In a nutshell branding can be thought of as providing your businesses products or services with a unique name and identity that your customers will recognise and recall favourably when making a choice between you and your competitors. Corporate identity and branding are closely linked as the former concept reflects and encompasses the other. The identity is linked to the company philosophy and the branding can make the philosophy tangible as well as visible as a legal entity through a trademark.

Given the overwhelming number of brands in existence giving your product a unique name and identity is not a simple process and Seth Godin gave some useful advice when he said "Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable." In a competitive arena he suggests that making remarkable products is what will set a business apart from all other similar competitive products. Remarkable products therefore will also require remarkable branding and consequently also remarkable branded packaging. The packaging cannot have an incongruous fit with the brand name. If you are selling goat's milk your branded packaging should reflect this and what goat's milk buyers would like to see.

This brings us to the point of market and consumer analysis to get an idea of precisely what appeals to your specific target market so that you can match it to the branded packaging accordingly. The ultimate aim of your business is to make money and therefore to generate sales. When customers value your product, brand awareness increases and repeat sales are generated which then adds to your bottom line. Conducting surveys with consumers can be a useful tool in determining whether your branded packaging is doing its job and is also an avenue to uncover trends that could lead to strengthening your brand. The pinnacle of branded glory is when a product brand name becomes synonymous with the product and enters the psyche of a population. One of my favourites is the term 'hoovering' rather than 'vacuuming'.

Branded packaging need not incorporate complex designs and colours to be effective.  Take for example the Nike 'swoosh' - it is simple, easily recognisable, and easily reproducible with enormous brand equity. Caroline Davidson created the logo in 1971 to depict the wing of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory and forty years later it still has an enviable position in branding. The process of producing remarkable branded packaging therefore begins with knowing your product and your consumers to maximise brand awareness and build brand equity.

Duo's customers who have branded their online packaging have reported an increase in brand awareness and repeat purchases and a reduction in returned items. Is your brand reflected through your packaging? Branding your packaging is straightforward, quick to implement and cost effective, to discuss your ideas call Duo today on 0161 203 5767 or email enquiries@duo-uk.co.uk

Packaging is a necessity in today's fast-moving society to protect, preserve and streamline business processes. Polythene packaging is widely used in the retail and e-retail industry to package products for display, distribution and re-sale.

Good quality packaging is a necessity to endure the postal system. Poor quality or the wrong packaging specification may rip, leak or damage the product inside and present your customers order in an unsightly manner. Choosing to work directly with a packaging manufacturer can overcome these issues by creating a specific packaging range to suit your business requirements and streamline your processes. Depending on your different business requirements, popular packaging products include polythene mailing bags, polythene film, waste sacks, waste segmentation bags, reprocessing and retail display bags.

Polythene is a popular material used by businesses for their packaging requirements. The polythene manufacturing processes is a 3 steps process. Firstly, the polythene raw material is melted and blown to form a continuous polythene film. Additives called masterbatch are added at this stage to add the colour to the film. The polythene film is then printed with the customers' design or logo. The final process is conversion where the polythene film is made into the specific requirements such as mailing bags, carrier bags or sacks.

Duo UK is a packaging manufacturer with two UK manufacturing sites in Manchester and Nottingham. We supply a wide range of polythene packaging to many of the UK's leading businesses. At Duo UK we are conscientious about protecting the environment and as a lean manufacturer we avoid creating any unnecessary waste. It is possible for polythene to biodegrade if a biodegradable additive is added, however, polythene is a sustainable product that can be recycled again and manufactured into a new polythene product. The process of recycling plastics is a sustainable and future proof plan for an on-going solution. At Duo we offer a closed loop recycling which is the leading recycling technology available. This reduces the volume of waste polythene that ends up in landfill, and reduces the energy consumed in extruding raw material.

Click here for more information about the packaging manufacturing process.

For more information on Closed Loop Recycling click here.

IMRG has announced new record figure for sales via the channel, where consumers transact through an ecommerce site and collect in store. Click and collect transactions account for more than a tenth (10.4%) of all ecommerce sales for the third quarter of 2011. This was up from 7.4% in the previous quarter and was the strongest quarterly gain that has been recorded in the seven quarters IMRG has been tracking the data.

David J Smith, chief marketing and communications officer at IMRG, said in a statement that delivery is one of the most important elements of online shopping; "Inconvenience at that stage can turn a positive experience into a bad one. Retailers need to ensure that they track and monitor consumer behaviour to understand what options are proving most popular, to ensure that the experience is as convenient and seamless as possible."

John Lewis this week reported a 13.9% rise in its online sales year on year, driven by convenience and aided, in particular, by its click and collect service.

