Words: The New On-Shelf Design Packaging Cue
You know you have about three seconds with an uncommitted shopper browsing about in your category. So what would you say to earn three more? We wanted to know how brands would answer this pivotal question, and so, of course, we didn’t interview them; instead we studied the conversations their packaging actually invited at shelf.
A new way forward
But should this be the only packaging strategy for influencing sales at shelf? We think there’s some evolution here.
Amongst the anomalies, we found an emerging set of ideas taking hold: shifts in what shoppers want and the best ways to show that a brand can fulfill those desires.
The most interesting trend? Some adventurous brands are abandoning traditional hierarchy rules in an effort to short-circuit the process by which purchase decisions are made at shelf. Above all else, they aim to deliver a simple message, boldly, with printed words, as the fastest way to appeal to the mindset and interests of a hurried shopper confronted with an ocean of logos and commodity information.
In some ways, rather than try to extend the time window to six seconds, they’re trying to more efficiently and effectively convey additional information in the three that they’ve got.
Tumaro’s cues the voice in your head
One clever little insight you can probably bank on in the bread aisle: someone’s planning on making a sandwich. But a growing number of these would-be sandwich-makers are arriving at shelf with in a conundrum…”I crave a glorious sandwich, but not the guilty gut punch that comes with the bread.”
These shoppers represent a big slice of Tumaro’s market opportunity, and so Tumaro isn’t so much interested in selling wraps to people who come to the store looking for wraps as they are in converting sandwich makers from bread to wraps.
Tumaro’s packaging strategy takes direct aim toward this objective, gearing their 3-second audition to encourage shoppers to listen to the voice in their head telling them to move to healthier eating habits, to “skip the sandwich”. Fortunately, with Tumaro’s reminding you, you can have your sandwich, in a wrap, and love yourself too.
How could you miss it?
Hardbite decided that if they’re going to survive amongst a never-ending assortment of chip alternatives, they’d better go big – or else risk quietly going home like so many other niche chips before them (cassava root chips anyone?). And by big I mean designing a package with the largest type that’s ever appeared in the history of the salty snack aisle.
The genius of this strategy isn’t just in the size of the copy, it’s in the copy itself. Who has time for subtle persuasion? Hardbite instead taps into our society’s collective memories, like our moms going berserk demanding, “for the last time, Adam, eat your goddamn vegetables!”
These things stay with you.
More than just big eye-catching words, there’s a wink factor from the nostalgia, acknowledging, yes, that we’re all grown up and eating kale chips. So we can be enticed by Hardbite for a laugh at our childhood standoffs with mom at the dinner table.
When packaging can change a purchase decision from being triggered by hunger into an opportunity simply to bring a smile to our hangry, ornery husband waiting in the car, or the kids who won’t eat their vegetables, or the satisfying notion that yes, you can contain your meats inside of a sandwich, you’re doing it right.
Read Full Article Here by Project Nosh.
Daniel Karsevar, Founder & Chief Problem Solver at SOLUTIONTOPIA & is also a Mentor at The Brooklyn Foodworks.
SOLUTIONTOPIA provides turn-key solutions for food start-ups in the natural foods CPG space.