The Importance of Branding

in a B2B Environment

Done well, branding helps build a

relationship-oriented environment

versus a transaction-oriented one,

increasing the opportunity for value-

based pricing and longer term

associations. Branding also supports

organic growth and drives home a

defensible, competitve advantage via

a well-defined value proposition.

How Building a Differentiated Brand Can Help Build Our Business

Situation Analysis: We are operating in an increasingly competitive environment that is compounded by a relatively slow growth volume and margin environment for our customers. The global middle class, which drives the lions share of the consumer marketplace, is financially challenged by stagnant growth in real wages and purchasing power, and that is being felt by the majority of our customers. In response, many of our customers are consolidating their portfolios, focusing on their marquee brands and taking more active steps to streamline supply chains to control costs and increase profits. They are also looking to innovation as a way to build their businesses and extend the life cycle of their most important brands.

Why Must We Build and be Stewards of Our Brand?: With that as a backdrop, we as an organization, especially on the consumer side, must find ways to drive organic growth. Our growth can take the form of brand new, incremental business, deeper penetration into existing customer portfolios, or by offering value-added services, beyond just package production that will lead to increased “share of customer.” All offer the possibility of increased sales and profits. The reality is, good, bad, or indifferent, we are a brand. We are not a consumer brand, but we are a brand nonetheless, just like our competitors. The question is, what is our brand and what are we doing to proactively manage and shape it? One thing is for certain, if we don’t define our brand, our customers will define it for us and in reality they already have. We just don’t happen to know with any certainty what it is, or if it is defined consistently across our customer base. We know anecdotally that many customers feel like they are working with 3 or 4 different companies, not one. To build a strong , differentiated brand that can help deliver and support a sustainable competitive advantage, we must have everyone in a customer facing role be able to consistently define who we are, what we stand for, why we are different and how we add value.

How Do We Do This?: A key to our success from a sales and marketing standpoint will be our ability to communicate value and cultivate higher level relationships within organizations that move us beyond responding to RFP’s distributed by procurement, but rather place us in a position to receive RFH’s (Requests for Help) that may come from marketing, or research and development. To achieve this, we must build a brand and a reputation that goes beyond that of a vendor/commodity supplier of a particular substrate, to one that positions us as a value-added partner who works collaboratively with our customers to provide solutions to problems that go beyond just a package. Our ability to do this successfully will give us a competitive advantage, help drive organic growth, create opportunities for volume and margin improvement, as well as customer expansion. This is what BRANDING is all about. It is not purely a creative communications device, it is a sales and marketing tool that opens doors, builds relationships and drives sales. That being said, a key component of BRANDING is developing, defining and communicating a differentiating value proposition. It is how we tell our story in a compelling and consistent way. With that in mind, we have attempted to create a branding and communications guide that will provide a common language for the organization to use when talking about our IPS (Innovative Packaging Solutions) purpose and the subsequent components that make up our unique value proposition—360° Customized Solutions and our i6 Innovation Process.

How Building a Differentiated Brand Can Help Build Our Business

-We are taking a trip together. -Just like any trip, we have an ultimate destination. -In our case it is our “Purpose”: Enhancing customers’ products with innovative packaging solutions. -The directions to our destination and key milestones along the way--our roadmap--along with the checklist of what we need to get us there, are found in our “One Page Plan.” -Any trip requires a means of transportation to get us there safely and on time—in our case a car—our car is represented by our Differentiating Capabilities and Key Focus Areas. -As you know every car is made up of different parts-a transmission, fuel pump, radiator, tires, etc. and our Differentiating Capabilities and Key Focus Areas are made up of different elements as well, such as quality and service excellence, safety, people, supply chain excellence, etc. -Every car also requires fuel and two of the specific elements that will fuel our trip are Ideation and Innovation. -But, all fuel has to be discovered and extracted. This will be done through our new i6 Innovation Process. -Then the fuel has to be refined into a usable form—sometimes different grades and different octane's depending on the final use. Our refining takes place as we build a 360° Customized Solution for our customer. -When we bring all of these things together, we will reach our final destination, or our purpose.

