It goes without saying that the food industry is an extremely competitive industry – sit back and imagine how many food products you see in the supermarkets, fresh produce markets, and grocery stores; isn’t the number of items staggering?
For this reason, the food producers need to be incredibly competitive to thrive in the competitive industry, and food packaging is an essential part of their competition-defining experience. Sure, the digital marketing campaigns will capture the audience, but food packaging is an indirect marketing campaign.
In fact, if your food packaging isn’t appealing to the target audience, you might not even get results from your conventional marketing medium. A well-designed food packaging design will create your name in the market and among the target audience to create a memorable and positive experience. So, let’s see how you can create the food packaging that lures the customers!
Develop Your Brand Identity
One of the most crucial factors of food packaging is to create packaging that aligns with the business values and ethics or create the packaging that resonates with the brand identity. For instance, high-end and luxury chocolates tend to have ornate boxes with luxurious coating and silky touch. In fact, the majority of those boxes are either wrapped in fancy ribbons or have a satin veneer.
The packaging is designed to capture a specific target market or the audience that truly loves luxury. To illustrate, the green produce usually has minimal designs and recycled materials because the brand has simple values, and its target audience values eco-friendliness. Having said that, brand identity is all about conveying the values to the customers to connect with them that make them invest in the product.
While developing the brand identity for your food items, you must analyze your target market, outline the key goals, identify the consumers, and create the product personality. This entire process will help you create the business inventory. Once done, you can move to the fun part of creating the marketing campaign!
Leverage The Elements of Function
- The packaging design’s architecture must align with beauty, form, and functionality. The primary function of the packaging is to protect the food contents, which is why the product’s shape and size must be compliant. In addition to this, the packaging’s aesthetic value is also a critical factor. When selecting the food packaging design, you must curate a combination of form, functionality, and aesthetic appeal.
- For instance, the POM juice containers are filled with the pomegranate juice and are fortified enough to transit the drinks to the stores’ shelves (it serves as a function), and they are stored on the shelves (it serves as form) while the packaging looks amazing. Remember that you only have a few minutes to capture your customers’ attention, and the packaging should have the information that shares the food’s contents.
- In addition to this, add the nutritional contents to your food packaging to compete against the other brands. In simpler words, it’s all about applying the architectural elements to the food packaging.
Work On Complimentary Packaging
This point might seem simple, but you need to be extremely critical about the food content as they play an essential role in determining your food packaging’s materials. The food tends to have preservatives and has a longer shelf life, which means they spoil quickly. Having said that, they need aluminium and plastic sealing packaging to pack the products.
In addition to this, the contents need to match the food packaging that you choose. For instance, crisps don’t come in containers that usually hold crackers because it would smash them. The food product curators need to create appealing packaging.
Try To Convey Simplicity
Depending on which food product you are selling, it is imperative to stick to the graphics that motivates the customers to choose that specific food item. Rather than choosing the packaging design with excess graphics and images, you can try shifting to a simpler design with two to three colours and a to-the-point script. In simpler words, it’s all about leveraging a simple background with minimal scripts and graphics.
For instance, the food product packaging must have the ingredients, and a minimal amount of script, designs, and colors will convey a clear message that’s in the product.
Focus On Design Versatility
Make sure that the food packaging design can be utilized in a variety of ways. In the majority of cases, the food manufacturers develop packaging designs that contain standard products which contain more than one serving. However, the packaging design needs to include the logo (opt for custom boxes with a logo), and it must fit comfortably in a variety of packaging.
Offer Limited Editions
Launching a limited-edition product is a great way of increasing sales, but the packaging design has to comply with it. This is because the consumers are always attracted to the limited-edition food products, but they need the packaging that resonates with them. For instance, there is a reason why stores dress up in green and red around Christmas, and coffee shops start selling spiced coffees.
It’s all about getting full advantage of the limited editions and leveraging the unique packaging that says the same – it will capture the customer’s attention, resulting in more sales.
The Materials
The food can be packed in multiple materials; when you are choosing the packaging, there are a few factors that you need to remember, such as;
- The packaging must protect the food items during the shipping and transit time.
- The packaging must be strong enough to allow transportation of the food without spoiling the food.
- The packaging should be easy to store during transport and while on the shelf (do consider the shelf life of the food item).
- The material must be eco-friendly.
The majority of food can be packed in cardboard, plastic, and aluminum packaging. However, for niche products like soda, tea, and wine; wood, glass, and metal containers can be utilized. So, use the right materials but limp on creativity to convey the sense of frivolity.