(Newswire.net — December 19, 2019) — Brands invest heavily into all public facing elements on their brand. Whilst it’s quite obvious that a huge amount of effort is often put into the marketing of a product and the research & development of the product itself. One thing people take for granted is the packaging. But the packaging of products is incredibly important.
Quality Control & Security
Why is some packaging so hard to open? It is clear that brands are spending big money on making their products hard to open. It comes down to security. Not just for the product itself, but for the brand as a whole.
And this doesn’t start and stop with the packaging you buy a product in, those are packed in larger boxes which have been sealed up by a strapping machine to ensure no one can tamper with it between the factory, warehouse, and store.
Brands go to extreme measures to ensure no one can tamper with their products, but also to ensure freshness and quality. Whilst brands have always strived for delivering fresh and quality products, the security and anti-tampering side of the packaging is a relatively modern invention.
The Tylenol Murders
In 1982 there was a mass murder in Chicago where an unknown person added potassium cyanide to bottles of Tylenol. This led to 7 deaths and a world-wide media frenzy that could have destroyed the Tylenol Brand. It is believed that its parent company Johnson and Johnson lost millions of dollars in revenue from this incident. Luckily the company handled the situation relatively well by recalling bottles of Tylenol and having them destroyed, potentially limiting the number of deaths.
Copycats and hoaxes affected other brands in the aftermath. As a result, the packaging of medicine and food around the world became significantly more secure. Not only that but medicines switched to tablets rather than capsules as well, so you cannot add any extra ingredients to it.
Companies now take significant measures to avoid contamination in order to avoid any incidents similar to those of the Tylenol murders. Consumer trust can be very difficult to build back up. So this is an area brands are always investing in.
Packaging Design
Nothing makes your brand stand out on the shelf next to rows of similar packaging like good package design. You want your products to both look good, stand out and sell itself on the shelves. Very few brands make use of plain packaging unless they are forced to for whatever reason, such as plain packaging for cigarettes in Australia.
Consumers can be quite passionate about the packaging design for brands they love. This can even lead to a backlash from fans on social media when brands make a dramatic change to their packaging. This can include reducing the size of the products, changing the logo, jar or bottle.
Some brands such as Crystal Skull Vodka put most of their emphasis on the skull-shaped bottle their vodka is presented in, making a bottle unique so that you’ll buy the product just for the packaging itself. The design of this bottle makes it really stand out against competitors and has led to other alcohol brands releasing head-shaped bottles that look like aliens or Mexican wrestlers to try and cash in on this collectible bottle craze.
How does this all affect the brand?
By making your brand stand out, be secure and be trusted by consumers your product will stand a much better chance than something not following these steps. The prices of product failures or recalls can be disastrous for any company.
When your company is considering packaging design, don’t underestimate the value of great packaging and ensure it represents your product and brand as best as it can. Earn consumer trust and the profits will come.