe the evolution
of packaging.
1.1 Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, students should be able to;
• Define what is packaging from different perspectives
• Explain the origins of packaging
• Describe how the industrial revolution affected packaging
• Assess packaging and modern society complexities
1.2 Definition of Key Terms
(a) Packaging: Packaging is a coordinated system made up of any materials of any nature, to be
used for preparing goods for containment, protection, transport, handling, distribution, delivery
and presentation.
(b)Brand: A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes an
organization or product from its rivals in the eyes of the customer. Brands are used in business,

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marketing, and advertising. Name brands are sometimes distinguished from generic or store
brands.
(c)Label: A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other
material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols
about the product or item. Information printed directly on a container or article can also be
considered labeling.
1.3 Main Content
1.3.1 What is Packaging
Packaging is best described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, distribution,
storage, retailing, and use of the goods. It is a complex, dynamic, scientific, artistic, and
controversial business function. Fundamental function of packaging: contain, protects/preserves
transports informs/sells. Packaging functions range from technical ones to marketing oriented
ones. Technical Functions include; contain, measure, protect, dispense, preserve and store.
Marketing Functions on the other hand include; communicate, promote, display, sell, inform and
motivate. However, while technical packaging professionals need science and engineering skills,
marketing professionals will need artistic and motivational understanding.
Packaging is not a recent phenomenon. Packaging is an activity closely associated with the
evolution of society and, can be traced back to human beginnings. The nature, degree, and amount
of packaging at any stage of a society’s growth reflect the needs, cultural patterns, material
availability and technology of that society. A study of packaging’s changing roles and forms over
the centuries is a study of the growth of civilization. Social changes are inevitably reflected in the
way we package, deliver and consume goods. It is important to know that, until the 1950s, motor
oil was delivered in bulk to service stations, which was in turn measured into 1-quart glass jars;
premeasured oil in metal cans. Now, milk delivery is done from glass bottles to a variety of plain
and aseptic paper cartons, plastic bottles and flexible bags. Tomorrow, how oil or milk will be
delivered, we don’t know yet. But environmentally acceptable packaging (minimal waste) will
surely be highly encourage. Choices of petrochemicals, wood pulp, and metal will governed the
way we buy and consume oil or milk. Also milk could be delivered in refillable aluminum cans?
1.3.2 The origins of packaging
We don’t know what the first package was, but we can certainly speculate. Primitive humans:
nomadic hunter/gatherers, lived off the land and social groupings was restricted to family units.
Definitely, they would have been subject to the geographical migrations of animals and the
seasonal availability of plant food. Such an extreme nomadic existence does not encourage
property accumulation beyond what can be carried on one’s back or head. Primitive people needed
containment and carrying devices, and out of this need came the first “package”; a wrap of leaves,
an animal skin, the shell of a nut or gourd, a naturally hollow piece of wood, the fire-bearer and
the “packaging” of fire.

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Since 5000 B.C., man demonstrated his ability to domesticate plants and animals. There was a
reasonable food supply in a given vicinity; this evolutionary stage supported larger social groups,
gave birth to small tribal villages. As such storage and transport containers were needed for milk,
honey, seed grains, nuts, and dried meat. Villages with access to different resources traded with
their neighbors, requiring transport containers. About 250 B.C., the Greek city-state period,
enacted law that affected packaging. By this time, early packaging materials consisted of fabricated
sacks, baskets, and bags, made from materials of plant or animal origin, a clay bowl, the fire-dried
clay pots. Wood boxes replaced hollow logs. The discovery of glass by 2500 B.C., brought about
a hard inert substance in the fire’s remains. About 1500 B.C., the earliest hollow glass objects
appeared in Mesopotamia (Today’s Iraq) and Egypt.
Many societal changes led to the corresponding changes in packaging: mostly the quality and
quantity of existing packaging practices. Firstly, the invention of the glass blowpipe and wood
barrels came to existence. The Romans invented the glass blowpipe in about 50 B.C. The
blowpipe’s invention brought glass out of noble households and temples. The first wooden barrel
appeared possibly in the Alpine regions of Europe and was one of the most common packaging
forms for many centuries. In China, Ts’ai Lun is credited with making the first true paper from the
inner bark of mulberry trees. The name “paper” given to the Chinese invention was made of matted
plant fibers. Ancient printing was first seen in 768 with the oldest existing printed objects (Japanese
Buddhist charms). In 868, the oldest existing book (the Diamond Sutra) was printed in Turkistan.
With the advent of the Industrial revolution which started in England in about 1700, the concept
spread rapidly through Europe and North America. The Industrial Revolution was or is a concept
of change that transforms a people with peasant occupations and local markets into an industrial
society with world-wide connections. This new type of society makes great use of machinery and
manufactures goods on a large scale for general consumption. The changes increased the demand
for barrels, boxes, kegs, baskets, and bags to transport the new consumer commodities and to bring
great quantities of food into the cities. The fledgling packaging industry itself had to mechanize.
It became necessary to devise ways of preserving food beyond its natural biological life.
During the industrial revolution, the evolution of selling and informing had vital packaging roles.
Bulk packaging was the rule, with the barrel being the workhorse of the packaging industry. Flour,
apples, biscuits, molasses, gunpowder, whiskey and whale oil were transported in barrels.
Packaging served primarily to contain and protect. By this time individual packaging was of little
importance until the Industrial Revolution spurred the growth of cities. The first packaged retail
products were Medicines, cosmetics, teas, liquors and other expensive products; “a paper of pins”.
1.3.3 Early Brands and Packaging
The first brand names were inevitably those of the maker; Yardley in (1770), this one of the oldest
firms in the world to specialize in cosmetics, fragrances and related toiletry products; Schweppes
(1792), Schweppes is a Swiss beverage brand that is sold around the world; Perrier (1863), Perrier
is a French brand of natural bottled mineral water; Smith Brothers (1866), Smith Brothers Farms

