No one has ever said they bought a product just for the box it came in. But more than likely, the box it came in helped convince you to buy the product. In 2013, a study by the Journal of Retail & Distribution Management found that nearly two thirds of all consumers have purchased a product that they had never heard of, simply because of the way it looked on a shelf.
The choice of colours, the style of font or the shape of the box… not only does the packaging design influence a consumer’s purchase decision, but it influences the price a person is willing to pay for it. In a bar, beer drinkers pay extra for a beer in a green bottle. The green packaging is perceived to be a more sophisticated option than a regular brown bottle. Likewise in a supermarket, a mom is more likely to buy a baby formula that has a picture of a smiling baby on the box than one that doesn’t simply because its design evokes a sense empathy.
Packaging has the ability to influence the perception of your brand. In fact, it’s considered to be the last ‘ad’ for your product that a shopper will see before they decide whether to buy it or not. When the right design elements are used, packaging can shape your brand’s story, and by inference, dictate its price. In other words, when a product has a sophisticated, elegant packaging design, consumers are happier to pay extra for it – of course, the product inside needs to live up to the design. As the saying goes- nothing kills a bad product as quickly as good packaging design. Because it influences the audience to try your product- so we better make it worth their while.
The late Steve Jobs saw packaging as a part of the theatre of the brand. Take a look next time you open an iPhone’s box. The design of the box is elegant and well-considered- just like the phone inside. As a brand design company that specialises in creating custom packaging, we understand the valuable weapon that packaging represents in your brand’s arsenal. Through custom packaging, we’re able to create your brand’s story and share it with your audience in the blink of an eye. Using the insights we’ve gained over the last 20 years, our team have created guiding principles we follow to create our product designs.
Know the audience
Before lifting up a pencil to develop a new packaging design, we immerse ourselves in the psychology behind the target audience. We identify their trigger points by understanding their mindset., and then apply our learnings. And, speaking of pencils, did you know that over 75% of the America’s pencils are painted yellow- the happiest colour in a spectrum? It’s another example of simple packaging, designed to elicit an emotion.
Know the landscape
Our team design packaging that stands out in a specific environment. We look at the landscape where your packaging will be placed and identify the gaps within the sector. In other words, we zig when everyone else zags.
Know the product
When asked how to create an elephant out of a block of stone, a famous sculptor once replied- all one has to do is chip away at the parts which aren’t the elephant. In other words, by removing all the unnecessary elements, we show something for what it truly is. Using this philosophy, it’s only once we truly understand the product that we begin visually explaining it to our audience. We chip away at the parts which aren’t necessary until we’re left with a visually simple, easy to understand packaging design.
Know the medium
As mentioned earlier, packaging design can take on a variety of shapes and styles. By understanding your product and audience, we create bespoke packaging designed to deliver a strong return on your investment. Working closely with many of South Africa’s best print production houses, we incorporate the latest printing techniques into our designs – giving your product an edge over your competitors. From shiny foil techniques that catch consumer’s eye while walking through a shopping isle or die-cut brochures designed entice buyer, and ultimately, to spend more on your product.
When it comes to a return on investment, is packaging really worth it?
If you take away the glossy finish, the perfectly laid out typeface and the colours that enhance your brand, you’re left with a white box that houses your product. Of course, many would suggest that’s enough- because the product alone should be enough to warrant purchase. To these uneducated marketers, I simply point them to the latest research from the anti-tobacco industry.
Because, in the tobacco industry that’s precisely what’s happened. Australian government regulations introduced a plain packaging law stipulating that all cigarette boxes must conform to the exact same layout with no unique branding whatsoever. With no individual colours or packaging design to separate the brands, smokers cannot identify with the brand’s personality; and are now turning away from cigarettes faster than ever before. Plain packaging is the cancer that may just kill tobacco companies once and for all.
For a relatively small investment, packaging has the ability to catapult your product into the business stratosphere. And every day, our clients realise the true value of packaging. Because it can do so much more than simply keep your product safe. With the right design, packaging has the ability to become an integral part part of the product- to ultimately influence your customers to try your product or to reach that little bit deeper into their pocket because your product is worth that little bit extra.
That’s why, when packing is designed right, I absolutely, whole-heartedly believe that it can, and does, raise the price of your product.
To find out more about how our team specialise in creating bespoke packaging designs that have the power to influence your product’s price, call us today. With over 20 years’ experience in packaging design, we’ll help you create a product that will capture the attention of your consumer.
By Jason Kempen
For Tozer Advertising