Purpose One Page Plan

Differentiating Capabilities and Key Focus Areas

Ideation and Innovation

Our Journey to Re-envision Sonoco Connecting our Purpose with our Value Proposition

360° Customized Solutions

Purpose: Innovative Packaging Solutions (IPS)

360 Customized Solutions

I6 Innovation Process

Ideation and Innovation

Differentiating Capabilities

How our One Page Plan Leads to Innovative Packaging Solutions (IPS) for our Customers

Tools for Building a Differentiated Brand

In addition to developing our value proposition and defining a common language to articulate it across the organization, there are several other elements that will help us build and reinforce our brand. These tools fall into two basic categories: research and communications. Research: In defining our brand messaging and value proposition, ideally we would have the benefit of qualitative information gained from externally focused research concentrated in two areas—competitive positioning and customer perceptions. In terms of competitive positioning it would be helpful to have an understanding of not only what our competitors value propositions are, but a better understanding of how customers see our competitors relative to us, as well as the competitive landscape in relation to the benefits and value that they (customers) are looking for and who is providing it. This kind of data usually comes in the form of a Perceptual Mapping Study. With respect to customer perceptions, not only is that something you can gain from a perceptual mapping study , they can also be used to identify opportunities and benefits (white space) that can be exploited via a product, service or message. In addition to this outward facing data, it is also critical that we achieve consensus on the internal facets of our brand that impact our culture, as well as how and what we communicate to our constituents—our brand values, brand character, brand promise and brand positioning. A Brand Perception or Brand Tracker Study can be used to better understand how we are perceived by our customers, and it also serves to determine how well our messages are working and resonating—are we in fact being perceived the way we would like and do customers find our approach valuable? Certainly information gained from implementing NPS (Net Promoter Score) will be helpful, but more robust studies in these other areas would provide valuable insights that we could advantage from a marketing and communications standpoint. Communications: Once we have the information that confirms our positioning and competitive advantage, we must communicate that information. In considering some basic communications mediums that could be part of our toolbox and used across the organization we have identified several: -Corporate Capabilities Video -Updated Corporate Capabilities/Credentials Presentation -Brand Messaging Guide -IPS (Innovative Packaging Solutions) Focused Capabilities Presentation -A Suite of White Papers and Case Studies

Ultimately, how we answer these questions is what defines our brand. It’s not about how we look; it’s about what we believe and the value that we deliver to all of our constituents. It is how we are perceived. It is about making an emotional and a rational connection that leads to an engaged relationship with the organization where customers care enough to become advocates and evangelists of our brand and our values.

IT IS IN A WORD, A PROMISE

The primary purpose of this initiative is to develop a core set of messages that together answer the following questions related to Sonoco generally and our Consumer Packaging and Services Group specifically: ___________________________ 1. WHO ARE WE? ___________________________ 2. WHAT DO WE STAND FOR? ___________________________ 3. WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT? ___________________________ 4. HOW CAN WE ADD VALUE TO YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR BRAND?

Building A Brand That Sticks

What a Brand Is Not

A Logo

A Tagline A Product Name

B R A N D E S S E N C E : The brand’s promise expressed in the simplest, most single-minded terms C O R E B E L I E FS : People don’t just buy things, they buy the story about the thing. P O S I T I O N I N G : Positioning breaks through barriers of oversaturated markets to create new opportunities and defend existing ones. It works as a sorting device to help simplify options for customers. It is the way we want customers to perceive, think and feel about our product or service relative to competitors. TAGLINE: A tagline is a clarifier, slogan or company statement that captures positioning, distinguishes the company from its competitors and creates interest. It reminds people why they should do business with you. BRAND PROMISE: A brand promise is a statement, or collection of statements that communicate what a customer can expect from a brand.

