Here’s how your packaging design helps tell your brand story

Have you ever been browsing the shelves in a shop and seen something that made you say, out loud –­ with feeling ­­­– ‘Wow, I need to buy that’.

That’s the feeling businesses are chasing with their packaging. They want to stand out from their competitors and pitch their product to the right audience, in the right way, so that they can snag market share from their competitors.

So what role does packaging play when it comes to attracting the people that you want to buy your product?

Good packaging grabs your attention

A typical supermarket shopper passes about 600 items per minute. Do they have time to analyse everything on the shelves? Of course not.

Your packaging needs to be strong enough not just to get noticed, but to encourage the person in question to buy it. You need to capture what’s unique about your brand in your packaging, so that the person picking it up will feel like will they get a unique experience from that product if they make the purchase.

You don’t need 1,000 patterns competing for attention; a bold colour and quality finish can tip the balance – just look at Volcano at Home’s minimal yet effective coffee pods or Fussy’s sustainable deodorant cans that fit in an envelope.

The crucial question to remember is, is your packaging capturing the right crowd? A Frank Sinatra fan probably won’t look twice at your fragrance if Avril Lavigne is on the side of it.

Conduct market research, assess who buys your products and where they are buying them, and keep track of what your competitors are doing. Only then will you understand what will stop people in your tracks and get them to buy your product.

Good packaging tells a story

We’ve talked a lot about storytelling, with good reason. Your packaging obviously needs to say something about what your product is and what it does, but specifically, it needs to make clear what it is doing for the consumer.

When we say story, that doesn’t necessarily mean writing a ‘once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away’ style epic on the side of a box – it can be about capturing a feeling, evoking an emotion, saying in as few words as possible what you’ll get from the product.

Sabadi’s chocolate is a great example of this, especially its I Toronni line of chocolate nougats. When placed next to each other, the images on the front of each different flavour of nougat align to form a panorama of Sicily. Instantly, the consumer learns something – about the place, the authenticity, the culture that manifests this chocolate into being, and understands that this a high-quality product. Powerful stuff.

Good packaging is consistent with your brand values

At every touchpoint in your customer journey, you are communicating your brand values, whether, that’s on your website, in your email messages – and especially your packaging.

Your packaging might be the first impression a customer has of your company – that’s why it's vital that it reflects your brand's values so that you can ensure you are attracting the customer that’s right for your business.

One of the hottest examples recently (particularly in the wake of COP26) has been sustainability. Brands such as Ikea are using biodegradable ‘fungi packaging’ to reduce waste and increase recycling. However, there’s also Nepto, which manages to communicate the high-quality, luxury nature and feel you’d expect from a high-end watch brand but with 100% sustainable packaging.

By using packaging that is consistent with your brand values, you’ll leave an impression on the customer that is more likely to see them buying the product again in the future.

To wrap up….

Your product doesn’t just need packaging that’s going to stand out and target the right audience in the right way – it also needs to tell your brand story and being consistent with your brand values. Only then will you start seeing sales pick up as a result of your packaging.

Want more tips on how great design can tell your brand story? Download The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – our marketing guide for manufacturers, or book a free consultation with Nutcracker today.