The economy is tight, there is no doubt about it. We are now officially in a recession, or, rather, it has been proclaimed we have been in a recession for the past year. Like who didn’t know? So in a tough economy it is prudent to look for places to cut business costs. It is also prudent to make sure in your cost cutting efforts you don’t make the wrong choices.
Many companies right away start cutting from their workforces. They layoff people and load up the rest with extra duties and greater demands. This can be smart, up to a point. It can also be the wrong move. Sometimes it is more prudent to recruit new personnel from the rich pool of layoffs. Someone else’s mistake can prove your good fortune, provided you are astute in your selections and in vetting people with your preemployment screening process.
Unilever will be cutting costs in what these days is a unique effort. Innovative, in fact. According to an article in Ad Age Unilever will be reducing its color palette used for packaging from 100 colors to six. These colors will be complementary and used for its spreads and dressings in the European market. Unilever is calling this effort Project Rainbow.
The company believes it can save tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars. They will gain the advantage of buying fewer color inks in larger volume, saving money there. Advances in technology has enabled designers to be more innovative for less production cost. There is the environmental advantage because there is less wasted ink to dispose of.
In all, some marketing and branding people believe it can save the entire industry something like $5 Billion. That is a lot of money, even in the age of trillion dollar bailouts. Of course, there are other branding strategists who believe the jury is still out on whether the truncated color range will prove at least equally as attractive to consumers. Data on this should be pretty interesting. In this tight economy, and with all the einvornmental concerns, how many people really care a bout the added colors to their packaged goods?
The major point of all this is there are a variety of ways to cut costs during economic hard times. Or any other time, for that matter. As I wrote early, some cost cutting costs are wiser than others. This seems to be one of them. Perhaps, rather than layoff your workers, recruit those who can bring such innovative ideas to the table. The money you spend on their salaries may just give you the edge.
