Packaging That Performs: How to Stand Out on Shelf

What should CPG founders figure out before they start designing their brand?

I've worked with a lot of founders and entrepreneurs, and what I found is a tendency for most to want to jump straight into design. They see it as an aesthetic exercise, more than a strategic tool to actually help their businesses perform great creative starts with great strategy. So before any design gets done, you need to invest in the time of setting the parameters and guardrails strategically for creative direction, focus, and ultimately efficiency. And this improves your relationship with either an independent designer or an agency, no matter how much money you're spending or how much time you're investing. The more you stop to think and focus on what it is you're trying to build in the first place and communicate through design, the better the results on the back end. So there are a couple of early things that you need to focus on in order to give your creative partners the information that they need. You have to first understand who are you for and who are you not for? What is your brand believe in? Why are you creating it? What does it exist for? The second is, what problem do you solve better than any other brand? Obviously, you're creating something because you see some sort of white space in the marketplace or feel that there's something that hasn't been done before and you want to bring it to life. Identifying that core truth is going to be paramount to your creative partner, understanding the inspiration behind your entrepreneurial endeavors. Then there's oftentimes understanding of like what is happening within the overall category that you can zig or zag against. Is everyone talking about X, Y, and Z? And you want to talk about something completely different? Are there rules that you see being played out within your category that you want to adhere to, but find a fresh way to express? Identifying those things, what you stand for, who your audience is, how you challenge that category creates the three key ingredients to allow design to do its heavy lifting.

What design principles help a CPG brand stand out and get noticed at shelf?

The first is people don't read; they recognize. The world is filled with messaging. Every day we am bombarded with things on Instagram, newspapers, billboards, websites, etc. If we choose to not read things, but we can never choose to not recognize something. As human beings, we are developed to recognize symbols, images, colors, and patterns. It's why a picture is literally worth 1000 words. And the best brands in the world all understand the power of recognition, and they know how to create it too. If I had a small can in my hand and it was red, you'd likely guess that it was Coca-Cola. If a delivery truck drove by and it was brown, you'd know it was UPS. If I held a small box in my hand with a little bow on top that was teal, you might guess that it was Tiffany's. These brands and many others all leverage recognition through a number of different degrees and variables, so brand color can be a very big one. So when you think of hot pockets, you think of red. When you think of cheese, it you think of red. Now these brands have lots of different colors within their overall portfolio or flavors, but one brand color to rule them all makes things really simple for consumers to recognize it from 10 feet away. Other elements that are recognizable are brand patterns, or brand icons or marks. Think about the Monster M or slash. Think about the Red Bull bulls. Think about Target as a retailer and that that bullseye and symbol. There are lots of different ways to create recognition. A lot of it comes and starts with consistency and distinctiveness. So as you're working with your creative partners, ask yourself, what am I designing, or what are we creating here that will be recognizable beyond simply reading a word? In the CPG industry, we are bombarded with so many pieces of text on packaging, brand names, claims, RTBs, reasons to believe, product benefits, etc. Brands that stand out usually own a color, a mark, a pattern, or sometimes structure, which we'll talk about later here. Now, second principle is challenge the category, not the consumer. This is another way of saying zig when the category zags. But the one cautionary tale here is not being different for different sake. So, for instance, you could be a craft brewery and say that your brand color is going to be pink. It'll be highly recognizable. However, if you're going after a male demographic, you may alienate a large swath of the consumers that you're hoping to reach. So, brands that disrupt, brands that challenge a category without challenging a consumer. What does that look like? Well, one would be liquid death. Liquid def decided that they were going to throw out the category norm of every brand talking about where it was from, its place of origin, whether that was mountain, a spring, an island, etc. and they opted for obviously a very kind of polarizing heavy metal, sort of contrarian resonating visual look and feel, and that worked for them because in the early days of their brand, they were really trying to win on premise at bars where people didn't really have a lot of non-alcoholic choices, wanted to drink something but not be called out for not drinking alcohol, and it fit into that education perfectly, and they've used branding and design to proliferate this kind of persona that persists today. Other brands that challenge the category, not the consumer, were Grazza in the olive oil category. So yes, they're in the squeeze bottle, but now the squeeze bottle is proliferated throughout the entire competitive set, as everyone is a fast follower. Yes, they were one of the first ones to do it, but what they really focused on was taking away the stuffiness of the overall category. They wanted to make it approachable. They wanted consumers to be able to feel comfortable utilizing this product. No one knows what extra virgin means. Everything's in glass bottles. Everything has this import vibe, very fancy. Olive oil is meant for cooking.Makes things better, and it should be easy to use. So Graza as a brand name, Graza as an illustration style and a packaging. Graza from a color palette and a and a language perspective. All of it feels markedly different from the historical context of their category. Last example I'll give you is bonzo. Bonza pasta is in an orange box in a category filled with blue, green, red, and white packaging, and they use their orange color consistently across the board. They use. Brand recognition as a means of challenging the category without challenging the consumer. Orange felt strong, had a sense of vitality and vibrancy that promoted this notion of carbs or traditionally carb-heavy product being better for you with higher protein, something that was permissible for consumers. The last principle is what isn't seen isn't sold, and this is particularly true in the retail environment. Consumers start their shopping journey from 10 feet back. What they see from 10 feet back is not the small language or the copy; it's big color, visual shapes, or patterns. And the more likely you are to be seen from 10 feet back, the more likely you are to win at one foot from the shelf. So you have to be seen. You have to create contrast. I see a lot of entrepreneurs creating packaging that just sort of blends in. It's important that in your development of packaging, you take some early prototypes onto a shelf, even if it's just a cutout piece of paper that you put onto a box or wrap around a can, take it into a store environment, step back, and ask yourself, "What am I seeing? What isn't seen isn't sold. It's a very critical component for brands that are looking to gain trial and start to steal category share from their industries