Image and perception help drive value; without an image there is no value.

In the early-to-mid 1980s, IBM did not have the best computer systems or pricing. “Big Blue,” however, became the enterprise systems market leader because you never got fired for buying IBM (same with Cisco today). IT Directors “bought” a relationship, company, reputation, service, people, assurance. In other words they bought goodwill or the brand.

The Sonoco Brand

Unique

Compelling

Differentiating

Engaging Authentic

Relevant

Trustworthy

“Products are created in the factory, brands are created in the mind.”

Everything that we do to develop a relationship with another individual or an organization is in essence “branding.” That process involves building, then conveying a personality that is:

The specific components that we work with are: -Defining and communicating our unique value proposition -Developing a differentiated messaging platform that will engage people on an emotional and rational level This is also supported by our graphic identity which can help to convey our personality and differentiate us from our competitors.

Save Money. Live Better.-Wal-Mart Expect More. Pay Less.-Target

Determining Our Brand DNA

Brand Attributes A brand is a mixture of attributes, tangible and intangible, which, if managed properly, creates value and influence. These define our marketable properties.

Brand Positioning Statement Defines the target audience, includes their primary needs and presents how the brand satisfies those needs through product design, process, performance, etc.

Benefits Laddering Matrix -Primary Target -Usage Behavior -Needs -Product Benefit -Customer Benefit -Emotional Benefit

Engineering Credibility -Reasons Why (Intrinsic)

Design Process Research -Permission to Believe (Extrinsic) Endorsement (3rd party) Equity Bank (heritage/firsts)

Messaging Platform A collection of specific, differentiating statements/concepts that address key, relevant issues of our target audience.

Building Our Brand Positioning

Positioning involves six elements: Customer needs: Both physical (functional) and psychographic (emotional). Ideally we would also know the relative order of importance. Target customer group: Most likely prospects and the most important constituency within the organization. Could also be defined by mindset based on needs. (May consider development of target profiles/personas). Competitive framework: Helps our customer see what products/services our can be substituted for, and helps us identify the primary source of volume for our brand. It should also stretch our customers’ thinking beyond just our direct competitors in the category which allows us to occupy unclaimed “white space.” Benefit: Defines what’s in it for our customer and can capture product (functional), customer (functional) or emotionally-focused benefits that establish our point of differentiation. Reasons-why: Captures proof points that are intrinsic (design or process driven) or extrinsic (endorsements, heritage, etc.) that provide permission to believe. Brand character: This defines who we are as an organization and captures our personality traits, what we believe in, our values, etc.

The positioning statement captures the six foundational elements: To (Target customer group and need), Sonoco is the brand of (Competitive framework) that (Benefit), because (Reasons-why). The brand character is (Reflects who we are and captures our personality as an organization).

Building A Brand Positioning Statement

Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Brand Communications Architecture

-Corporate Purpose Statement -Core Corporate Brand Values -Corporate Tagline -Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Positioning Statement -Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Promise -Corporate Value Proposition -Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Reasons-Why/Permission to Believe -Corporate Value Proposition “Elevator Speech” -Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Messaging Platform -Innovative Packaging Solutions Communications Architecture

Corporate Purpose Statement

Enhancing Customers’ Products with Innovative Packaging Solutions

The Sonoco Tagline/Mantra

The Sonoco tagline or mantra is designed to, as succinctly as possible, capture what it is that we do and more importantly, what makes us different. It also functions to drive interest from various audiences to learn more about the organization and to serve as a jumping off point for us to tell our story. Certainly one sentence cannot capture everything that we do and all that we have to offer, but it can capture the essence of what we do, plant a seed that there is something different about us and serve as a foundation for communication that is broad enough to encompass multiple messages.

