Your packaging can make or break
your product. Whether you like it or not, if your product sits on a
retail shelf, it will be judged by its packaging. Your packaging is
the final marketing message your customers will see before
purchasing your product. It needs to reflect the essence of your
product, but it also needs to stand out from the crowd.
Today, to break through the clutter of the hundreds of other
competing products out there you have to be different. Look at what
your competition is doing, and make sure you have a different and
innovative look. Innovation in packaging will get your product
noticed, it will help build your brand, and it will give your
product some personality.
So, how do you create innovative packaging? You can pay a packaging
design firm thousands of dollars to come up with some ideas or you
can create the ideas yourself. So save yourself some money and read
this article. Here are ten ideas that will help stimulate some
packaging innovations for your own products.
1. Create a Reusable Package
The boutique beverage market is mature and extremely competitive, so
you might think there are few really new ideas when it comes to
packaging. You would be wrong. POM Tea has created something truly
different. For a start the product itself is different – it is tea
infused with pomegranate juice. But it is the packaging that is
remarkable; the drink is packaged in a regular tall drinking glass
with a lid and a clear shrink wrap label. It says on the label:
Remove the label, keep the glass. In our local Wild Oats it retails
for $2.79, not that expensive for a bottled tea, and you get a free
glass. No need to worry about recycling here – you get to reuse the
packaging.
2. Make Design the Focus of Your Packaging
Most people think about the product first and the packaging second,
but Method Products turned that equation around. They focused on
packaging from the very beginning – they wanted to create packaging
that was beautiful, that you didn’t have to hide in the cupboard.
They created a premium line of cleaning products with packaging that
you could display in the kitchen or bathroom like a home accessory.
Just stroll down the aisles of any Kmart or Target and you will see
this focus on design really makes Method Products stand out.
3. Add a Little Extra to Your Packaging
Sometimes you can have very standard packaging, but stand out from
the crowd by just adding a little twist to it. Amy’s Kitchen has
done just that with their line of pasta sauces. They have a standard
size jar with a standard color label that really blends in with all
the other pasta sauce offerings. What sets them apart is the paper
and gold bow over the lid of the jar. It looks like the way your
grandmother would package it, and you can’t go down the aisle of
pasta sauces without noticing it.
4. Create Fun Packaging
Fun packaging doesn’t just have to be for kids, after all adults
like to have fun, too. The bright colors and unusual shapes that
dominate kids’ products can work in adult products, but usually a
more subtle approach is better. One industry that has started to
embrace a little more fun in their packaging is the wine industry.
Just take a trip to the local liquor store and look at all the fun
animals on wine labels these days. We have penguins, kangaroos,
frogs, horses, swans and many more critters appearing on wine
labels. We may not be ready for a penguin shaped wine bottle, but a
colorful penguin label can add an element of fun and really stand
out from the more conservative wine labels.
5. Let Your True Colors Shine Through
Candle-Lite is the goliath of the candle industry with over 160
years of continuous candle making operations. Their packaging is
nothing fancy, just a candle in a clear jar, but the colors they
choose are striking. They use bright colors, often with
multi-layered candles and they let these colors shine through with
simple clear jars. And a simple label on a white background
accentuates the colors in the jar. On my local supermarket shelf
their candles really stood out from the dozens of other brands.
6. Extend Your Labels with Sandwich Printing
If you are selling a clear liquid in a clear bottle then you can use
something called sandwich printing to extend your labels. I am
talking about printing on the back of your labels. You can’t put
regulatory information on the back of your labels, but you can run
contests, tell a story about your company, or give ideas about how
best to use your product. It is a simple way to give your customers
more information and not detract from the presentation of your
package. An excellent example of sandwich printing is Fiji Water.
7. Try the Metallic Look
Most labels are printed on white or clear material, but there are
many other options available to you. One look you can consider is
using a metallic foil for your labels or packaging. With a good
design the metallic look can be very striking when compared to the
same design on white, and really isn’t that much more expensive.
8. Focus Your Packaging on a Specific Target
The Axe line of products from Unilever has a very specific target
audience – young men aged between 18 and 35. So they built their
packaging to appeal to that target. The package for the Axe Shower
Gel looks like it could just as easily contain motor oil as shower
gel. Just take a look at this container to the right. It is a thick,
molded black plastic container that has a rugged appearance. It
brings to mind the image of a big, tough football player. Here is a
product that has tailored not just the contents but also the
packaging to their specific target market.
9. Merge Two Packaging Concepts
Another very competitive industry is the beer business, with the big
players there always looking for an edge on their competitors.
Recently Anheuser Busch came out with a completely new concept in
packaging that ended up winning several packaging awards. The
concept was so simple it is amazing no one had done it before. We
all know beer comes in glass bottles and aluminum cans. What
Anheuser Busch decided to do was combine these two concepts,
creating the aluminum bottle. It was different, it looked classy and
eye-catching, and it was 100% recyclable.
10. Look to Nature for Inspiration
Nature has some amazing examples of “innovative packaging.” Consider
the banana, the pea-pod, the kangaroo pouch, the pine cone – these
are all examples of nature creating efficient packaging. Nature’s
packaging is usually elegant and beautiful as well as efficient.
There are shapes, colors and even packaging concepts that you can
borrow from nature’s example. So next time you go for a walk in the
woods, look at the innovative packaging created by nature.
Spend some time thinking about your packaging. If you focus on your
packaging and create something that is attractive and unique you
will be more successful. Remember, your packaging not only has to
contain your product, it is your final marketing message to your
customers.
