Novel packaging aims to woo consumers

With an eye on the explosion in new media platforms, an Australian company invented a media vehicle two years ago.

On Product Publishing "" as the name explains "" is a company that created a novel packaging communications tool by integrating consumer or customised magazines with fast moving consumer goods.

The mini-sized magazines are pasted or labelled on products sold in PET or glass bottles or even tetrapaks through a technology patented by the company.

On Product Publishing, which found its first major client in Coca-Cola in Belgium last year, is now in India through a licensing arrangement with, surprise, surprise, the hospitality company Select Group.

Arjun Sharma, managing director of Select Group that owns a travel agency, hotels and a premium shopping mall in Delhi, claims that On Product Publishing licence fits in with his existing businesses. "We will announce our first client shortly but we will also use On Product Publishing concept in our travel business." For instance, Select receives 45,000 foreign tourists and welcomes each one with a bottle of water. "We could promote our own properties and luxury holidays through a magazine labelled on the bottle. It could be an effective advertising tool," he explains.

Alex McKinnon, CEO, On Product Publishing, who was here to announce the licensing agreement, says the company was launched in 2005 with Joanna Wojtalik, who invented the concept. The duo first test-marketed the concept in Australia on its own by launching bottled water and a fashion magazine under the "I Love" name. The 32-page magazine came labelled on bottled water and became the second largest-selling magazine in Melbourne.

However, On Product Publishing got its first major break with Coca-Cola in Belgium where the soft drinks major labelled an issue of a fashion magazine GLAM IT on 500,000 bottles. "The Coke Light sales grew by close to 5 per cent that month," recalls McKinnon. In the last one year, the company has worked with numerous brands of companies such as Nestle, Tetra Pak, Kimberly Clarke and the Virgin Group.

To be sure, On Product Publishing helps both "" the magazines as well as the FMCG brand.

For instance, a parenting magazine could promote itself through a special mini magazine labelled on, say, a pack of diapers. The diaper brand could differentiate itself from other products in this manner as well as generate revenue from the magazine publisher.

The magazine would also benefit by actually reaching the consumer home through a pack of diapers, explains McKinnon.

Sharma has high hopes from FMCG as well as print media brands in India. He feels that the opportunity could be exploited by consumer product companies and, may be even the other hospitality companies during the Commonwealth Games.

He also sees it as a promotion opportunity for products categories like liquor which are not allowed to advertise in India.

Though Select Group is the licensee for South Asia, Sharma says that the company will first sign at least a handful of clients in India before pushing the concept in other countries.