Duo manufactures click and collect bags for many of the UK's major retailers and has experienced an increase in volume of this particular product compared to figures in 2010. Click and collect is a fantastic service for the customer and we believe that this trend will continue to increase in 2012.

To enhance the click and collect process for the customer experience and streamline in-house processes we have listed our top tips when developing your click and collect packaging:

- Use a different colour base packaging to help the fulfillment house and in-store staff distinguish between click and collect and mail order products.

-  A customer may want to check their order before leaving the store so add a double glue strip to enable them to open their package and then re-seal it again to secure the contents.

- Add a lateral weld with a punch out handle to enable the customer to carry their click and collect item as a store bag for ease whilst they shop.

- And most importantly, brand your packaging! Your click and collect packaging is perfect to increase awareness of your brand and your click and collect service to the rest of the high street.

If you are about to launch a click and collect service and would like to discuss your packaging with Duo please complete our online form and one of our sales team will be in touch. Alternatively feel free to call Duo today on 0161 203 5767.

Yesterday shoppers spent a total of £456 million in just 24 hours online! Sales peaked between 1pm and 2pm when office staff logged on during their lunch breaks - an increase of 14% from 2010.

How do you plan to do your Christmas shopping? Online or on the high street? Join in our online Facebook Poll.

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has marked the occasion of the world's seven billion by urging world governments to recognise the role plastic plays in human survival.

The trade body said the use of plastics was "key to supporting population growth and raising the hopes of deprived people." BPF's director Peter Davis stated that it was "crucial that policy makers world over register this simple point - that plastics help people on this planet survive in increasingly testing circumstances."

Davis highlighted the key areas where plastic products are helping responses to environmental and social challenges in today world and proves that plastic is fantastic!

Reducing Food Waste

Sealed and durable plastics packaging preserves food for longer, is hygienic and minimises the possibility of health hazards through bacterial or fungal attack.

Minimising Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Plastics components significantly reduce the weight of motor vehicles and aircraft, improving their fuel efficiency and reducing emissions. The new generation of jet passenger aircraft use plastics composites to lighten their body weight.

Achieving good healthcare for all

The economies of scale achievable through the manufacture of plastic medical devices are making sophisticated treatment more affordable the world over, radically improving the recovery, wellbeing, personal mobility and independence of elderly, unwell or injured people.

Plastics and polythene are a valuable and flexible resource that offers economical, advanced and sustainable solutions to the world's demands. Duo has specialised in polythene products since 1988 and using our expertise in this area, we have developed many cost saving, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for our customers business requirements. The flexibility of polythene has enabled many businesses become leaner and adopt new business processes in reaction to new social challenges.

Our expertise of the polythene material properties and manufacturing process enables our team to make the most informed recommendations to provide a superior packaging solution that creates a benefit to a business environment. Is your packaging product enhancing your business process? If you are unsure contact Duo today to arrange a site audit with our packaging experts.

Source: www.prw.com

Duo was ecstatic to announce that we had been selected as a finalist at this year's Plastic Industry Awards in the category Best Training and Development Programme.

Tonight, David and Dale Brimelow are representing Duo at the awards ceremony at The Hilton on Park Lane, London.

Speaking about the imminent awards, Director Dale Brimelow said, "This is our first year attending the Plastic Awards and we are extremely proud to be selected as a finalist in the best training and development category. Over the last two years we have transformed our business and heavily invested in our people and our plant, which has totally rejuvenated the Duo brand.

We are looking forward to celebrating the success of our industry with the leading plastics industry companies and, fingers crossed, we will be celebrating an award too."

Look out on Monday for photo's from the event.

For more information on the Plastic Industry Awards go to:  http://www.prw.com/subscriber/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=1310551685

Customer satisfaction and product appeal are one-dimensional - the higher the perceived product quality, the higher the customer's satisfaction - true? True, however, this relationship may not be as straightforward as it seems on the surface.

Faraday Research Consultants conducted a vast research study exploring the consumer's perception of different packaging materials and how this information can be used to create packaging design for appeal.

The research found that the physical appearance and feel of a packaging material are the most dominant properties and impact on each of the consumer's senses.

Sight - Through their eyes consumers perceive the shape of the packaging, the colour of transparency and the surface finish.

Touch - Through their hands, consumers perceive the surface texture, the strength and weight of the material.

Sound - Through their ears, consumers perceive the noise of the material as it is manipulated and the noise of the product impacting on the packaging.

Packaging design and material selection is a balancing act between cost, function and appeal. Consider different textures to enhance your customer's experience, perhaps matt, gloss, lightweight or a heavy material best represents your brand? Using print techniques add another dimension and delight your customers senses further with metallic, matt, gloss, or maybe fluorescent inks.

