Got Milk?

Here’s something new and different that we don’t often consider in B-To-B communications but holds real-world implications: Consumer Response.

The New York Times featured a story on consumer response to new milk packaging. The article details the experience at Sam’s Club of newly redesigned milk-packaging which is better for the environment, reduces shipping and crating costs, and ensures fresher milk arrives in-store faster. So what’s not to like? According to many customers it is difficult to pour.

Businesses of all kinds are confronting the challenges of a carbon-constrained world. And so, too, are consumers. In the past, BtoB manufacturing processes stayed hidden from consumers who only wanted what was best for them. Concern for the environment as well as a greater understanding of rising manufacturing costs has led to a more balanced view of the entire supply chain. Consumers are simply more aware of how and where products are made and mainstream publications are taking notice.

For BtoB communications this is an opportunity to leverage manufacturing efficiency and innovation both directly and indirectly through customers.

The redesign of the gallon milk jug, experts say, is an example of the changes likely to play out in the American economy over the next two decades. In an era of soaring global demand and higher costs for energy and materials, virtually every aspect of the economy needs to be re-examined, they say, and many products must be redesigned for greater efficiency.

“This is a key strategy as a path forward,” said Anne Johnson, the director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of the nonprofit group GreenBlue. “Re-examining, ‘What are the materials we are using? How are we using them? And where do they go ultimately?’ ”

Wal-Mart Stores is already moving down this path. But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when first using the new jugs.

Read the full article in the New York Times (Link)

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