Although a product’s packaging protects what’s inside, it can also strengthen your brand, catch people’s interest and encourage repeat purchases. How can you capitalize on the package to make it an opportunity?

Present Concepts in Memorable Ways

Consider how you could encourage people to think of things differently, including how they might enjoy the things you sell. Cadbury recently did that with its chocolate bar wrappers while launching the Made to Share campaign. The simple but effective packaging suggests how to break off sections of the treat to share it with others. It also reminds people of the world’s unsung heroes who often do less-than-exciting tasks for others’ benefit. 

For example, one of the packages suggests people who remember birthdays should get bigger pieces of chocolate than those who just sign birthday cards. Similarly, another wrapper gives larger segments to the individuals who book flights and hotels than to those who just get to enjoy going on the respective trips. 

These examples highlight the everyday acts of generosity that make people’s lives better but often go unrecognized. Cadbury’s design also includes two glasses of poured milk, with the liquid creating white borders to show each piece of shared chocolate. That tiny but meaningful detail emphasizes the brand’s long-standing mentions of milk in its campaigns. 

Get inspired by this example and look for other opportunities to remind people of positive things and encourage them to see the world more optimistically. This chocolate brand’s attempts show people that even the smallest kind gestures can uplift others. 

Offer a Personal Touch When Possible 

Making a personalized package for every person who buys your product is a prohibitively costly option. However, you could do the next best thing by designing the packaging to make it more appealing to those likely to buy it.

Coca-Cola did that with its Share a Coke campaign that replaced the brand’s main logo with a person’s name. Each label said “Share a Coke With” in a smaller font, with a person’s name — written in the beverage brand’s iconic script — taking up the rest of the space. Giving this personal touch to packaging increased the brand’s U.S. sales by 4% and launched a social media campaign that encouraged people to share pictures of their bottles. 

The company’s brand managers also localized these efforts by researching the most popular names in specific regions. That approach helped them cater to demand rather than potentially producing packages that would not spark interest. 

However, since this example makes the company name less visible, marketers thinking about replicating this approach should consider whether their offerings are already well-known enough without needing to help consumers recall the brand. Since Coca-Cola kept the usual color scheme with name-based labels, people could still quickly find the beverages because there were enough familiar characteristics. 

A brand is more than a name. Branding also encompasses what people think of when they hear about the company or its products. Well-crafted branding efforts cause positive associations, particularly when the brand name is a visible part of the packaging or product itself through something like a memorable, brand-visible unboxing experience or a nameplate attached to your products. Although someone seeing their name on a drink label seems like a relatively minor event, the novelty of it worked well for boosting sales and helping people link themselves to the product. 

Go Against Expectations

Many packages for everyday items are easy to visualize because they look similar across brands within the category. Rolls of paper towels have plastic-wrap packaging, while toothpaste comes in tubes, often inserted into paper boxes. However, thanks to the rise of the chaos packaging trend, some brands focus on unusual methods. 

This approach can work well for differentiating products on shelves. If one item’s package looks unusual, people will at least pick it up out of curiosity. Some may be interested enough to buy it instead of what they had planned to purchase. 

Start planning how you might use chaos packaging by thinking of products significantly different from yours that have some shared characteristics. An example of that came from Potts’, a sauce brand. Since many of its products are liquid and brown, marketing professionals saw the connection between them and craft beer. They were early adopters of chaos packaging and have put the sauces in cans since 2019. 

As of November 2024, the brand had sold more than 7 million cans since launching them in those containers. The Potts’ marketing team also said customers liked the increased sustainability offered by the 100% recyclable packaging. 

Encourage People to Have Fun

Creative packaging ideas can also allow you to recognize people’s passions and help them come together over shared activities. Canadian marketers working for the Pizza Pizza chain recently emphasized that option while making packages to appeal to those eating freshly baked slices as they watch hockey games at home. 

The appropriately named Hockey Box Combo comes with a pizza and two drinks. People also get a tiny plastic hockey net, and consumers in some markets receive branded containers with their local teams’ names and logos. The box design looks like a hockey rink, and the drink caps become makeshift pucks. 

Pizza Pizza is a Canadian brand, and its marketers wanted the packaging to reflect the popularity of hockey viewership as a national pastime. See if you could do something similar with your product’s packaging, finding an option that’s lighthearted and reminds people that they don’t have to act seriously all the time. Although many people have jobs and other obligations, your product and its packaging could help them relax and enjoy their downtime.

The pizza box design also encourages friendly competition and gives people something to do once the commercials come on during their hockey games. This example shows how creative packaging can fit smoothly into leisure activities. When that happens, consumers are more likely to have positive opinions of the brand and recall how it helped them have fun and take a break from life’s stresses. 

Extend Your Brand With Thoughtful Packaging

People see your brand’s package before using whatever’s inside. That’s a compelling reason to treat the packaging as an extension of the product and your company’s values. Use these tips and real-life examples to make your packages do more, captivating consumers and earning their loyalty.