Dive Brief:
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Hershey's Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum, Constellation Brands' Robert Mondavi Private Selection wine and fairlife high-protein milk won 2018 Nielsen Design Impact Awards for package redesigns, according to Nielsen and The Dieline package design website. These were selected from hundreds of submissions of product redesigns in the past two years.
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In addition to visual impact, Nielsen and Dieline also considered post-redesign retail sales performance data and conducted surveys to gauge the effectiveness of revamped packaging compared to old designs. Sabra Guacamole and Tessamae's Organic Salad Dressing earned honorable mention in the contest.
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"In a growth challenged marketplace, it’s important for marketers to truly understand the value a successful package redesign can bring to a business’ bottom line," Laura Richardson, vice president of design solutions at Nielsen, said in a company release. "We saw across the board that brands are thinking about how the design of their product packaging would work not only in-stores but also for shop-ability and share-ability via social media."
Dive Insight:
As competition intensifies in the food and beverage space, eye-catching and informative product packaging is playing an even greater role in differentiation on the shelf. According to Richardson, the right design "can have major benefits for products — including significant sales lifts and greater consumer engagement."
Recent research from Luminer backs up that analysis. A slight majority of consumers (53%) said they find bright, pleasing colors appealing, and one-third said they're liable to reject a product if they don't care for the label design. And, if a label doesn't feature sufficient information, 60% said they probably wouldn't buy the product.
Such decisions are made in short order. According to Tetra Pak research, consumers take about 27 seconds on average to choose which product they'll buy while shopping. So if a package is colorful and attractive, or a label is well-designed and unusual, that could be all it takes. Shoppers also look for the tried-and-true product they can trust, so if they see a familiar logo and brand, that can also tip the scales.
Brad Gruen, fairlife's vice-president of marketing, told Food Dive he was pleased but not surprised by the award since the company's own research and sales data showed consumers were responding positively after the redesign launched in January 2017. The idea was to refresh the brand but also let the public know what the company stands for, which he described as a world-class dairy product that delivers on both taste and nutrition.
"From a marketing perspective, we knew we could improve our shelf image," Gruen said. "There's a sea of white noise on the shelf, and the challenge is to stand out. We thought about color and if you look at the after, we are using color in a much more dramatic way."
The Hershey's Icebreakers Ice Cubes redesign was prompted by the desire to pull together a unifying brand identity across the Ice Breakers lineup of gum and mints, Dieline wrote in the awards descriptions. One pack was initially revamped, and then the entire brand was gradually redone. Following the redesign, Icebreakers experienced an 18% jump in sales growth.
For Robert Mondavi Private Selection, Dieline wrote that it was being overlooked among all the other cream-colored wine labels crowding the shelf. A creative team produced 22 redesigns, and the company chose a bold option for the label, which Dieline said was followed by 14% higher sales.
Chobani, Sabra, Coca-Cola, Nutella many more food and beverage brands have been stepping forward with packaging redesigns or design launches to differentiate themselves and perk up sales. This trend may gain momentum as e-commerce becomes a more important piece of their business. According to Mintel, online sales could make up 20% of the market by 2025, so product manufacturers, distributors and retailers will need to pay more attention — as well as more money, time and creativity — to how items look online.
How long the benefits of a package redesign last depends on a number of factors. Brand quality, customer loyalty, and pricing are just a few. However, what's critical is for a product's perceived functional benefits, taste and savings to remain long after the redesign's glow has faded.