Nikola Drašković

Comparative Perception(s) of Consumer Goods Packaging: Croatian Consumers' Perspective

For centuries, packaging communicates and is capable of attracting consumer’s attention. In the B2C market it usually communicates images influencing consumer perception, appeal to the consumer’s emotions, and generate desire for some specific product. Therefore, packaging could be considered as promotional tool, especially within the retail industry environment. However, to understand how packaging communicates and influences consumers it is necessary to emphasize the way how consumers perceive packaging in general. The “communicational” dimensions of packaging are factors that could affect consumers and influence their purchasing behaviour. While some of the communicational dimensions of packaging (e.g. design, size, colour, and carried information) attracted modest attention among academic researchers, there is a relative lack of studies dealing with the packaging material. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a limited insight/overview to generic consumer’s perception of packaging material by combining the findings from the current seminal research studies and primary research used in this paper. Focus groups findings indicate that consumers are merely aware of different packaging material and their characteristics. Consumers are expressing needs for safe packaging, yet the importance of convenience seems to be the most important and they are prepared for some trade-offs in order to maintain usage convenience. It is indicative that preferences of particular packaging material over another are moderated by certain factors (e.g. age, place of consumption, occasion, and product category). Due to sample and research methodology limitations the findings are limited regarding their generic value. However, the indications given can be considered as valuable guidelines necessary for further research in the field.

The 4Cs of the Croatian public healthcare system: social marketing challenges at the dawn of EU accession

As a country nearing EU accession, Croatia faces many political, legal and economical challenges. Harmonisation with EU laws within the public sector is one of the most challenging steps in Croatias accession process. Under the rubric of public sector services, public healthcare is one of the most important as it supports the well being of individuals and society as a whole. The primary aim of this paper is to provide limited insight into Croatian public healthcare from the social marketing perspective. The exploration of the implementation of the social marketing principles is conducted following Lauterborns 4C marketing mix as the theoretical framework. Based on the literature review and primary research finding, this study provides an overview of the implementation of basic social marketing principles within the Croatian public healthcare system. Finally, the authors propose necessary changes to re-focus on user satisfaction and provide guidelines for further research.

Strategic Communication Related to Environmental and Packaging Challenges: Case of Beverage and Dairy Industry in Croatia

Environmental protection has recently become one of the most important issues. European Union (EU) has set clear directives for applicant countries that they must enforce. This paper analyzes the implementation of EU directives concerning packaging waste with the emphasis on communication efforts done by relevant institutions in Croatia. Recycling in Croatia, in limited form, existed during the socialism era and by late 1980s, first containers for the collection of used glass appeared, but all the activities were stopped in the early 1990s as a result of war operations. The activities resumed in the mid 1990s with the introduction of new environmental laws. As part of a harmonization of the legal system with the EU, Croatia recently introduced a number of environmental laws based on European Community (EC) directive 94/62/EC and its amendments 2004/12/EC and 2005/20/EC. After the initial failure in the 1990s, the situation dramatically changed with the introduction of the new Regulations on packaging and packaging waste which presented a new packaging recycling and recovery deposit system managed by the government agency. The new deposit system introduced a system consisting of environmental fees and a deposit stimulating the use of returnable packaging with the setting of specific returnable packaging quotas for different product categories. The introduction of the new Regulations was, with no doubt, quite an opportunity for the Croatian government to start an educational program for Croatian consumers in order to change public environmental consciousness and improve the acceptance of the new deposit system. However, the whole educational and informational role had been passed to the mass media journalists. The new deposit system became a front side story for many Croatian magazines, newspapers and TV stations which sometimes ended with misinterpretations. Overall quality of news published during the first few months of the new deposit system was not at the right level. Despite public appearances and statements of environmental minister and ministry secretaries, there had been a vast number of misleading information present in the mass media. It is quite unclear why the government and especially the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction did not organise a public campaign in order to present the new environmental legislation to broader public. Journalists’ lack of professionalism also facilitated confusion and problems concerning consumers’ perception of environmental consciousness.