What makes a strong brand name and how can founders avoid names that limit future growth?

So one of the first things you'll do after you create your brand strategy, ideally, is create your brand name. What I'm here to tell you is that naming can be one of the trickiest things that a founder can take on, and oftentimes be one of the greatest things holding back a company long term. So I'm going to throw out a couple of brand names for you. See if you recognize them, and then share what their original names were: Poppy, which was just acquired by Pepsi; Fieté, also acquired by Pepsi; Coya, the very popular nationwide available plant protein beverage; or Yerba Madre, which a lot of people know as the yellow yerba mate can. Each one of these brands previously had a very different name. Poppy originally started as mother beverage, named mother beverage because of the fermentation that happens to create apple cider vinegar. Koya was originally named Raw Nature Five, in part because the ingredients were raw, was natural, and had five ingredients, but none of those things are true for that product today. Siete formerly was must-be nutty tortillas. It was a sort of a joke, a punny joke around the fact that they were made with almond flour. And then, lastly, yerba madre was previously Guayaki. Now, each one of these brands have changed their names at different times within their overall evolution, but they're a great example and illustration of several different things that are happening. Guayaki was a name that no one could say or understand how to pronounce when reading it. Raw Nature Five was a very product descriptive name that ultimately didn't speak to the greater essence of the brand and what they were looking to sort of create or accomplish. Mother beverage didn't sound like a fun, flavorful soda-like experience, and must be nutty tortillas held them back if they ever wanted to make a product without nuts. So a lot of the early stage issues with brand naming is that they're overly clever, or overly descriptive, or too narrow for future growth. A great brand name is memorable, expandable, and distinctive.

And so, I've worked with countless founders helping them with brand naming, ultimately you need to understand what is the strategy that we first have in place to then build a name from, and does the name box us in in the near future? Any time your ingredient is in your brand name or your product format is in your brand name, for instance RX bar, then you are usually looking at an issue down the road that is going to be much more painful. Now, I think one of the greatest kept secrets within the CPT industry is just how many brands change their names throughout the revolution, and to me, that is not an admission of failure, but an admission of learning and unlocking future potential growth. So when it comes to naming, try not to be overly descriptive. Try to use a little bit of imagination and think about the future and how you will want to evolve your brand over time.

How much should you say on the front of your packaging?

One of the most critical things that I see consumers tripping over time and time again is trying to gain credit for too much. They try to sort of capture the embarrassment of riches of product benefits all into their packaging, and what it ends up doing is creating this NASCAR effect, where you have all these statements and all these claims and all of these certifications, and nothing seems to resonate. The less you say, the more you mean. One of my favorite examples is Bonza. Now, their protein pasta has literally two claims on the box: protein and fiber content. Now, they're non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, low-carb, net carb, etc. But they don't put any of that on the front panel. What they do is they focus on the consumer. Who are they selling to? Well, they're selling to people that love pasta but feel guilty eating it. So what do they need to know to feel less guilty about eating pasta? Well, knowing that there's protein and fiber in it certainly makes a big difference and gives them a sense of permissibility that they can eat that more often. Founders that again try to say everything ultimately say nothing, and so one of the biggest things you need to do is figure out what are the top three things you want a consumer to know. You get so little time with a consumer studying your front of pack that you need to whittle things down to their most critical assets on the front, and then put everything else that's secondary on the sides or back panels. This is one of the biggest things that can unlock success for early stage founders and brands. The other big mistake I see brands making is genericizing themselves by focusing exclusively on what the product is. So, if you are a coconut water, spending your time focusing on coconut water really big with a small little logo does not help you. It makes you feel like a generic product, makes you feel like private label, and ultimately shouts the thing that a consumer already understands or can tell based on where they found you in the store, the other brands that are surrounded by you, and the other images that you most likely have that are associated with coconut water in your packaging. It's important to have a healthy balance. Now, this is really dependent upon how innovative is your product. If your product is highly innovative, and it requires a lot of education, then you should make product the singular focus of your pack. But if your product, like most founders, is not super distinctive or unique or novel, maybe you're making a protein coffee, maybe you're selling kombucha, maybe you're making tortilla chips-things that consumers already inherently understand-don't spend an absorbent amount of real estate talking about what it is. Make sure to leave room for your key differentiators-those three things that we just spoke on-but also who's the brand, what is the kind of visual essence. Those types of elements will be critical in terms of differentiating yourself from a very crowded shelf.

