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Packaging andthe Principles of Disruption Harnessing Design to Achieve Retail Breakthrough

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“Packaging, as we were reminded brilliantly by the late Steve Jobs, is in fact essential to defining an offering, and setting initial customer perceptions, and even expectations, about a brand.”

We all lead very busy lives and the details of our day-to-day journeys are oftenfleeting – blending, as a matter of course, into the “noise” that surrounds us.

It’s not that we (consumers) are not paying attention, it’s more a function of the strain our go-go digital world has placed on our already limited cognitive abilities. Compound this with the fact that people today are literally inundated with choices, offers, trade-offs – it’s no wonder life can become a blur.

Inherent in this reality lies real marketing challenges that are hinged upon finding new ways to galvanize the attention of consumers at retail by creating ‘breakthrough’ at the shelf, online or at the water cooler. To this end, the role of packaging needs to be recognized for the vital retail catalyst that it is – one that both provides a high degree of differentiation and achieves strategic outcomes.

But unfortunately packaging is often overlooked – cast aside in the marketing mix as a “cost center” with only tactical value. But this thinking is dead wrong. In fact, packaging, as we were reminded brilliantly by the late Steve Jobs, is in fact essential to defining an offer, and setting initial customer perceptions, and even expectations, about a brand.

Indeed, not only does packaging help to infer a product’s quality, it also communicates what a product is and what it is not; it projects (through design) a set of telegraphic benefits that can catalyze a buying decision, while expressing a range of intended emotions that drives covet – the “I gotta have it” factor.

Packaging, when approached with this in mind, can launch a product to higherdegrees of differentiation and cement a deeper emotional connection with aforementioned, fickle consumers. Yet in order to truly maximize packaging for the powerful, strategic brand asset that it is, the practice needs to be constantly “re-imagined” and brought forward to stimulate, and even provoke, the attention and interest of today’s oft-distracted consumers –

Enter the Principles of Disruption…

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Puma: Clever Little Bag

• Reimagines the entire product experience• Makes fashion from the mundane• Creates an army of brand lovers• Novel reuse system

Yogurt Watch by Nooka and Karim Rashid

• Leaves something to be discovered• Juxtaposes elements from different categories• Creates an expression of ‘Huh?...Wow!’ as opposed to ‘Wow!...Huh?’

The Principles of Disruption

Unlocking the real potential of packaging requires a ‘thinking shift’ from the tactical to the strategic, with a risk horizon that pushes normal boundaries, and intentionally challenges consumers’ traditional comfort zones, to capture their attention and gain their loyalties at the shelf.

The following are examples of how “disruption” can reset the entire packaging discussion:

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Jambox

• Unapologetically celebrates form and structure• Reshapes a market perception• Unexpected timing and output• Tactile material invites interaction

NestTransforms a common static instrument into a dynamic monitoring device

• Turns common into uncommon• Employs technology to simplify• Sustainable by design • Clean messaging implies intelligence

In Conclusion

The Principles of Disruption are not abstract ideas, but rather tangible levers of differentiation, all based on using a ‘design intent’ to build uncommon meaning into packaging across form, structure, graphics, materials, photography and assembly.

About usCDG NYC is a design-driven brand consultancy that is part of Conran Design Group and Havas Health and operates in North America. Our clients span a broad range of sectors such as: Health & Wellness, Hospitality, Animal Health, Telecom and Consumer Packaged Goods.

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CDG NYC helps brands connect with their audiences in a clear, credible and compelling manner.

As part of Conran Design Group, our heritage, spanning 57 years of brand and design consulting, is unrivalled. We are co-located in midtown New York and Camden Town, London, and serve clients across many continents.

CDG NYC

David Keefe Managing Partner/Author David is responsible for building and growing the branding and design offer in North America and internationally. A brand consulting veteran, after more than a decade at Landor and Siegel+Gale, David also worked in client-side marketing at Unilever and Time Warner. He brings a deep understanding of branding, in multiple industries, across strategy, naming, identity design and packaging.

Key brand work: Unilever, Comcast Xfinity, Walgreens, Roche, Verizon, breastcancer.org, Alcon, Music Choice, Zoetis, Citi

Education:BA, Duke UniversityMBA, University of North Carolina