taskSIX: packaging

We watch brands on TV, posters, billboards and magazine ads. These are intended to make us desire the product. When we go to the supermarket, we actually come face to face with the product. And it is at this moment does packaging play a role. We see, touch, feel, smell and interact with the product. It is a sensory experience.

PACKAGING is a point of purchase communication that directly affects sales. The package has 3 seconds to grab our attention, after that its lost in the sea of a million other products.

So packaging has to be attractive but not hurt the eye, tell a story, be different, be relative, a suitable size, shape, have utility, be environmentally friendly and not line the waste bin. Cereal in oval shaped boxes is the perfect example of packaging that is not functional at all. As after we notice the beauty of the package, we pick it up and ponder whether it would be easy to store, handle and use.

Packaging is not less or more important than branding as bad packaging equals an unsuccessful brand. What's the point of spending millions on your branding and not even half on your packaging? The last thing any brand wants is a disappointed consumer.. and that usually happens when the packaging falls short of what the brand promises.

Consumers today are essentially aware of the green phenomena. We all want eco-friendly products and packaging. With brands facing people who want real answers when asked about waste, they have to adopt green packaging. This term is as simple as it sounds - using environmentally friendly material to pack the product which has minimal waste and sometimes even re-usability. Dettol, a very popular and successful soap brand in India, has the initial plastic liquid hand wash bottle for sale. Then they have bags of the liquid soap available to refill your already purchased bottle.

CELESTIAL SEASONINGS, a US based tea company, uses 100% recycled paperboard (35% post-consumer material) to print their boxes. They don't have strings on their tea bags because.. "Their unique pillow–style tea bag is the result of their commitment to doing what's best for the environment. Because these natural fibre tea bags don't need strings, tags, staples or individual wrappers, we're able to save more than 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills every year! They practice Ethical Trade and have had relationships with many growers around the world for more than 30 years, and it’s very important to them that workers are treated fairly and with respect, and that farming techniques support environmental health and economic growth. The growers are their partners, and together, they ensure the botanicals Celestial Seasonings purchases are collected or harvested with minimal impact on the environment, while local jobs and businesses are nurtured. Their new packaging displays a special “Ethical Trade” logo with copy that explains their commitment to sustainable harvests and fair wages. They've practised this philosophy since their inception, and are proud to let consumers know of their commitment to ethical trading practices."

This goes a little off the packaging subject, but overall they are an ethical company and practise their beliefs as well.

Then there is ARBOR TEAS, who "teamed up with a group of graduate students studying Industrial Ecology at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources Center for Sustainable Systems to evaluate the environmental impact of their previous packaging and look at greener alternatives. Their previous packaging involved a combination of tin-plated steel canisters (an old-standby in the tea industry) and glassine-lined paper bags. As it turned out, the steel tins they used were no friend of the environment, but their paper bags were actually pretty good. In response to this news, they replaced our steel tin with a recyclable, parchment-lined paperboard canister. It’ll keep your tea safe and sound while generating less than one-fifth of the carbon emissions of the traditional tea tin (in addition to less air and water pollution)!

As they went through the process of investigating greener packaging options, they were surprised, frustrated and saddened by the limited availability of eco-friendly packaging that met the particular needs of their product. While their paperboard canisters are a major step in the right direction, their search for the greenest possible packaging is not over."

Then of course there is the CARBON FOOTPRINT (reminds me of my RSA stamps where I explored renewable energy sources and a way of greener living). "A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.

The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tonnes (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent."

Since we're a global community now, and we are fully aware that we are causing serious damage to the earth, it is only vital to know how much energy we consume each day and what is our contribution to the environment. This helps to know where we can cut down and avoid waste.

There is also TRAFFIC LIGHT LABELING, closer to the subject of packaging. It is the system of using the colors of the traffic light to label their food and specify the nutrition contents of the food in a simple, easy to read format. Waitrose uses traffic light labelling for their products. Health conscious consumers squinting to read the fine print on the packaging isn't an unusual sight. So this system only makes it easier for the consumer to read, identify what he/she exactly wants to know and makes purchase faster, and thus easier.

Coming back to packaging. It is vital to be ethical and environmentally responsible for today and our future. To focus on aesthetics, PEARLFISHER is my favourite packaging design group. They have done work for some of the most famous brand such as Absolut and Waitrose. As they state on their wesbite, their designs are different. They are classy, extremely aesthetically appealing and have a very elegant look to them. It is also very unforgettable and are noticed instantly! Some samples of their work are presented below. When you see their work, it's easy to tell why they are a favorite. 

What they don't do: Unethical Design - "We won’t work with brands that aren’t truthful about what they stand for, or which are willfully damaging life and the environment."