Packaging Refresh: When Do Brands Need a Packaging Redesign?

Brand packaging can evoke positive feelings and fond memories among consumers. Instant recognition of the brand through its packaging is one of the drivers of customer loyalty. The product’s packaging design showcases the brand’s visual story before people acquaint themselves with its content’s quality. 

Every color, font, or imagery can induce a brand’s individuality and uniqueness. Products with compelling packaging become leaders that separate themselves from the rest of the market. However, most product packaging designs can age out and benefit from a refresh.

A packaging redesign may be necessary despite the current design’s beloved familiarity. How does a brand know when to redesign packaging? What scenarios indicate the need for an immediate change? Below are signs that your brand might rethink your packaging, plus some strategies for an effective redesign.

When Do Brands Need a Product Packaging Redesign

  1. Rising costs

With the global economy still recovering from the pandemic, inflation is affecting the cost of all materials. This may be the time to revisit the materials used in the product package.

Quality packaging can still exist with cost-efficient design and sourcing.. Brands should not confuse “cheap” or poorly-made packaging with cost-efficiency, as price can affect sales

Selecting a lower-cost material may reduce overall costs and affect bottom line profits. Partnering with an alternative yet similarly competent and reputable printing and packaging provider may help in achieving lower costs packaging.

  1. Change in competition

Competitors may sometimes offer more appealing packaging with vivid colors, sturdier materials, and higher-quality designs. With this, it can be helpful to take inspiration from these competitors or improve upon and innovate from their creations. 

The decision to change designs should align with the potential threat, while also remaining consistent with the innovative use of package redesign as a competitive strategy element. If not, the brand marketing team might find itself managing reactively rather than proactively.

  1. Change in product

Packaging must align with the product’s shape, size, and contents. A change in the product may disqualify the incumbent packaging design and justify a packaging redesign. Despite the change, a design must remain attractive to long-time customers without stripping off the familiar feel of the brand. 

One way to assure consumers that the brand value hasn’t changed is to state that there is no difference in product quality. Marketers may use the classic promotional parlance: “New look, same great _______.”

  1. Slow sales

Sales efforts may be insufficient despite adequate product testing and quality marketing efforts. Perhaps packaging can pick up the slack. Today’s society is becoming more image-oriented. Forbes states that “Eye-tracking studies show that consumers read on average only seven words in an entire shopping trip, buying instinctively by color, shape, and familiarity of location.”

The packaging must emulate the essence of a product. It must attract, stand out on the shelves, and provide a lasting image in customers’ minds. Sometimes a competitor with subpar-quality goods yet excellent packaging can garner sales better than the better-quality ones. 

  1. Growth

Greater business success may require greater problems to resolve. Perhaps the old packaging may be considered substandard in a mass production caliber. 

  1. Outdated design and shifting trends

Sales might suffer once a packaging outlives its market appeal. Product packaging that’s six years or older may require an update.

Compare the logos and packaging from the 1960s to today to see the differences. Keeping up with the most recent design trends helps your products stay relevant in the eyes of your target consumers. Occasionally switching to retro packaging may be dependent on the latest trends, but going with a more up-to-date design will give it lasting power.

  1. Sustainability

There’s an increasing pressure to keep product packaging sustainable due to climate change and environmental concerns. 

Consumers believe that brands have a social responsibility to create positive environmental change as much as the government does. Over the past few years, there has been a 71% rise in online searches for sustainable packaging and goods worldwide. 

An Accenture survey suggests that 72% of consumers buy more environmentally friendly products than they did five years ago. Environmentally conscious individuals are growing in numbers, with 81% expecting to buy more over the next five years.

To communicate a brand’s sustainability mission, it should be explicitly stated on the packaging. It must also instruct consumers how to reuse the packaging and educate about its tangible, sustainable impacts. 

More Than Just Packaging

Packaging is as important as developing the products it contains. It communicates how businesses handle their goods and how brands understand their products well enough to know how consumers will use them. Brands must know their buyers sufficiently to satisfy them in terms of their packaging design.

A packaging redesign can be daunting, but it’s necessary. Businesses won’t stray when they partner with experts bringing their packaging solutions to life. Get accurate dimensions, packaging colors, and more with Meyers. Reach out to us today.