We Bring More To Packaging Than Just A Package

This tagline also offers us the opportunity to develop an extendable message that supports our point of differentiation—the fact that we are a customized solutions focused company with a broad portfolio of packaging, services and capabilities that go well beyond providing just a package. The “ing” in packaging provides a communications platform or creative device to help tell our complete story—innovating, customizing, researching, testing, etc., all words ending in “ing” that support different elements of our value proposition and communicate the tangible and intangible benefits and capabilities that make us different.

Our company places an intense focus on insights, innovation and customization. We see

ourselves, and operate as, a solutions company that offers packaging, rather than as just a

packaging company that happens to offer solutions. We believe this kind of mindset helps to

shape our culture and drives our organization to think and act differently. We encourage

curiosity, we ask questions, we look at situations without any pre-conceived ideas and we

work collaboratively across functions and disciplines without caring about pride of

authorship of an idea. This philosophy and approach creates fertile ground for breakthrough

innovations and solutions for our customers.

What also makes us different is we believe that if your only tool is a hammer, then every

problem looks like a nail. For that reason, we have created a very large toolbox that our

customers can access that goes beyond just a package. We are uniquely positioned to do

this because we offer an unparalleled range of packaging products and services, combined

with a broad spectrum of technical capabilities and a unique, formalized process for

innovation we call i6. Collectively, this set of capabilities, product and service offerings and

approach to purpose-driven innovation allows us to deliver a 360° customized solution for

our customers that may involve a package, or it could just as easily involve an innovative

manufacturing process, or a system to improve supply chain integration.

This business model is truly unmatched in the industries in which we compete and allows

us to fulfill our purpose of providing our customers with innovative packaging solutions that

enhance their business and their brand.

Sonoco IPS “Elevator Speech”

To industry leading marketers of consumer packaged goods, who are looking for innovative packaging or services that will give them a competitive advantage from a production, product, promotion or pricing standpoint, Sonoco is the only globally diversified packaging company that can deliver a truly packaging neutral, customized solution. We can do this because we have unparalleled global scale, the industry’s broadest portfolio of packaging and packaging services offerings, a unique, insights-driven innovation process, and a diverse base of intellectual capital in material science, manufacturing and packaging technology. Our brand character is friendly, earnest, curious, collaborative, solutions-oriented, passionate and flexible.

“Draft” Positioning Statement for Consumer Packaging and Services

Our vision is to create ICONIC packaging solutions that bring meaning to your brand. We believe that packaging is a key brand differentiator and is an integral part of your brand growth and we want to be there to make it happen. We believe “What if?” is a powerful question and that a problem well stated is a problem half-solved. We are intentional in our approach and take the time upfront to make sure we ask the right questions to solve the right problem. We start with a blank slate, without pre-conceived ideas, material or services solution already in mind. We believe if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Our large toolbox enables us to develop a packaging neutral, customized solution for you. Collaboration and curiosity are at the core of our DNA. We build partnerships that foster open dialogue, ignite innovative thinking and ensure that we remain focused on exceeding your marketing goals and operational objectives. Your goals, challenges and realities become our rally cries for a common vision. We use our deep material science, experience, process and capabilities to deliver a 360° Customized Solution that differentiates your business and your brand. Our customized solutions will be realistic from a production and marketing standpoint—if you can’t make it, or you can’t make it cost effectively, you can’t use it, we understand that. Our manufacturing intimacy and capabilities allow us to rapidly prototype and test to ensure that we meet your supply chain needs quickly, seamlessly and cost effectively. We love your brands and will be stewards to protect and honor them.