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is a dairy and home delivery service based in Kent, Washington, United States; and Colgate
(1873), Colgate is an umbrella brand principally used to purchase oral hygiene products such as
toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss.
The evolving printing and decorating arts applied to “upscale” packages, many early decorations
was based on works of art or national symbols or images. Early labels included pictures of pastoral
life, barnyards, fruit, and the gold medals. A packaging milestone in 1877, brought about the
concept of “persona”. The Quaker personage, or “persona”, gave a description of the package or
product as if it were a person. Between 1890 and about 1920, decoration followed the art nouveau
style, this being followed by a period of art deco graphics and designs. The first packaging made
of plastic (based on cellulose), was created in 1856.
The package from time immemorial had motivational and informational roles. The package had to
inform the purchaser as well as the package had to sell the product. Demographics which is
considered, the study of population structure and trends, universally became an important factor
in designing products and packages. Soon the packaging industry discovered that another criteria
was Fast food and other institutional markets. Fast-food appeared and created a demand for
disposable single-service packaging. This introduced, two factors to influence packaging: public
health care and a rapidly growing trend toward eating out rather than at home. More concern was
given to the HRI (hospital, restaurant, and institutional) market as well as Petroleum-derived
plastics which was now added to the package designer’s selection of packaging materials.
a. Legislated changes
In the 1970s and early 1980s, many aspects in packaging were legislated: - Child-resistance
closures mandated for some products; - Tamper-evident closures; - Labeling laws required listing
of ingredients; - International agreements signed to phase out the use of CFCs; - Standards for the
acceptance of new packaging materials raised
b. Changing Needs and New Roles.
All historical changes have had an impact on the way products are bought, consumed and
packaged. The packaging professionals must always turn their attention to the needs, markets, and
conditions of tomorrow. It has been observed that most of goods, not essential to survival,
constitute “the good life”. In the second half of the 20th century, the proliferation of goods was so
high that packaging was forced into an entirely new role: providing the major purchase motivation
rather than presenting the goods itself; the only method of differentiating was the package itself.
The trend toward more intensive marketing gave marketers the objective to aim at lifestyles,
emotional values, subliminal images, features, and advantages beyond the basic product itself.
Today the package has become the product, and occasionally packaging has become
entertainment.

