Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 31

Focus is on best returns

The Central Group counts many leading
brands among its clients, including Colgate,
Nestlé, Unilever, Smuckers, Catelli Foods,
General Mills and 3M. The company offers a
wide mix of products and services-part research firm and part manufacturer-all united
under the banner of performance-at-retail.
The objective, for any client, is to achieve the
best return on their marketing-at-retail investment. At Central, the ROI Lab is only one element.
The company designs and makes customized packaging solutions, mainly corrugated,
in any basic or intricate shape you can imagine.
Through the finished product, Central aims to
help clients build shopper loyalty, distinguish
their brand, protect product integrity, and manage costs throughout the supply chain.
Along with packaging, Central produces displays, which they say not only connect shoppers to the brand but represent the greatest opportunity to influence retail purchasing. Here,
formats include floor, counter, PDQ terminals
and shelf displays, in-aisle and end cap solutions, pallet merchandisers, fixtures, environ- State-of-the-art facility helps retailers understand consumer insights.
ments and interactive shopper experiences.
Besides a manufacturing facility, Central has a unique product es-often 25-75 per cent. The company's objecttesting facility to put products through durability, structural ive is to create and test solutions that resonate
and transit tests prior to execution in the field.
with shoppers, ensuring the highest potential
Central has won many design and printing awards for its for retail execution and compliance.
Jeremy Miller, a strategic branding and busipackaging and point-of-purchase displays. Yet CEO Rich Eastness development consultant, says that Central
wood insists they aren't in the business of selling commodities-this coming from someone named to the Hall of Fame by truly understands what it delivers. They aren't
the Association of Independent Corrugated Companies, and selling a product or a service but are working
listed among the Top 50 of the 20th Century by Boxboard Con- for a result.
Miller has blogged about Central, and hightainers International.
lights the company in his upcoming book
Well-designed and usable packaging and displays are essential, but should be a given, says Eastwood, who founded Central Sticky Branding. Says Miller, "What makes
in 1980. The question is whether they influence sales. "We're here them remarkable is they're not just a supplier
of packaging, they're not just creating a functo help our clients get their products out the door," he said.
tional, attractive box-they can tell you which
ones move product."
Seeking what resonates with shoppers
Cecol discusses that at the Gallery, on the
If it seems like a company that creates a box can't think outside
way to showing a visitor the ROI Lab. The Galit, think again. As Eastwood suggests, Central seeks to understand what motivates brand manufacturers and retailers-sales lery is a showcase for Central's range of deperformance, market share, category differentiation and loyalty. sign ideas. To illustrate how Central thinks, he
The company delivers solutions that enhance performance points to a display for Dove's Advanced Hair
and traffic, while enhancing logistics and lowering distribution Series (shampoo, conditioner and treatment).
The display features glossy white plastic
and labour costs. Central's team features a wide range of skills,
shelves, a high-gloss litho, and a clear co-polyfrom graphics to industrial design to research, with extensive
executive CPG and retail experience. The backgrounds vary, ester plastic accent piece. One item, the hair
treatment, is in a pedestal to "hero the prodbut the goal is singular.
"We're helping clients enhance a product's visibility and sell- uct", says Cecol. The display must make an impact from 20 feet away, support the brand and
ability," says Domenic Cecol, Central's Chief Design Officer.
Central says its solutions consistently deliver sales increas- compel you to pick up the product.

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Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014

Publisher's Desk
Retail Currents
Food for Thought: The State of Canadian Grocery
Driving Sales With Personalized Advertising
Come One, Come All
Unsure About the Future
Education Leading to Organic Growth
The Total Retail Package
Advertiser's Index
Retail Quick Tips
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - cover1
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - cover2
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 3
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Publisher's Desk
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 5
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Retail Currents
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 7
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 8
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 9
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Food for Thought: The State of Canadian Grocery
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 11
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 12
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 13
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 14
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 15
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Driving Sales With Personalized Advertising
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 17
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 18
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Come One, Come All
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 20
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 21
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 22
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Unsure About the Future
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 24
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 25
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Education Leading to Organic Growth
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 27
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 28
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 29
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - The Total Retail Package
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 31
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 32
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 33
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 34
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 35
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 36
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Advertiser's Index
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - Retail Quick Tips
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - cover3
Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - cover4
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