Fresh takes from The Simons Group add zest to Roman Decorating packages

The problem: Roman Decorating Products needed fresh ideas for its product packaging. Getting wallpaper and paint products on retailers’ shelves can be an exacting, exhaustive process that requires creativity and attention to detail, as well as very fast turnarounds. Unfortunately, the design agency Roman was using was fresh out of fresh ideas. And cost was an ongoing concern.

The solution: Impressed with the strong visual sense evident in The Simons Group’s design portfolio, Roman hired us to develop new ideas. Now, two years later, the ideas remain fresh, the cost remains right and the products are showing to best advantage.

The story: Roman Decorating Products is the nation’s leading manufacturer of wallcovering adhesives and related products. The innovative Calumet City, Ill.,-based company is an industry leader in new product development, but when it comes to placing products in stores the challenges can be particularly rigorous.

“We were looking for fresh ideas in our product packaging,” says Lynn Pierce, Roman’s marketing manager. “Wallpaper paste isn’t always very exciting, but the packaging needs to be eye-catching. We needed some ideas that the agency we were using just wasn’t coming up with.”

Enter The Simons Group. During a sales presentation, Pierce and her colleagues were impressed with the breadth, depth and strength of the portfolio.

“There was a strong design component throughout the portfolio, and it spanned a wide range of industries and products,” Pierce says. “The overall quality was there, and there was a good, strong sense of visual innovation. It just looked right.”

The Simons Group started providing the right look for Roman products in 2005. In some cases, our designers shot their own photos to be sure the end result was exactly what they had in mind. The result was distinctive package designs and concepts that were flexible enough to accommodate Roman’s needs.

“Our packaging can change,” says Pierce. “We may start going to market with a product, then put it in line review with specific customers and they want changes in the packaging. We’ll accommodate that, but it can create some very tight deadlines.”

The tight deadlines can create production challenges that require innovative solutions. For one line review, 150 package prototypes had to be shipped to Florida within 72 hours. With no time to waste, The Simons Group team worked with a printer to get professional-quality printed proofs done overnight, hand-cut the cardboard backing for each package, hand-punched holes to accept the twist ties needed to hold the product on the packaging, glued the proofs to the cardboard backs, attached the product, packed and sealed the cartons and sent them out on time.

“The Simons Group turns things around on a dime,” says Pierce. “And they do what it takes to make things work. Some customers are requiring Spanish on all their packaging, and some require us to use their translators. That can be time-consuming, and it presents its own set of design challenges, but The Simons Group gets it done.”

Not only that, she adds, it’s done with a smile.

“I would absolutely recommend The Simons Group to any company,” Pierce says. “Not just because they’re responsive and cost-effective and keep giving us fresh, innovative ideas: they’re also willing to work with us. They’re friendly, easy to work with and accommodating. It’s a good working relationship that produces the end results we want. That’s having the best of all worlds.”

For more information about how The Simons Group can help your organization with print and electronic marketing projects, contact Lee Zoldan at lzoldan@thesimonsgroup.com.

The Simons Group 303 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 1109, Chicago, IL  60601     Phone: 312/252-8900   Fax: 312/252-8909