Whether you're a manufacturer or a retailer, packaging design should be viewed as an investment not a cost. Unfortunately too many businesses still look first at the price of design development rather than the value of the work
The real point here is that the packaging can often end up becoming the thing of real value above and beyond the actual product itself - the packaging becomes the brand. Just think about a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar and a supermarket own brand equivalent. If both are unwrapped how would you tell the difference? The purple wrap of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is the emotional reason why you’d pay more although there may be seemingly little difference in product delivery.
As the pack becomes the embodiment of the brand, business needs to remember that brands require tender loving care. This means treating your brand and its every touch point as a representation of your business to the consumer. Apple is a good example of a company whose brand is executed with precision at every touch point. Unlike most technology brands the packaging has been considered just as much as the product it contains.
Ultimately, you can’t fool the consumer - his or her value of a brand is based on how they find them. As Gerald Ratner learned to his cost, brands don't kill brands, people do. Respect your brand and it will deliver results.
We live in a world of infinite consumer choice. A strongly packaged brand should offer protection and carve out for you a point of difference that can protect you against competitor activity through trade marking. But perhaps even more significantly, a strong pack can provide the key to unlocking higher margins as you drive an emotional point of difference in addition to a rational one.
There are also numerous pitfalls that businesses need to be aware of. For example, the desire to over-design packaging and over-promise can lead to a customer backlash. It does not matter how pretty it looks if what you are selling on the outside is not matched on the inside. Even if they are fooled once, your customers will simply buy something else next time around.
You should also try to zig if everyone else is zagging. Following the category cues or the style of the brand leader could lead to trade mark infringement and costly legal action and will most certainly lead to consumers overlooking your product.
It is also important to remember that the world is full of cultural and linguistic difference. What works in one market doesn't always work in another. For example Gerber, the name of the famous baby food maker, means ‘to vomit’ in French slang. Be also aware of cultural sensitivities – for example in the Middle East you can't show people's eyes or the soles of someone's feet as this is deemed culturally unacceptable.
The bottom line for business is that packaging design will almost always have an effect on a company's profit and loss. Treated as a cost and nothing more than a cosmetic makeover, the effect on the bottom line is likely to be the wrong one. Treated as an investment and handled with care as a strategic weapon, the result can often be huge dividends.
In hospitals and healthcare generally, packaging design has a huge role to play in helping to communicate a whole host of vitally important messages to both doctor/nurse and patient. They range from facts about dosage to imagery designed to offer comfort and confidence and boost self esteem. Intelligent packaging can also aid in the dispensing of medicines and ease of use for elderly or disabled patients.
It is also important to remember that packaging is a medium that invades our homes. It is something we see perhaps many times over long periods. It can therefore be a good medium to promote information about a whole host of issues from positive, general wellbeing messages about healthy eating, to warnings about smoking.
In more depthHave a look at our
case studies section to read more about the difference that successful packaging design can make to your business