Did you know that people have been packaging their products for thousands of years? As technology has advanced the process has only gotten that much more complex…and necessary! We now live in such a competitive business world that your packaging design and marketing strategy are what is going to set you above your competitors and bring you in sales. This is done by brainstorming, choosing the right packaging supplies, and having a team of qualified people (whether or not that includes you. Sometimes you just gotta let other people do what they are good at, and you stick to what you are good at).
As a matter of fact, packaging has evolved into its own industry. The qualified people I was just talking about? Their entire career is based on packaging and sales. Ever seen that show Mad Men? While I don’t know how or why the show ended the way that it did, the entire thing was based off of people in the advertising industry.
When it comes to packaging design you need to decide what kind of packaging supplies you are going to need, and how you are going to utilize them.
Have you ever seen the sandwich baggies or brown paper sacks that are covered with fake mold so that no one will want to steal your lunch? That’s pretty stinking genius. So the packaging supplies are pretty basic: plastic bags, paper bags. It’s the creativity, the quirky idea of putting fake mold on the packages to deter lunch thieves, and the clever marketing campaign that calls them “anti-theft lunch bags” that makes this incredibly simple idea a huge success.
It’s not always going to be that obvious, or that easy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be possible. Quirky packaging ideas and clever marketing strategies can be applied to any and all products, no matter how basic or mundane they may be.
A colorful, shiny, meticulous design will speak of quality. People want to buy something of quality. I would sooner by a more expensive candy bar that uses muted tones, professional font, and pictures of the ingredients than I would buy one from Hershey’s.
What are some ways that you can really attract customers to your product? The ideas you come up with don’t even necessarily have to correlate with your product, they just have to draw people in. Like the little tubs of ice-cream that you set on a mechanism and they essentially become bobble-heads. This is because there would be the face of a monkey painted on the side of the cup and the mechanism is the bottom of the monkey. Neither monkeys or bobble heads have anything to do with ice-cream, but people will choose this product purely for the novelty.