8 Ways Package Structure Sells the Brand

Packaging at its best refers back to the brand and leverages its chief assets. It also has the power to become the brand’s most important touch point since it makes it tangible to the consumer. It’s up to packaging to help communicate the brand promise simply, honestly and directly – then deliver – cementing loyalty.

Due to spiraling advertising costs, increasing market fragmentation and a dizzying array of competing products, arguably the most effective marketing spend is packaging, since the consumer directly interacts with it. With that said, too much packaging, like too many products, is perceived by consumers as being “more of the same”. This perception ensures increasing brand parity in one product category after another. So how to stand out and stand apart? Structural packaging.

Many consumer product companies still cling to the idea that packaging should convey features/benefits in a conventional manner. That category colors or the brand signature color should be used with some imagery to sell the product. They think that this is more cost effective than paying for structural packaging. But is it, really? Which packaging doesn’t use similar colors, make similar claims or leverage similar benefits in each category? How does this approach ensure success in a sea of choices? Brand communication is of vital importance when carefully thought out, but the consumer has to be attracted by the package before they will read anything communicated on it.

What first appears to be cost effective packaging might in fact be very costly if sales are lost and consumer connections are not made. The fact is, structural packaging can add more perceived value to brands. It can be as powerful a brand differentiator as the product it contains. Structural packaging has the power to make the brand an instantaneous icon, as it refers to the brand in subtle and not so subtle ways. Expert package designers are able to develop unique, differentiated package design systems; they’re able to leverage the assets of the brand and strongly identify the packaging with the brand in the consumer’s mind.

Not all structural packaging is expensive to produce. Structure can refer to uniquely shaped die-cuts or “windows” to view the product inside of packaging, new innovations on traditional clamshells, embossed or debossed logos, or the incorporation of uniquely identifying elements of the brand or actual products. Design consultancies, ours included, execute one-of-a-kind package design systems with unique structures utilizing these methods. These kinds of tactics produce truly differentiated packaging. More importantly, they become quick, easy identifiers to the customer.

Former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley once observed: “We talk a lot about creating a great purchase experience and a great usage experience. The truth of the matter is that we have to create a great experience every time you touch the brand. The design is a really big part of creating the experience and emotion. Our job is to have more women and their families vote for our brands and products every day than the year before. We stand for election every day, and design is an important part of it.”

This confirms that the package design the consumer sees and picks up off the shelf is as instrumental in selling the product and in creating a positive experience with the brand as the actual product is. If every product is ‘being voted on every day’, shouldn’t package design be viewed as an increasingly important part of a well-developed, overall marketing strategy to sell those products?

Package structure & brand identity.

Structural packaging isn’t new, of course. But, the best examples of structural packaging are those that evolve with the consumer. Coca Cola’s signature contour bottle was born in 1916, thanks to Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana’s proprietary design. There is no structural package in the world that is more widely recognized or more iconic than Coke’s original bottle. Still, Coca-Cola has always innovated and the company didn’t hesitate to package in lightweight aluminum cans in the early 1960’s. The swirl and world-famous script brand identity were merely carried over from the iconic glass bottle. An evolving culture, ever on the move, could now take a six pack of Coke with them wherever they went. 

Even before Andy Warhol raised the Campbell soup can with its signature red and white label to pop art status, the packaging was iconic. When simple pop-top lids were added, the package structure changed in a positive way, bowing to the contemporary demand for more convenience.

Many heritage brands have the ability to revitalize their brand packaging with a more contemporary or functional structure. As long as they leverage the significant brand assets they own onto the refreshed packaging, there isn’t any reason they won’t continue to be successful.

Think of Heinz Ketchup’s fridge door package design that stands on its head. How much more functional is the new design? Remember how great it was when dairy brands added a cap to gable top packaging and how much easier it was to open? How much longer it has kept products fresh? Beverage companies have learned to adopt proprietary structural packaging to help brand and differentiate their products. Think bottled waters, energy drinks, juice drinks.