Duo has perfected this balancing act and consistently delivers branded mailing bags that are fulfilment friendly, delight customer senses, increase brand awareness and enhance customer shopping experiences. As a part of our outstanding service we always have a consultation with our customer for find out their specific objectives for their packaging range. Arrange your meeting with one of our packaging experts and start creating your new enticing packaging range.

As the ecommerce trend has skyrocketed and online shopping has taken over from shopping on the high street, to maintain a connection with the shopper, retailers are investing in methods to increase the online shopping experience.

In store the customer is exposed to beautiful product displays, music, smells, interaction with the staff and changing room facilities to enable them to try before they buy. When purchasing online all the sensory experiences are limited until the product is delivered to the customer.

When online retail first took off the plain, fit for purpose mailing bag was universally used. However, as customers expectation increase and brands respond to this demand, the mailing bag has transformed from a commodity product to an extension of the customer experience.

The mailing bag the product is shipped in is the first tangible item the customer sees and touches of their purchase from the online store. Make the right first impression by using a branded, textured mailing bag that promotes the your brand values. From a selection of material textures such as gloss, matt, recycled, natural create the base for your design. Using just one or up to 8 colours, create a vibrant stand out design that delights upon receipt.

Once the customer has opened the mailing bag the next touch point is the individual product packaging. Customers are frequent, savvy online shoppers and can identify previously returned product from a new item. Without the facility to try on the item, returns can be a very time consuming and costly process. Duo offer high quality clear glue strip bags that overcome this issue by ensuring all outbound and returns products are consistent and your product always be presented at its very best.

Our current customers using this range have experienced:

• Cost saving - no need for additional products such as tape
• Quicker packing speeds
• Easier packing and improved presentation thanks to the specically designed size range
• Streamlined, higher value waste collection - all LDPE (4) so no need for segregation

As the ecommerce trend has skyrocketed and online shopping has taken over from shopping on the high street, to maintain a connection with the shopper, retailers are investing in methods to increase the online shopping experience.

In store the customer is exposed to beautiful product displays, music, smells, interaction with the staff and changing room facilities to enable them to try before they buy. When purchasing online all the sensory experiences are limited until the product is delivered to the customer.

When online retail first took off the plain, fit for purpose mailing bag was universally used. However, as customers expectation increase and brands respond to this demand, the mailing bag has transformed from a commodity product to an extension of the customer experience.

The mailing bag the product is shipped in is the first tangible item the customer sees and touches of their purchase from the online store. Make the right first impression by using a branded, textured mailing bag that promotes the your brand values. From a selection of material textures such as gloss, matt, recycled, natural create the base for your design. Using just one or up to 8 colours, create a vibrant stand out design that delights upon receipt.

Once the customer has opened the mailing bag the next touch point is the individual product packaging. Customers are frequent, savvy online shoppers and can identify previously returned product from a new item. Without the facility to try on the item, returns can be a very time consuming and costly process. Duo offer high quality clear glue strip bags that overcome this issue by ensuring all outbound and returns products are consistent and your product always be presented at its very best.

Our current customers using this range have experienced:

• Cost saving - no need for additional products such as tape

• Quicker packing speeds

• Easier packing and improved presentation thanks to the specically designed size range

• Streamlined, higher value waste collection - all LDPE (4) so no need for segregation

The Consumer Goods Forum has published a new guide covering worldwide packaging sustainability issues - a kind of blueprint geared towards eco-friendly directives within the packaging industry.

The Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability was put together by a wide range of contributors including representatives of Nestle, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Tesco, Kraft Foods, Wal-Mart and Target.

By supplying a universal language to focus on a set of corporate questions relating to how packaging's designed, used and disposed of, the Forum aims to lower the packaging industry's overall carbon footprint.

Among the sustainable packaging report's sponsors is Philip Clarke, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesco who, in a statement, explained how it would benefit his firm, above and beyond the environmental steps it's already taken.

"Tesco is a responsible retailer and understands that packaging is important to its customers", he said. "We're working hard with our suppliers to minimise the impact of our packaging on the environment. Having a common language will allow us to have the right conversations with our diverse supply chain.

"We can then work with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of packaging whilst making sure it still does the essential job it needs to do to protect the products we sell."

"One of the strengths of this project is how it has brought together so many companies and organizations from across our industry to work collectively on developing this common language", Clarke's equivalent at Unilever, Paul Polman, added.

As a responsible and environmentally aware packaging manufacturer, Duo has developed a continuous improvement programme to assess all areas of the business to reduce waste and integrate best 'lean' practices. This approach has been unanimously welcomed by our customer and supplier base who we work together with to create sustainable, ethical and efficient packaging products.

Source:www.packaging-int.com