Mona Reiser

November 17, 2014

3 Min Read
How to capitalize on personal care packaging design for Boomers
Containers of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel need a font size boost

Containers of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel need a font size boost, says this retired supply chain professional. She asks, “Is it my eyesight?” Yes, hers and 76.4 million other Baby Boomers.

Coincidence or not?! About the time I received my AARP card in the mail, I was starting to buy “readers” in packs of threes so I would have a pair of glasses in every room in the house, in the car, in the handbag  and a couple in whatever office I was using.

Problem solved, right? Wrong! I still had an issue in the shower. How to tell the difference between the shampoo, the conditioner and the shower gel? The issue at hand is that I cannot read the bottle print to determine what I was picking up. Ever the problem solver, and still with a nod to my aesthetic and decorating style, I used color coordinated Sharpies to mark my essential bottles with large capitalized S’s, C’s or G’s; or whatever I needed to be able to see while showering.

So this temporary solution got me to thinking and wondering why no consumer packaged goods (CPG) company had yet to come to the rescue of those of us with diminishing eyesight. As a logistics/supply chain professional, I have been a member of many a marketing product launch team who tended to all be in our 20s and 30s and would certainly not have thought of the impact of age-related eyesight and readability to our packaging and print designs. Our time and focus was spent on design, color, print, case packaging, legality of claim—and the list went on.

Now that I am an esteemed member of the Baby Boom generation and one of millions who has compromised eyesight, I beseech our marketing professionals and packaging designers to include designators on those products. They truly can be as simple as a larger size capitalized single letter. It can be so easily incorporated in the packaging design. And I would recommend that the Health & Beauty Aids sector of the CPG companies be the first to come to market.

As to the bottom line, do I see increased sales? Absolutely! For the CPGer who can deliver on this first!

I can see the advertisements already. What a humorous/comedic twist they can take. Not only on traditional media, print (for sure the AARP magazine!), social media (mostly Facebook, since this group of Boomers has yet to embrace more widely Instagram/Snapchat and whatever else is more current) and YouTube. You won’t be insulting me or my other fellow 76.4 million Boomers. You would be doing us a service and we would be laughing at ourselves—and not putting shower gel on our hair!

Now, can we talk about the font size of the directions on frozen food packaging?!

Mona Reiser is a retired supply chain professional with 25 years at Kraft Foods, managing/directing warehouse operations, warehouse start-ups, transportation and customer service. She is currently co-partner/owner in three Beauty & Wellness schools in Georgia, Kansas and Virginia. You can reach her at [email protected].

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