Millennials' perceptions on packaging ‘can be changed'

Chicago — Simple messaging can help the polymer industry explain the importance of its products to consumers and turn the tide against growing anti-plastics consumer sentiment.

That's what Jonathan Quinn, market development manager for Nova Chemicals Inc., sure thinks.

"You have to be simple. You don't have to get too complex," Quinn said following a consumer panel Nova hosted in Chicago to gauge the views of today's millennials.

For just about two hours, a group of six millennials sat before dozens of plastics employees and took part in a focus group aimed at providing some insight about how they feel and what they know about plastics and recycling. And plastics recycling.

The group included an administrative assistant, a dentist, an educator, someone who works in logistics, a stay-at-home parent and a restaurant manager. The consumer panel provided a first-hand view to attendees of the Plastics Caps & Closures 2019 conference held in Chicago. The conference was organized by Plastics News, and polyethylene maker Nova organized the workshop.

It was important for conference attendees, representing companies throughout the plastics industry, to hear from a sampling of people they don't normally directly engage, Quinn said.

"It's very important to know the millennial generation's thinking about packaging," the millennial said.

Millennials, by definition, are born from 1981 to 1996, so these aren't kids anymore. They are ages 22 to 37, a group that continues become more and more important to consumer products companies.

"The thing is it's all about very simple messaging," Quinn told the crowd. "Simple messages can very quickly sway perceptions. And if you take it a step further, 'Well, how have perceptions been created?' That puts us in a position where we often feel plastics are under attack. It's been simple messaging. Simple stuff that has resonated with consumers that has created a perception.

"We can very easily change the perception if we find those simple messages that sway the other way," he said.

Panel members, at one point, were asked to categorize different types of packaging: glass, metal, aseptic cartons, plastic bottles and pouches.

Nelly Bentz, research director for Schmidt Market Research Inc. of Pittsburgh, led the focus group. She asked participants to line up the packaging based on their perceived environmental impact.

A glass bottle, an aluminum can and a paperboard container all fared well in initial assessments by group members. Plastic bottles received a middling view and pouches were the least well received.

But after the researchers introduced an analysis of the inputs it takes to create and use each package — think energy and water usage, greenhouse gas emissions and even transportation considerations — perceptions became more favorable to rigid plastic containers.

The new information was not exhaustive, but the exercise did prove the point that simple messaging can have an impact on changing consumer perceptions, Quinn said.

"There is a wide population that is still undecided. It's that non-squeaky-wheel of the consumers that can be swayed one way or the other," he said.

Panelists, when asked about environmental impact, thought in terms of post-consumer impacts.

But Bentz said opening the conversation to life-cycle considerations allowed panelists to reconsider their views.

"It can change some perceptions. And then when perceptions change, that leads to change in behavior. And the change in behavior could lead to change in purchases they make," Bentz said. "But it's not going to happen overnight.

"Perceptions," she said, "can be changed."