Category Archives: Packaging

It’s called ‘invisible advertising’ and has the power to create a strong attachment or completely turn people off. The power of packaging reminds us what irrational beings we all are, buying because of a shape, colour, wording or picture. But behind all this emotionality, there is a definite science.

Picture the scene: you’re doing the weekly shop. There are 50 aisles to walk up and down, and an average of 40,000 products in the supermarket. You have just 20 minutes to get around (that’s officially a measly 0.03 second per product).

It’s easy to see how responses to packaging happen in a split-second, and it is these responses determine whether a customer chooses to pick up your product or walk on by.

Go wild in the aisles

Research shows that more than 70% of purchasing decisions are made at the point of purchase, depending entirely on how we feel at the time and shoppers spend less than three seconds scanning a shelf of products they’re interested in. It’s these reasons that compel brands to always communicate the right product messages on pack with as much impact as they can muster.

Packaging should especially be a major focus for brands that don’t spend a lot (or anything at all) on advertising, as it’s the one form of communication that people choose to bring into their homes. It’s also one of the foremost ways people define who they are: whether you buy Lindt or Green & Black’s, Tiptree or Bonne Maman, it communicates something about your identity and values. So packaging is an extremely powerful tool in brand positioning, and needs to clearly reinforce a product’s positioning.

Standing out from the crowd

Stand-out on the shelf is a primary need for food manufacturers. After all, you may have the most beautiful packaging, but if customers overlook it, it’s entirely useless.

The four key elements that can help differentiate your product packaging are:

COLOUR: One of the major factors that differentiate a product or brand, in terms of recognition and also stand-out on shelf. Brands who ‘own’ a particular colour and maintain consistency over time have stronger places in people’s minds, eg Coca Cola, Cadbury, Selfridges and Veuve Cliquot.

SHAPE: Some brands develop a unique product or packaging shape. A Coca Cola, Evian or Perrier bottle is immediately recognisable. Likewise with Toblerone, Marmite and Dorset Cereals.

IMAGES: Pictures convey an idea with impact and can create a powerful emotional response. Whether your brand is innovative, uses natural products, is witty or has heritage, you can make the point with a carefully chosen image. Gü redefined its category by making its puddings sexy.

COPY: Packaging copy has been largely overlooked in the past as it was used to communicate the contents briefly and dryly. But brands are using it more to lend themselves a personality. A great example of this is Innocent, who communicate their brand with unflagging humour.

Different strokes

It’s interesting to see how many brands are producing great packaging design to capture those consumers treating themselves to small luxuries in a difficult market. Evolve has developed a premium brand identity for its series of organic cold pressed oils, using carafe-style glass bottles with a pour spout in the lid, while Babees honey has used hand-drawn calligraphy and stripes on each jar that reference bees and create a stylish design. Gouash fruit spreads from Canada quite literally raised their brand to great art by launching its products in paint tubes, while Russian haute couture spirits brand Denis Simachëv Vodka took inspiration from the iconic bottles of local Troynov eau-de-cologne, strongly identifying its customers as stylish and sophisticated. It fits in with the thinking that customers don’t differentiate between product and packaging, attributing the same values to both.

Innovating in your pack design also grabs attention as it challenges the norm – and stands out on shelves. Pringles changed the perception that crisps should always come in a bag – and elevated the product to something more valuable (and less shattered). German Hauswein launched new packaging that reclassified wines, using Pantone-inspired labelling that is easy to identify, and Rocombe ice cream reinforces its premium positioning with a pack design that uses witty character stereotypes, shying away from the expected ‘hand-made in Devon’ proposition. Tea, too, has mostly been about heritage until the Damn Fine Tea Company in London produced limited-edition gourmet leaves in tins with stunning hand-printed labels, while Nusa Kitchen used high-resolution photos of winter knits to highlight the handmade quality of their seasonal soups; they quickly became collectors’ items and customers requested more patterns. And finally, Jomon rice manages to straddle ethnic authenticity and contemporary designer in a fabric bag.

That’s packaging for you. It can entertain your customers, make them think,
surprise them or help connect with them on a deep emotional level.

