Introduction

Your product is not just your product. Brand perception begins when consumers look at your packaging: the logo, the colors, the materials, and the messaging. Packaging design influences consumers’ perceptions of your product even before they see the product itself.

How can you harness unique packaging to create a specific brand perception, and most importantly, to  help your products succeed in a packed CPG market?

The Importance of Brand Differentiation

Brand packaging conveys your brand identity. In a busy CPG market, you want your brand to have a unique story and identity. There are many children’s toys, packaged dinners, and beauty products. How can you make your product stand out in the crowd?

Packaging shapes brand perception, making your product unique by telling a new and different story than the other brands.

You don’t want your product to be seen the same as all others in its category. When that happens, consumers begin to make decisions by price alone. By creating packaging that reflects the personality of your brand, you help consumers choose the product that connects with them, rather than just the cheapest in its category.

PKG’s Consumer First® Approach to Unique Packaging

At PKG, we offer a Consumer First approach to packaging design. We take three key ideas into account as we work with your company:

• Catch attention.
• Connect message.
• Clearly communicate.

Packaging should not only be attractive and able to communicate to the consumer, but it should also be convenient to open, close, reuse, and recycle.

By connecting with the consumers’ needs, we find ways to reinforce brand identity and provide shoppers with a reason to make it their own.

We’ve collaborated with very different companies to develop unique packages.

With Perdue Farms, we created a fresh brand look that takes the customer around the world to taste and celebrate different cultural cuisines. Their World Chef brand conveys knowledge, authenticity, and respect for the traditions of international flavors.

Collaborating with Perdue and Disney/Pixar, we developed a new Monsters University product to come to store shelves before the movie launch. After creating engaging packaging and a “monster-shaped” product, we extended this by adding  “monstrous meal ideas” to the back of the package.

Though both collaborations were with Perdue, they reached very different audiences, allowing for differentiation within the Perdue brand in order to meet consumer needs.

Immediate Impact of Unique Packaging

Unique packaging should be surprising. Looking at this packaging design alters the consumer’s brand perception, generating a distinctive brand identity. Interesting packaging makes the customer feel special, adding to the unwrapping experience.

Different packaging makes customers want to buy your product. Even changing the color scheme of a product can make it engaging. 85 percent of consumers state that they choose products based on color, one of the key factors in customer decision-making.

Does packaging encourage consumers to not only buy but to recommend a product to others? It certainly does. Forty percent of online shoppers say the branding of a package makes them more likely to recommend a product. Online shoppers in particular need to rely on packaging design to convey a message about a product, since they can’t see or touch that product themselves.

Action Steps for Brands

If you’re thinking of adopting a new approach to packaging, where do you begin? 

First, look at your market. What products are out there? What do consumers want? The more information you can collect, the more you will be able to design packaging that attracts your target audience.

Also, look at your current customers. What are they saying about your brand? What attracted them to it? Integrate these elements into a new, edgy design. For instance, if it was your brand’s focus on ethical sourcing, find a way to highlight the stories of those who have created your product or give back to those people in some way.

As your product launches, be sure to continue to do market research and gather customer feedback. Learn what is attractive about your packaging and what might need some work, and adjust your packaging as you go along.

Conclusion

Unique packaging makes your product stand out. It’s not just a cute, nice-to-have idea. It’s a business imperative. In a packaged consumer market, you must find ways to help your products stand out. You must convey your brand values and voice to your customers so that they can connect with your products. Unique packaging is one way to do this.

Want to know more about packaging design? We can help. Take a look at PKG’s work and subscribe to our blog today.