MISTAKE #51: Your packaging is completely unremarkable and maybe even repulsive

For most products, the few square inches of printing on the package is the dominant billboard they have to advertise to potential buyers.

Because of this, every effort should be made to ensure this contains the most remarkable content possible.  It should be magnetic.  It needs to be magnetic.

Anything less is a disservice to all the other work you’ve done to make your product successful.  It is like hitting the gym for a year only to continue wearing the same oversized, baggy clothes.

People still DO judge a book by its cover.

I still believe in the 3 principles I learned while working for P&G about how to design packaging with power:

Stopping power:  When sitting on the shelf, your package should draw attention from a distance.  Shoppers should be drawn to it as they approach the shelf.

Holding power:  After capturing an initial glance, your package needs to welcome further investigation that ensures the words and images are read and understood.

Closing power:  The story you tell on your package (hopefully combined with a bunch of great content you’ve already exposed them to) should convince the shopper that there is no better product to meet their need.

Solid stopping power gets you ahead of most other products that go unnoticed.  Great holding power improves the odds and people have an accurate awareness of your value proposition and the promises you’re making.

Closing power is what you take to the bank.

SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is that the majority of packaging at retail still sucks.  Even the biggest and the best players…those companies that coined the “stop, hold, and close” principles…are still regularly guilty of breaking them.

Packaging can still be used as a huge point of competitive advantage.  Companies with unremarkable no-better-than-anyone-else products still use kickass packaging as the cornerstone to building their business.

While it is even better when you can combine great branding and great content to make great packaging close a sale that started long before the shelf, it is more important to remember that poor packaging can undo all the anticipation and desire built up by great branding when the product and package aren’t consistent with the expectation.

After all, think about the last time you did any of the following: 

Skipped a purchase because the only options for the item you intended to buy were in damaged packaging.

Discovered or picked up a product because the packaging drew you in.

Lost interest in a product because the package did such a poor, confusing, or frustrating job answering any of the questions you had.

ANOTHER APPLE EXAMPLE

The best companies view packaging that is anything less than magnetic as repulsive.  If the package isn’t drawing people in, closing the sale, and reinforcing the brand’s equity, it might as well be pointing them to a competitive product.

In fact, some companies will spend as much time and money developing packaging as they do develop the product that goes in the package.

Others, like Apple, appreciate how important the imprinting moment is when they experience the unboxing ritual of buying a new electronic toy. 

Few people ever see Apple packaging before they’ve already decided to purchase the item.  In retail stores, Apple products are on display to encourage hands-on experience with sellable products typically locked up out of sight.  In categories where the package plays almost no role in selling to the shopper, Apple still puts no less attention into making sure it is consistent with their equity.

While most people will be exposed to that package for less than a minute, Apple makes sure the experience of revealing the product for the first time is like opening a piece of expensive jewelry.  They make sure the iPad, iPhone, or iMac package reinforces the superior quality and attention to every last detail that Apple products are known for.  They understand how packaging, just like Apple retail stores, is an extension of the brand’s equity.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PACKAGING NOW?

While you’re probably not in the same situation as Apple (high retails and huge margins), how well have you made sure your packaging does what it is supposed to do for your brand? 

It is an extension of your brand’s equity?  Does it stop, hold and close?

Or does it look more like it was designed in Powerpoint and produced by the lowest bidder?

A significant amount of our work is around designing and refining packaging to make sure it is one of the hardest working assets a product has.

If you think you’ve got perfect packaging, we’d love to get a sample and potentially reference it in future content.

If you’re a little less proud about your package, we’d love to help make it better.