All in less than three seconds.

Jo Stedman, SO Creative, London packaging designers

Recession proof

It’s no surprise that the trendy hipsters of Shoreditch are raiding Oxfam shops for tweed, braces and brogues – and moustaches and beards are reappearing on those in the know. It’s part of the huge nostalgia trend which food brands are lapping up – and their customers are asking for seconds.

What’s it about?

In times of trouble – war, economic downturns, natural disasters and the like – we shrink the world down to what we know to feel secure and reassured, and look back to perceived simpler times. Many food brands today understand that to communicate their past – whether real or imaginary – gives them a strong sense of permanence and restates their values, important when people are looking for comfort.

What are we seeing?

Old brands, especially sweets and other ‘treat’ foods, are reworking and reintroducing archive packaging to communicate their heritage, often reinstating fondly-remembered products at the same time. New brands are reworking nostalgic propositions to create something new. At the same time, it’s interesting to see how many heritage foods like Battenberg cake, trifle and Victoria sponges are making their way onto the menus of the great chefs.

Who’s doing what?

Lots of chocolate bars are being resuscitated to please children of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Nestlé brought back Drifter (plus the limited edition Drifter McFlurry collaboration), the 1970s Texan Bar, as well as back TV advertising of the nerdy Milky Bar Kid showing 50 years of tense-looking speccy blond boys staring vacantly at the camera. Burton Food’s re-launched caramel Wagon Wheel with 1970s-style gold packaging, and Walkers revived Monster Munch in its original 1977 design and flavours, rehiring the stars of old TV advertisements to lend authenticity. There’s Brannigan’s crisps harking back to the brand’s original brown paper bag design but in very 21^st century low fat versions – while Doritos taco-favour chips are using their original 1960s packaging, and Birds Eye made us a gift of the much-missed Arctic Roll in a 1970s-feel cardboard box.

At last, brands are listening to their customers to find out what they really, really want. So a Facebook campaign brought back Cadbury’s Wispa, which overnight became the UK’s most bought bar, and Findus asked their customers if they wanted to see Chicken Curry Crispy Pancakes – every student’s favourite – and received an overwhelming yes. Interesting that Hovis relaunched its original-size 400g loaf for singletons.

Great to see Ben Shaws soft drinks relaunched with retro designs and real heritage flavours of cloudy lemonade, dandelion and burdock and bitter shandy. Cadbury’s meanwhile are reworking packaging for Curly Wurly, Fudge, Chomp and Freddo bars, inspired by original old designs. Interesting that recent US Celebrity Apprentice finalists were tasked with designing retro packaging for 7UP on the show. Spot on.

Brand propositions

Products themselves are following the trend, with M&S introducing nostalgic sandwiches with old-fashioned fillings (jam, ham and corned beef) for those who can’t make their own. It’s gratifying to hear people talking about different UK apple varieties (there are 1,200 – just imagine!) and knobbly-shaped peppers, carrots and parsnips about to return to our shelves. Interesting too that the Dewhurst chain of butchers, once Britain’s biggest, is currently being revived, as part of a new venture to reinvigorate old British brands. And even rebrewed Maxwell House instant coffee – once the preserve of sophisticated 1970s kaftan-wearers – which Kraft has updated in Mocha, Irish Crème and Orange Cappuccino flavours.

New heritage brands

Newly minted brands are cashing in on the craze for the past, with no heritage of their own, apart from what they communicate. Alchemist Dreams in the UK makes the world’s first custom liqueurs, each blended by hand to order in small batches, decanted into an old-fashioned bottle with a red ribbon, sealed with a blob of wax and a personalized, hand printed label. Likewise, Doss Blockos beer in New York, whose packaging is inspired by the squatters of the 1990s, with each bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag reflecting the lager’s stripped-back approach to brewing, and London’s Sipsmith premium vodka and gin brand whose old-fashioned line drawings nod to traditional craftsmanship, and gives the brand instant heritage.

It’s great to see new ideas around you – but it’s also comforting to be reminded where you’ve come from.