Getting to Better Packaging

Screw tops dominate the New Zealand wine industry. In South Africa, one of the world emerging producers of wine, wine in a box, wine in a bag, is again a common packaging innovation.  No glass, no cork, no pejorative. Yet the idea across the world that good wine comes out of a tetra pack is still heresy.

Whether driven by green, by storage, by supply chain or marketing issues the world packaging industry is in transformation. Packaging innovation remains one the clear ways of distinguishing a product. The elegance of the an I-phone package, or how a plastic bag of grated cheese is re-sealable has added to quality of our lives.

In 1975 you could take a mid-market ice cream move it high market by changing the color of its packaging. Take it out of it’s frumpy frock and put it in the equivalent of slinky black dress raise the price and voila not only do you increase margin you increase market share too. It was a magical era in packaging world, where rock star firms commanded huge fees and delivered often enough to add substance to smoke and mirrors of their marketing efforts.  

As the 80’s arrived the world moved. Digital printing and host of new packaging material arrived including the Tetra Pack. Package research was done in focus groups and eye scanning studios. Package design went from an art form to evolving mix of art, science and economics. 

By the mid 80’s private label business took off. Noodles in a generic white box appeared on the shelf.  It took courage to put it in your cart, almost an admission of being a welfare or foot stamp recipient. Over the next thirty years, private label slipped away from its poor stepchild roots. Whether Kirkland, 360, CVS sunscreen, or Sainsbury’s Chablis private label has penetrated the finest homes in the world.  It has often led packaging innovation.

In 2018, packaging has been asked to work harder. The Envirosell playbook suggests three distinct perspectives. First how does it look from 30 feet or 10 meters away? Whether part of a power display in a grocery store, or stacked to the ceiling in Bed Bath and Beyond. Does the package, or one of the faces of the package work as a design element in a larger palette. Second, how does the package look from 10 feet or 3 meters away. Does it pop in the context of the visual cacophony of its chosen aisle. And third, does it work once the customer picks it up. Does the amount of information match the reading time. How many faces of the package are looked at. Is the package working as hard has it needs to help close the sale. 

I loved Virginia Postel’s book The Substance of Style, a treatise on how design effects an object's perceived and real value. We accept the value of what’s on the inside and yes the book cover really matters. We are asking more of packaging. We want a better union of store, shelf and product. And by the way, it better look good once we get it home too.