Some personal care companies have upped the ante with sleek, spa-like packaging to entice consumers. Not only does this package design promise a bit of personal luxury and comfort; it looks so attractive that it can be kept on display in the bathroom, ensuring it will be used quickly and repurchased more often. Distinct designs signify distinctive brands.

Structural packaging engages the senses. A strong visual presence on the shelf prompts the customer to pick up the product since it offers tactile sensations. Once in hand, the consumer will at least skim the key brand communication on the package. That’s one step from purchase.

Not only does structural packaging differentiate, it offers the consumer additional perceived value through product and brand. Structural packaging accomplishes this in 8 ways:

• By offering more user-friendly features than competing brands.
• By focusing on simple, meaningful brand communications on distinctive packaging.
• By offering consumers more convenience or functionality. For example: easy to grasp, takes up less storage space, makes the product easier to use or less messy; all of these features add value to products.
• By offering more protection for the product. Packaging that keep products fresher longer, prevent product deterioration, prevent spillage or breakage constitute real value.
• By offering unique shelf presence in a crowded product category.
• By creating an upscale image for premium-priced products; an edgy one for trend-setting ones; a fun-filled one for toys, etc.
• By leveraging the brand’s heritage equities to the consumer.
• By creating immediately identifiable proprietary package design.

Rethinking Category Packaging.

The simple fact that many brands in a specific category have similar packaging should serve as impetus for redesigned structural packaging that can rise above the rest, seal the deal (make the sale) and keep consumers coming back when they interact with a better-designed, more functional package.

Mattel listened to consumers on social media who expressed frustration with the difficulty of opening toy packaging from plastic clamshells and freeing toys from countless twist-ties. The company teamed up with Amazon to create Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) to counter “wrap rage”. FFP packaging is recyclable and it’s designed to be opened without box cutters or knives. Better yet: toys are as well protected as they were in the old packaging.

Method broke ground with its ultra-concentrated laundry detergent. In fact, it’s eight times more concentrated, with Smartclean Technology™. Ground-breaking products demand ground-breaking packaging. Enter in a sleek 20 oz package with a pump top that will do a whopping 50 loads of laundry. How about being able to lift and dispense detergent with one hand? This just might get consumers to can oversized detergent jugs that are cumbersome to handle, use lots of plastic, and take up lots of storage space.

International Delight coffee creamers executed a package refresh by subtly changing its structure to make it sleeker and more elegant, while correcting a potentially errant pouring spout. How many containers that pour messily can be easily corrected? How many more could be sleeker in a redesign, making them easier to hold?

Strategy first.

Remember: strategy always comes before tactics. Structural packaging shouldn’t be executed unless a strong brand strategy is in place. Otherwise, developing structural packaging is a moot point; a fruitless exercise. If a brand is floundering, then it should be revitalized and repositioned before any new packaging initiatives are undertaken. Why execute proprietary packaging if the core brand is confusing to the consumer?

With an excellent strategy in place, a new package design system can be successfully developed. Proprietary packaging can make the difference between good package design and great design that truly sells the brand. The optimal structural package solution will spur sales, customer loyalty and help build brand equity. And isn’t that what packaging should do? 

 

About the Author

Ted Mininni is President and Creative Director of Design Force, Inc., the leading package and licensing program design consultancy to the consumer product and entertainment industries. Ted's articles have been published in many noteworthy trade and marketing publications, in print and online, such as such as Brandweek, Adweek, Playthings Magazine, Brand Packaging Magazine, Package Design Magazine, Packaging Digest, brandchannel.com, TheDieline.com, MarketingProfs.com, License Magazine and Shelf Impact!, among others. Ted’s articles have also been picked up by international business blogs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the U.S. He is also an ongoing contributor to MarketingProfs.com’s “Daily Fix” blog, POP Online and Beverage World Magazine.

To contact Ted, please call 856.810.2277 x10, or send an email to tmininni@designforceinc.com.