“Your packaging is a one-man show with many roles," said Sherpa CPG Founder Victoria Ho, during Thursday's SFA Maker Prep webinar, “The Packaging Playbook: How to Design for Impact, Scale Your Story & Sell More Stuff. "There are no small roles. Know the story you want to tell and use every inch of the stage to deliver the plot. Effective packaging commands attention, acknowledges the audience, sparks conversation, answers questions, and compels action.”
It also fosters a consumer’s trust, influencing them to believe in a product, develop intrigue, and eventually put it into their cart, said Ho, who cited a Food Marketing Institute survey that found that 97 percent of shoppers believe that brands are, to some degree, responsible for providing accurate information about what’s in the product and how it is made. Only 24 percent of consumers completely trust brands to deliver that information. This leads to a trust gap when brands fail to effectively articulate their product on the packaging, she said.
To develop a consumer’s trust, packaging must excel in the following categories: creative (brand logo, imagery, typography, etc.), construction (presentation, protection, user experience, etc.), communication (statement of identity, product attributes, brand mission, etc.), and compliance (FDA regulated elements, third-party qualified claims, food safety, etc.), according to Ho.
The consumer is core to product packaging development, and different end users have different needs. For example, foodservice may require larger, functional packaging, while a grocery center store shopper may prioritize aspects like a complete list of ingredients, product descriptions, and ingredients in plain language, or third-party certifications, she said.
Ho also boiled down FDA packaging requirements:
Front of Pack
• Statement of identity, naming the core product
• Net quantity statement, the weight or volume of product packaged
Back of Pack
• Ingredients
• Allergen statement
• Nutrition facts
• Contact info
Both within these stringent rules and beyond there are unique ways to get creative and inject brand story and mission into the aesthetics, said Ho. As an example, she cited a pretzel brand where the UPC code was shaped like the New York City skyline and a fig crisp brand that aestheticizes the pack quantity, batch and unit numbers to emphasize that the product is made in small batches. Custom package features like a drizzle spout imbedded into an extra virgin olive oil can also teach customers how to use a product.
Developing effective packaging requires deep knowledge about the category too, Ho asserted, noting that pantry staples like baking powder or flour are likely to merit less attention from a shopper than an indulgent category like ice cream. As such, packaging design should account for this: where a flour may have to be more to-the-point on its labeling, ice cream can likely include more information, and have more “fun” in its naming and design features.
To learn more about designing the right packaging for a specialty food product, watch the webinar on demand in SFA’s Learning Center.
Related: Sherpa CPG's Ho Discusses Package Design for Impact, Sales; Leal Shared Pricing Dos and Don'ts During SFA Maker Prep Webinar