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Globalization and the provision of increased tonnages of high-quality food to massive city at
affordable prices challenges packagers. A new concern is the removal of the debris generated by a
consumer society and the impact that these consumption rates have on the planet’s ecology
1.3.4 Packaging and the Modern Industrial Society
Why is packaging important to our food supply? Food is organic in nature (an animal or plant
source). One characteristic of such organic matter is that it has a limited natural biological life.
Packaging brings about freedom from geographical and seasonal food production this is because
most food is geographically and seasonally specific. In a world without packaging, we would need
to live at the point of harvest to enjoy these products, and our enjoyment of them would be
restricted to the natural biological life span of each. Thus, it is by proper storage, packaging and
transport techniques that we are able to deliver and enjoy fresh potatoes and Apples derived from
them, throughout the year and throughout the country. We are no longer restricted in our choice of
where to live. Man is therefore free of the natural cycles of feast and famine that are typical of
societies dependent on natural regional food-producing cycles. All these comes from the art of
organizing a central processing and the prepackaged concept.
The advantages of a central processing and prepackaged food concept are varied and include the
following; - Central processing allows value recovery from what would normally be wasted. - By-
products of the processed-food industry form the basis of other sub-industries
a. World Packaging
Humankind’s global progress is such that virtually every stage in the development of society,
packaging is present somewhere in it.
1. Packaging in developed countries
Nations in this category are not just interested on the product but are equally preoccupied with
packages and graphics. To agonize over choice of package type, hire expensive marketing groups
to develop images to entice the targeted buyer and spend lavishly on graphics.
2. Packaging in less-developed countries
At the extreme, consumers will bring their own packages or will consume food on the spot, just as
they did 2,000 years ago. Packagers from the more-developed countries sometimes have difficulty
working with less developed nations. Firstly they fail to understand that their respective and
packaging priorities are completely different. Secondly developing nations trying to sell goods to
North American markets cannot understand their preoccupation with package and graphics.
3. The United Nations and packaging.
The less-developed countries do not have adequate land to raise enough food. Food goes beyond
its natural biological life span. Food is lost, or is infested with insects or eaten by rodents, gets wet

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in the rain, leaks away or goes uneaten for numerous reasons, all of which sound packaging
principles can prevent.
- Packaging is perceived to be a weapon against world hunger.
4. Packaging and Environmental Issues- The sources of waste material
A discussion of packaging today means eventually turning to environmental issues. A general
perception is that, if only the packaging industry would stop doing something or, conversely, start
doing something, all our landfill and pollution problems would go away. Ample evidence suggests
that good packaging reduces waste. The consumer sees packaging as that part of the shopping trip
that gets thrown away. Hence, packaging is garbage after product purchase.
The percentage of waste that is packaging can be derived from a university report. The University
of Tennessee provides the following breakdown of total landfill waste; Residential waste: 37.4%,
Industrial waste: 29.3%, Commercial waste: 27.3%, other sources: 6.0%
i. The four Rs hierarchy and what it means
Reduce: use the minimum amount of material consistent with fulfilling its basic function.
Reuse: containers or packaging components should be reused.
Recycle: packaging should be collected and the materials recycled for further use.
Recover: to possibly recover other value from the waste before consigning packaging to a landfill.

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ii. The Challenges of Recycling Waste Packages
 The public myths:
1. Placing material in a blue box (garbage bin) constitutes recycling. This is not true. Recycling
does not occur until someone uses the material collected. The following issues call for immediate
concern;
a) PCR (polymerase chain reaction) materials in immediate contact with food need to be
extensively investigated.
b) In the instance of pharmaceutical packaging, such use is simply not allowed.
c) Another impediment is a guarantee of consistent and reliable supply of the recovered material.
2. Recycled material should be economical. This is another fallacy. In many instances, recycled
material is more costly, and its use needs to be supported in some special way.
a) The cost of landfilling MSW (municipal solid waste) is still less than recycling in most areas.
b) Revenues generated from the sale of recyclable materials do not always recover collecting and
recycling costs.
c) The process of recycling cannot ignore market economics.
d) Environmentalists maintain that recycling is an issue of the environment, not of economics.
Money expended to recycle a material represents an investment in fuel, water and other basic
resources. When the resources invested (cost of investment) to recover a material exceeds the value
of the material recovered, then the harm to the environment is greater, not less. This is economics!

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e) The process of collecting and regenerating a packaging material for further use is a complex
one for most materials. This is because it involves significant investment in sophisticated
equipment. While glass is apparently readily identifiable, individual glass compositions as well as
different colors make it difficult to get uncontaminated feedstock. Also, Paper fiber quality
deteriorates with every recycling, and so paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. Finally, Plastic
materials pose a number of serious recycling problems. The plastic industry developed a code for
identifying the six most commonly used packaging plastics; it includes an “other” selection as a
seventh code which is unknown to many (Figure 1.3).
3. One or another of the many materials used for packaging is more environmentally friendly.
There is no magic material. Laminate constructions are, in fact, environmentally friendly.
1.3.5 The Modern Packaging Industry
The modern packaging industry plays a host to several emerging actors who influence the
packaging industry in one or the other. It is in this modern age, that we use concepts such as
converters in the packaging industry. Other concept worth noting include package users and
suppliers.
“Converters and users” This is a new division in the packaging industry. Its objective is to take
various raw materials and convert them into useful packaging materials or physical packages (cans,
bottles, wraps). To this point, packaging becomes a materials application science. The company
forming the physical package will also print or decorate the package.

