On the first day of the 21st TYPO in Berlin, the STAGE was packed with listeners before Christoph Riechert even stepped up to the podium. Christoph has worked for Phillips in their consumer lifestyle department for the last 15 years.

“Packaging is the underdog of communication design.”

In times where local production and environmentally friendly consumption are some of the top concerns of consumers everywhere, the bar for packaging design has been raised. Christoph described the current trend of “unpackaging” and reminded us how many packages we open each day. As he did, I thought: “Hmm, just before the talk I opened a sachet of sugar and cream for my coffee.” He’s right – as consumers, we’re not aware of how product packaging influences us.

And it’s not easy to create all of the boxes, wrappers, packs, etc. They need to act as information. They need to be stored, shipped and stocked, and to be saved, delivered and sold. They need to protect, they must not break, and they have to travel all over the world. They have more than one use and need to address the needs not just of consumers but also of wholesalers and retailers. Materials and how they influence our environment are increasingly impacted by all of these touchpoints.

“By reducing the number of kinds of packages for shavers from 50 to 12 variations, we saved 12 million euros just last year.”

For companies, clever packaging design can save a lot of money. What’s most important though, is how consumers see the packaging. “This is where the rubber hits the road,” as Christoph says. The appearance of the packaging generates shopping power. Consumers spend scarce seconds scanning hundreds of packages in a store – and if you can get them to pick up your product, you have a 70% chance of making a sale.

The packaging represents your whole brand on the shelf and therefore functions as a silent salesperson and is a big part of your marketing mix.

There are four packaging performance indicators:
• Stopping power
• Fit with brand positioning
• Relative position in competitive field
• Purchase preference

 

The design tools that are used depend on local target audiences, which creates challenges for global brands. In Russia, people care more about the convenience of the packaging, not so much about the environmental impact. Brazilians, generally speaking, enjoy colors and bold designs. In India and China, consumers want their products to be local and culturally relevant. Christoph gives more examples on what you can communicate with your packaging – from seasonal designs (like the winter or Christmas seasons), messaging or personalizations (like Coca Cola’s name bottles) or augmented reality packaging (you take a picture of the packing and are lead to a fun, digital experience).

“You need to know your context, but play around with it.”

Understanding the global markets, and therefor the dos and don’ts of packaging design, is super relevant. For instance, in Russia, children are not allowed to be shown in advertisements unless they’re for toys. In France, the product name and description must be printed in both English and French, with both languages in equal type size.

Even the small text on packaging will be read, so Christoph encourages designers to use that and have fun with it. (The smoothy and juice company innocent has a line of text on the bottom of their juice boxes that says “Stop looking at my bottom” – a fun joke in an unexpected place.)

After discussing packaging in general, he went into detail about the company that he’s worked for for so long, saying “I am going to show you some slides and some posh words.” Since 2013 Phillips has had a new brand identity. The brand identifies as a technology company that cares about people. The product names and package designs of their more than 200,000 products need to represent the brand’s voice and language, and they need to be impactful. From this huge portfolio arises the challenge of orchestrating and regulating central information, so Phillips works with strong naming principles and a clear naming hierarchy.

He went on to discuss the importance of headlines and body copy. At Philipps there are clear rules: “We don’t want to be a cold organization. Be personal, don’t use ‘business speak’, superlatives or clichés.” For new product launches, it can take 8–12 weeks to create a name for the new product. The thoughtfulness and depth that Phillips applies to their naming process was fascinating. Christoph not only showed the end result, but walked the audience through the process. From the “value proposition worksheet” to brainstorming the name and then “voting” until the look of the final product packaging is determined, he presented and explained the workflow in an interesting way.

He summed up his talk with four key points:
1. Make your proposition clear and relevant to your target audience.
2. Think industrial and global.
3. Honor the small print.
4. Be consistent and in line with the brand strategy.

If you’re interested in packaging design, Christoph suggests that you visit www.thedieline.com or www.lovelypackage.com

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