Article No. 003

IS THERE POWER IN YOUR PACKAGING?

Hours, days, weeks, months and even years can go into perfecting your product. You’ve done your research and sourced all the right ingredients to make your product the best in the world. You’ve perfected your craft and have finally nailed it! The flavour is unmatchable. The scent, texture, and consistency are all perfectly balanced, leaving you with an amazing product you just can’t wait to share with the world.

Now it’s time to put all your secrets in a vessel, wrap it in a label and gently place it in a box that brings all your hard work and dedication to life. Then you finally get to sit back and watch it fly off the shelves… right? Right?! RIGHT?!

Ok, sorry for yelling – but I get fired up about this stuff, because how can you be sure? How do you know if your packaging does your product justice and connects with people in a way that makes them want to put it in their cart, bring it home and make it part of their lives? 

Here are my thoughts on the difference between a package and packaging.

Question; Have you ever made a purchase at a grocery or liquor store based on nothing except how the product looks? Have you ever said or heard someone say “that looks good, let’s try it”? If you’re like me, of course you have! Chances are you’ve bought a product to be an accent piece in your kitchen. That said, I am a designer who has worked in the CPG industry for decades, so there’s a lot of added passion for research nestled in there. Designer or not, everyone has done it and it continues to happen every day.

An article from IPSOS states that 72% of people base their purchasing decision simply on the design of the package. 62% base their decisions on materials used. And a staggering 81% state the design influences gift buying. Case in point: you could have the best product in the world that falls short simply because the package hasn’t been thought out properly. The reality is, once your product is bundled and gets picked up by a couple of retail locations, it will most likely be merchandised beside a similar product. If you haven’t gone through a professional packaging design process, chances are the package beside you (regardless of the product itself) is going look better, feel better, and tell a better story that makes a stronger connection.

So how do you win? Let me shed some light on how industry leaders increase the value of their products and help grow their businesses through the power of packaging.

People First

It goes without saying that your packaging must look sharp (even though I tell my clients this all the time). But the real nut to crack – and the one to separate your product from the sea of sameness is how to make it look sharp. People must be at the centre of everything you do with your packaging. How do they experience your product? Is it fun, exciting and loud? Or is it understated, subtle and sophisticated. Experiences evoke emotion, and your packaging must do just that in order to make people feel.

There are multiple ways to achieve “feel” with your packaging design. Think colour, texture, shape, language, material, environmental impact, safety, price, opening experience – I could go on. However it can’t just be a part of your product because it just looks good. Every detail that inspires your design must stem from factors that best represent your brand’s core beliefs, the product itself, and the emotions you want the consumer to experience through your packaging and product journey.

In my last article — No. 002 “Is Your Brand Sick?” I mentioned a car is simply the vessel that carries a person through the experiential emotions of the car’s brand. The same goes for packaging. When done properly your packaging should combine all the right details for your product stemming from your brand foundation. This creates an emotional connection with your targeted audience through your packaging design, which must pay attention to the person consuming it. It must be tailored in a way that speaks to them on a visceral level, rather than some flash-in-the-pan design trend. Think of it like this: don’t sell your product. Instead, use it to create emotion and connect with the person who has decided to give you a fraction of their attention in our ever fleeting world. That’s the only way to build a loyal community, over a one and done customer.

Change the Vessel

A lot of products come in the same bottle, jar or shaped container. A technique that is often overlooked (and one of the easiest ways to separate your product from the others), is to rethink your vessel. As I always tell my clients, it’s about harnessing all the details of your product into a purpose-led design and building the right vessel to contain your product. Otherwise it could be overlooked until it expires. 

In the past while working for Tabasco on a few creative strategies for their B2B activations, I dug into the history of the sauce, the brand, the McIlhenny family and so on. This led me down the path of the bottle itself. The unique shape we know today actually stemmed from using a cologne bottle to hold the famous hot sauce, due to the way the sauce would pour out…function first. 105 years later, the bottle has been crafted to the perfect proprietary shape we all know and love today.

The point is that it has added another layer in my packaging process. Now whenever I’m looking at any specific product with a new design in mind, I always research the competition to make sure it stands out. On the other hand, I value tradition and if there’s a rich history sometimes things just need to stay the same. There’s a reason wine bottles all come in a tall cylindrical shape and not square ones like Johnny Walker or Bushmills.  

The next time you’re browsing for a bottle of whiskey or gin, or olive oil or hot sauce, take note of all the unique and beautiful shapes, colours, and textures of every vessel. Take note of which one stands out to you and makes you feel something good about that particular product and brand. If there is one on that shelf that is designed from a place of purpose, I guarantee you will take note.

Author

Kyle McDonald Owner/Creative Director

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