Consumer Packaging and Packaging Services Customer Promise

Sonoco Core Values

Curiosity

Collaboration

Imagination

Objectivity/Holistic Thinking

Initiative

Service Mindset Customer Focus

Respect

Innovation Integrity/Trust

Brand Attributes: Reasons-Why/Permission To Believe

An unparalleled portfolio of packaging formats and ancillary services provides our customers with wide-ranging solutions that

can advantage their brand

The opportunity to leverage our breadth of transferrable

knowledge gained from diverse experiences working across a

range of products and categories

With 350 locations in 34 countries we have the global scale to

support our customers wherever they operate, as well as

harnessing the knowledge gained from a global perspective and

experience

A disciplined, repeatable and scalable innovation process called

i6 that is driven by market insights and the specific needs of our customers and is designed to

produce innovative solutions

An unprecedented range of materials, technical disciplines, services, material science and intellectual capital that can be

integrated to develop a unique, 360° Customized Solution

A 115 year history and heritage of serving customers and solving

problems across a range of industries

Core Beliefs

-We are first and foremost a solutions company that offers packaging, rather than a packaging company that happens to offer solutions. -We believe that a passionate focus on insights, innovation, customization and collaboration will allow us to consistently exceed the needs and expectations of our customers, resulting in success for their business and their brand. -We believe in always doing the right thing.

Key Points of Differentiation

Insights: In addition to mining the rich, experience-based intellectual capital within the

organization, we engage in primary and secondary market and consumer research to identify unmet needs in the marketplace. This highly qualitative research helps us gain a better understanding of how consumers interact with our customers’ product and packaging, while informing our thinking and guiding our innovation process.

Innovation: By using our unique, i6 Innovation Process we are able to imagine, test, produce

and implement innovative solutions designed around the specific needs of our customer. This process takes us from uncovering market opportunities, to generating potential approaches, to rapid prototyping where we can test proof of principle, to gauging performance in a retail environment, all the way through the completed product life-cycle.

Customization: By integrating the broadest portfolio of packaging formats and services in the

industry, with an unprecedented range of scientific, design, research and process capabilities, along with our unique innovations process, we are able to develop a 360° Customized Solution for our customers that is packaging neutral.

Intellectual Capital: We are able to access and apply deep and diverse intellectual capital to

help solve our customers problems. With expertise in wide ranging technical disciplines, combined with our real-world experience across products, applications and categories , we can leverage this knowledge to develop more targeted, innovative solutions, faster for our customers.

Visualizing Our Key Points of Differentiation

Insights

Innovation

Customization

Intellectual Capital

Messaging Platform

Purpose: Taken from our one page plan Process: Focuses on a discussion and description of the i6 Innovation Process Practice: Focuses on how we integrate our process, portfolio and technical capabilities to develop a 360° Customized Solution People: Focuses on our unique intellectual capital Portfolio: Description of our wide range of packaging formats and services

A messaging platform provides a collection of messages that can be used independently or collectively to tell our story and drive home our differentiated value proposition. When building a marketing communications platform to support our innovative packaging solutions story we arranged our messages in 5 categories:

Messaging Platform Purpose

Our purpose as an organization is to enhance our customers’ products with innovative packaging solutions. These solutions don’t always have to involve an actual package. They may take the form of a manufacturing process that helps streamline production, they may involve a distribution model that improves our customer’s supply chain management, or they may incorporate developing a system to help our customer operate more sustainably. Ultimately, our goal is to work collaboratively with our customers to develop solutions that will advance their business, whether that involves a package, a process, or a service.

Purpose Purpose

At the core of how we develop innovative solutions for our customers is the rigorous and thoughtful engagement of our unique i6 Innovation Process. This repeatable, scalable approach involves six key steps: Insights, Ideation, Innovation, Integration, Interaction and Iteration. The i6 Process incorporates market and consumer research to identify opportunities, idea generation involving our customer and internal cross-functional teams, various technical capabilities to evaluate proof-of-principle, a range of testing methodologies to gauge real world application and life-cycle analysis to evaluate performance and look at the next stage in the product evolution. By following this disciplined, step-by-step approach we are able to fully imagine, test, produce and implement an innovative solution that provides our customers with a sustainable competitive advantage that exceeds their needs and expectations.

