From product to packaging, consumers today expect innovation.
In a world where the traditional marketing mix is being entirely
rethought with customary advertising and promotion giving way to customized offerings informed by big data, the role of packaging is changing as well.
While packaging is still the primary vehicle of trial in a traditional marketing mix where the package needs to stand out and be a reminder of advertising cues, the role of packaging will evolve toward being a billboard of promotion geared toward retrial and loyalty building.
Packaging is the last chance for a brand to end up in a basket. “All other media — publicity, advertising, coupons, social, etc. — is one step or more away from the moment of decision,” says Aaron Keller, chief executive officer and managing principal of Capsule, a Minneapolis-based strategic brand design agency.
“Packaging is crucial because it makes the brand tangible to consumers,” says Ted Mininni, president and creative director of Design Force Inc., Medford, N.J. Whether CPG brands have heritage or they’re new, packaging either attracts customers to buy the brand at the shelf, where 70 percent of purchasing decisions are made, or it doesn’t.”
Packaging Makes the Brand
A brand’s package is its identity. No other brand identity effort generates nearly the reach and impact that packaging does. “Literally 100 percent of all potential consumers see and are influenced by the brand identity before they purchase the brand,” Best of Breed Branding Consortium’s Wallace says. “Advertising, sales promotion, websites and event marketing can never match the reach and influence of brand identity."
Because packaging is the single most influential tool and most highly remembered part of a brand, brand identity should be the cornerstone of an integrated brand communication strategy.
When package design is expertly leveraged, it expresses what the brand is and what it stand for with all of its nuances. In other words, a visual and verbal language is created that is central to the brand and no other brand.
“Research shows that, to consumers, the package is the product,” Design Force’s Mininni says. “Perceptions bout packaging are transferred to branded products themselves. For all of these reasons, packaging should be one of the frst and most important branding tools for marketers.”
– Article by Elizabeth Fuhrman, Progressive Grocer
