If you thought modern detergent packaging was created by top experts in industrial design, you would only be partially right. A lot of what goes into each package also comes from you, the consumer.
One key piece of input is getting feedback on how easy P&G products are to find on the shelf, so that P&G can design the package to make it easier for consumers to select the right product and preferred variant.
Ergonomics are also very important to our packaging designs. If a product is hard to open, grip or use in any other way, its chances of selling will not be helped. And the best way to gauge what works is to talk to consumers about it.
As well as a whole battery of ergonomics and health and safety tests which you would expect to be carried out as a matter of course, P&G also takes advantage of any opportunity to talk to consumers and get your feedback.
For example, focus groups are used to understand consumer needs, motivations, ideas and reactions to concepts and new products. We have used these focus groups with P&G's Swiffer product, for instance, talking to groups of six to 12 people about how they kept their houses clean.
People were chosen who spend a lot of time cleaning and keeping household mess under control. They told P&G that one of their biggest problems was to dust areas that were high up and hard to reach. So P&G developed a product with an extendable handle.
To find out what people think of P&G products before they are actually available on the shelves, P&G has created a system called Virtual Customer Engagement which simulates a store environment so P&G can test branding, packaging and promotions, all within a computer.
And P&G will even act on unsolicited feedback. In April 2007, for example, P&G's UK hotline got a call from a consumer who was having trouble opening a box of Daz. The call was fed into a feedback process which shortly after resulted in a new box design that was easier to open.
Another example is the cap on P&G detergent bottles. In response to consumer feedback, P&G researched and developed new materials to ensure the product was leak-proof but much easier to open.
These are some of the examples of how P&G is working to reduce the environmental impact of its packages while ensuring that P&G products are easy to use and fit with consumers' needs and expectations.