Designing and building packaging that is attractive, durable, and engaging, all while remaining affordable and realistic, is a tall order. It is no secret that a brand’s packaging has the power to make or break its profits, which is why so much time, energy, and research is poured into the packaging development process. If your own packaging is falling flat and you need to reevaluate what you’re putting out on the market, begin with these three “Packaging Rules to Live By.”
Can a 5-Year-Old Find It?
This sounds silly, but could you describe your packaging to a young child and send her into the store to successfully find it? The Morton Salt product is a perfect example of an iconic package that is easy enough to describe and easier to find. If you can design your packaging with that type of elegant simplicity, you’ll have achieved creating a distinctive brand mark.
Avoid Clutter
Just like you don’t want to walk into a house that is overwhelmed in clutter, you don’t want to design packaging that is too “busy.” Simplicity is really key when it comes to winning over new customers and keeping your old customers loyal. This is especially true today considering how visually agitated our market has become. Buster, a drain cleaning product, proved this by raising sales 42 percent after introducing a small package devoid of any bold graphics. The packaging was so simple that it only stated the purpose of the product, and customers were immediately drawn to it.
Get Emotional
As humans, we naturally make decisions based on our deepest emotions. Fear is one such driver that often encourages the purchases of medicine, anti-wrinkle cream, bug spray, and more. Joy is another emotion that can trigger purchases based on what people want and hope to achieve- new clothes, toys, and more. If you can subtly capture emotion in your packaging, you’ll experience more success. Pepsi did a great job of this a few summers ago with their campaign to place different names on their bottles. The names created emotional connections to the Pepsi products, and customers responded by buying the bottles that meant something to them.
