We’ve often heard pop-culture references to the phrase “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”. This sentiment is perfectly captured in the context of the role packaging plays in brand promotion. It is the first thing that consumers lay their eyes on, and in fact, stellar customised packaging is also a great customer acquisition tool. This factor is underlined by the manner in which the biggest companies consistently reinvent their branding and packaging to remain attractive to consumers.
This article takes a deep dive into this phenomenon to understand the different ways in which customised packaging can help promote a brand.
Here, we list 4 of the most powerful ways in which this works.
Instant Attention –
In a world of seemingly limitless choices and alternatives, it is essential to grab the attention of the consumer. The key here is to customise packaging to be easy on the eye, memorable, and user friendly. These features will allow it to stand out amongst a crowd of similar, substitutable products, helping place your brand on a different plane in the mind of the consumer.
Brand Marketing –
In today’s time, custom packaging plays a crucial role as a part of the overarching brand narrative. It is a factor that marketing teams globally have begun to acknowledge as a crucial part of their jobs. Custom packaging allows your brand to be presented in the manner you wish; this could be used to represent luxury, minimalism, aesthetics etc. Packaging also often forms an important part of unique and personalised communication and messaging campaign and can help build credibility and consumer trust.
Sustainability –
Considering the escalating climate crisis, eco-friendly and sustainable packaging choices have steadily grown in importance. Brands now have a moral responsibility to move towards paper, cloth, and other eco-friendly packaging materials. This will only become steadily more relevant as time goes by. Brands that take a stand early on and tie their brand narrative to sustainable packaging will benefit and stand out from the competition in the long run.
Customer Experience –
Customer experience has always been a central foundation for the success of businesses. Over time, packaging has grown to play an increasingly important role for the same. With e-commerce becoming central to the overarching world of retail, and social media further growing in importance, customer experience has become even more important.
Brands can aim to take advantage of this by creating quirky or luxurious packaging experiences which help draw the customer’s attention. This also encourages customers to share the purchase of these products on social media. Popular video creators and influencers have also taken to creating unboxing videos while doing product reviews. In the past 2 years, there has been an 871% growth in unboxing videos on YouTube, highlighting its potential. Tailoring products towards this market thus plays a role in boosting overall sales numbers. Further, this acts as a way of free advertising for a product and enhances the brand story in the eyes of consumers.
Aside from the various use cases above, there are myriad ways in which custom packaging can help boost your brand and product. These include cost-saving measures by reducing the weight of packaging, as well as a move towards tech-savviness with brands such as Jack Daniels, including QR codes and augmented reality features with their packaging. Packaging companies such as DCGpac have been cognizant of this change and inculcated a wide range of custom packaging solutions over the past few years. It is imperative for brands to acknowledge the importance and potential of custom packaging and its impact on branding.