Packaging is key

“It is crazy how significant packaging is”, so says Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent in an article in Marketing this week. He quoted the impact packaging has had on the orange juice Innocent launched. First off, it was launched in a normal ‘category’ tetra-pak, achieved sales of only £4m in its second year and was de-listed. Three years later, the exact same product was re-launched in a carafe-shaped plastic bottle, reaching a turnover of £80m in its second year – a dramatic improvement, and the only element that was different was the pack structure.

What the new pack created was desire. It is a common misconception that advertising and promotion creates desire but these just create awareness and allure. It’s the product that has to create desire and the consumer’s first ‘contact’ with the product is the pack.

Over 60% of new products in supermarkets are bought merely from being seen on shelf. Packaging has caught the shopper’s eyes, made him/her stop, pick the product up, and buy. That’s a lot for, what is often perceived to be, one small piece of the marketing jigsaw to do.

Creating the right packaging for a product is not easy but our Ten Top Tips on creating a stunning pack design found on our blog page will help.