Messaging Platform Process

Process Process

Insights

In addition to mining the rich, experience-based intellectual capital within the organization, our first step in the innovation process is to engage in primary and secondary market and consumer research to identify unmet needs in the marketplace. This highly qualitative research also helps us gain a better understanding of how consumers interact with our customers’ product and packaging, while informing our thinking and guiding our innovation process.

Ideation

The ideation phase of the i6 process utilizes the consumer behavior information gathered from our insights phase and combines that knowledge with market insights and an understanding of our customer’s marketing goals. We then engage in cross-functional, cross-discipline focused brainstorming and leverage the expertise in these integrated teams to develop a suite of ideas and approaches that can be evaluated.

Invention

The third step in our process, which is the invention phase, is when we begin to test “proof-of-principle” related to the most promising ideas generated in the ideation stage. At this phase we are able to utilize our rapid-prototyping capabilities, packaging and material science labs, our pilot plant to conduct manufacturing test runs, as well as our consumer research capabilities to gauge the feasibility of one or more approaches.

Integration

At the integration stage we determine how to best incorporate the solution from an operational perspective, where we consider things like process development , manufacturing, designing for sustainability and graphics management. It is at this stage where we also closely examine and evaluate the practicality of the approach from a production and pricing standpoint.

Interaction

At the interaction stage we examine ways to maximize market impact in terms of customer interaction in the selling environment. Here we may conduct testing in a retail environment, evaluate in-store marketing programs, or conduct eye-tracking studies to determine graphics and design appeal.

Iteration

In the last step of our process, the iteration phase, we offer a complete product life-cycle solution and begin looking for the next evolution that can advantage our customer. At this stage we’ll evaluate product, promotion and package performance. We will also look at supply chain integration, as well as things like manufacturing performance systems and recycling.

Messaging Platform Practice

We believe that if your only tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. That’s why we have created a large toolbox that our customers can access to help them meet their goals. When we integrate our i6 Innovation Process with our unparalleled range of packaging formats and services, along with our extensive scientific, technical, design and process capabilities , we are able to deliver a truly packaging neutral, 360° Customized Solution.

Practice

Messaging Platform People

The broad base of intellectual capital and expertise that we bring to our customer engagements allows us to add significant value when we are developing innovative solutions for our customers. We believe in a collaborative approach geared toward building relationships, not transactions. We are able to access and apply what we have learned from a diverse range of situations, experiences and challenges across a spectrum of products, categories applications and geographies, to create customized solutions.

Diverse Experience

Relationship Building

Intellectual Capital

Problem Solving

Messaging Platform Portfolio

Our portfolio of packaging formats and services is unparalleled in our industry. With 15 packaging, or packaging related formats, combined with 18 different process, design, research or service-oriented options, we can offer our customers a truly packaging neutral, customized solution.

IPS (Innovative Packaging Solutions) Brand Nomenclature

The IPS mark represents our over-arching purpose of delivering Innovative Packaging Solutions the enhance our customers’ business and their brands.

The 360 Customized Solutions mark represents just that. It helps to communicate what we are able to deliver to customers who access our entire portfolio, capabilities and innovation process; a packaging neutral, 360° customized solution built around their specific needs.

Our i6 mark is used to signify our unique, formalized, 6-step innovation process: Insights, Ideation, Innovation, Integration, Interaction and Iteration.

This mark is used to reinforce our corporate purpose statement that also lives as part of our One Page Plan

We bring more to packaging than just the package

Insights Innovation Customization

That means we can bring more to the table when helping our customers solve their toughest packaging and marketing challenges. Weare able to do this by offering the industry’s broadest range of packaging formats and services, combined with our unique, i6 Innovation Process and our deep technical expertise in design, packaging, testing and material science. Together, this allows us to develop a trulypackaging neutral, 360° Customized Solution that enhances your business and your brand

For more on how we can collaborate to develop a customized solution for you, contact us at: 360solutions@sonoco.com

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