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Package “users”, is a concept that describes the fact that, the firms that package products, are also
regarded as part of the packaging industry, divided into a number of categories and each of these
can be further subdivided.
The “supplier”, manufacturers of machines for the user sector and the suppliers of ancillary
services, such as marketing, consumer testing and graphic design, are also important sectors of the
packaging industry.
a. Professional packaging associations
There are a number of professional packaging associations whose objective is to design policies
and regulate the nature, structure and composition of materials for packaging products in different
countries across the globe. Some of them are;
IoPP: Institute of Packaging Professionals
PAC: Packaging Association of Canada
PMMI: Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
FPA: Flexible Packaging Association
WPO: World Packaging Organization
Other organizations having a major impact on packaging activities are
ISO: International Organization for Standards
ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials
TAPPI: Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry
ISTA: International Safe Transit Association

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1.4 Conclusion
Concern over the health implications of packaging materials is on the rise. The latest fears cropped
up after Swiss scientists revealed a potential health risk in the mineral oils found in European
recycled paperboard; exposure to such oils has been linked to inflammation of internal organs and
cancer. While the researchers stress that exposure to such chemicals would have to occur over
many years before health risks came to bear, UK cereal brand Jordan’s has stopped using recycled
board, and Kellogg (an American multinational food-manufacturing company) says it is working
to minimize the mineral oil levels in its European packaging. Mineral oils are not a problem in US
recycled board, according to Deborah White of the Recycled Paperboard Technical Association,
who says the FDA’s (Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) regulations control for the impurities that
were of concern in the European studies. Regardless, material health — a guiding principle of
sustainable packaging — is cropping up as one of the latest packaging hot buttons in developed
economies. However this concept is yet to crop in to emerging markets and other developing
countries.
1.5 Summary
Packaging is an essential part of the human history. Its operations has a devastating effect on both
the present and future. Thus the need for sustainable packaging. The criteria for a sustainable
package will therefore include; recycled/ renewable materials, compostable/ biodegradable,
reusable format, source optimized, source reduced and consumer education. Sustainable packaging
describes the following Remove, Reduce, Recycle, Renew, Re-use. These are five of the original
7 R's of Sustainable Packaging revealed by Wal-Mart when it introduced its Packaging Scorecard.
Sustainable packaging is the development and use of packaging which results in improved
sustainability. This involves increased use of life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle assessment
(LCA) to help guide the use of packaging which reduces the environmental impact and ecological
footprint.
1.6 Review Questions
1. State and explain the following concepts with reference to both local and international examples
a. Packaging
b. Branding
c. Labels
2. Describe the evolutions or origin of packaging from the primitive era to present modern day
3. All historical changes have had an impact on the way products are bought, consumed and
packaged. Explain these changing needs and roles with respect to packaging
4. Packaging and the Modern Industrial Society. Discuss

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1.7 References
Robertson, G.L. 1993: Food packaging, principles and practice. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.
Lockhart, H.E. 1995: A paradigm for packaging. Packaging education news, 8, March.
Anonymous. 1995: The functions of packaging. Packaging education news, 10, October.
Larionov, V.G. 1994: Packaging personnel training in the C.I.S. Packaging education news, 3.
Warburton, D. 1995: Personal communication.
1.8 Tasks
Read the lecture notes on unit 1.3.5 (The Modern Packaging Industry) and provide a detailed
explanation according to your understanding of not more than five a pages.
1.9 Reading Assignment | Suggested Readings
Soft copy pdf text book. Download, {Will Burke, Lisa Baer, James Pietruszynski. The Big Book
of Packaging. (Paris: HarperCollins, 2011) [ISBN 9780062009890]. Using this web link
http://bookfreenow.com/download/ The-Big-Book-of-Packaging. Read chapter 1.
1.10 Reading Assignment Supplementary Source
 You Tube Video lecture: What is Packaging and Labeling?
 Video Highlights- Assistant Professor Varsha Choudhary, Biyani College explain the
concept of packaging
 Note: To access the video, copy and paste the Uniform Resource Locator at current time
 https://youtu.be/3bmQyCtWoYU?t=3
 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bmQyCtWoYU. Retrieved 29 October 2018
1.11 Written Assignment
 State and explain the Challenges of Recycling Waste Packages in modern time.
1.12 Discussion Assignment
 Can packaging be sustainable? Discuss!
1.13 Graded Quiz
 Will be provided by the end of the lecture

Introduction to packaging

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