Why does packaging matter so much for early stage brands?

Packaging is the most intimate brand touchpoint you have with your consumer, because at the end of the day, it is the number one thing that they go and either order online or pick up in a store, and they physically interact with. The consumer may never see your website. They may never see your social media. They may never see your marketing or advertising, but they will see your packaging at the moment of purchase. So packaging has the power to drive awareness, trial, loyalty, brand recognition-all these really critical components-and it works for you when you're not in the room. So, so much of the bootstrapping phase of entrepreneurs is demos and being the face of the brand, but packaging has the opportunity to allow you to scale what you stand for, what you believe in, what you create in ways that you never could. So it's important that you make the right investment in your overall packaging at the outset. But early stage brands often underinvest and try to get away with just focusing on the product. And I'll be the first one to say, if your product is not as best as it can be. Don't waste your time investing in packaging, because great packaging with a poor product is the fastest way to kill your brand. You'll create trial with no repeat purchase. You can actually get a lot further with horrible packaging and a great product because it will slowly spread via word of mouth. But the ideal scenario is. You have great and phenomenal product with packaging that does an equally successful job of communicating what's different about it, why someone should try it, and then you've created both this perception of it looks great on the outside and it performs great when I eat it, consume it, use it, etc. So packaging really is at critical moment, and for a lot of companies that start D to C, they eventually always end up in retail packaging that performs and is built to facilitate success in retail will work online. But the opposite is not true. There are lots of brands that I've worked with over the years that, when in a D to C or e-commerce space performs well enough, in part because you have so much other content and information educating you. If you're on an Amazon page or on a website, just think about how many other touchpoints you have. But when a packaging sits alone on a shelf, surrounded by a sea of competition, now all of a sudden there are. It is clear whether your brand and your packaging has succinct points of difference, or if it's cluttered and hard to understand, and thus you lose the opportunity to gain a new consumer for trial.

How can packaging structure help your brand stand out and disrupt a category?

If you think about some of the world's most iconic brands, naturally the packaging design, the structure of the packaging, will come to mind. Coca-Cola in their iconic bottle, Absolute Vodka, Calafia Farms Oat Milk, Voss Water, Toblerone Chocolate, Palm the pomegranate juice. All of these brands have made these critical investments into their packaging, and they become long-term equities and tools for recognition. As we talked about in an earlier sort of video, color, image, and pattern are very important tools, but packaging structure is one of the more underutilized ones. Now, brands that utilize custom packaging have to make great investments into those tools, and that's just not feasible for many early stage entrepreneurs. For instance, the founder behind Olli, the skincare soap brand, Welly, the tin packaged bandage company, and Ollie, the vitamin supplements, all show the same founder, and as a result, he has a playbook of disruption using that. But there are plenty of examples where you can use stock packaging structures, oftentimes from categories outside of your own, to create disruption at shelf. So, for instance, boxed water was the first to come into the water space, ditch the plastic bottle, and use a milk carton to speak to its environmental mission and footprint. You then had companies like Liquideth following up with putting water in a can, which was novel and unique.

You talk about Graza, one of the first olive oil companies, if not the first, to put it into a squeezable bottle. This was something that was happening in restaurants, but wasn't happening in retail. And now retail is filled with fast followers. You can talk about the company Vacation, which put whipped sunscreen into a whipped cream can. There's a company called Stillhouse that makes moonshine, and they put it into basically like a motor oil can. There are plenty of other examples of companies that use distinctive packaging from outside their category and bring it in. As long as that packaging structure does not create the wrong type of confusion or chaos, and brings with it instead some intuitive elements that actually speak to either the product or the mission of the company, or as a consumer use benefit, then you've got something on your hands that can be very useful and viable. And again, it will be a calling card in terms of being disruptive and being ownable and recognizable, if it is a stock structure though, and you have success, you will find other brands that quickly will follow suit, just like we see in the instance of Graza. But Graza's stuck with the reputation of being the one that originated that that structure, and so it can oftentimes work and be the necessary leg up that founders who are looking to disrupt need in the early stage of their business.

What makes packaging design effective?

At the end of the day, design has the power to be a business solution to help create connection between consumers and brand, to help out compete competitors, to help tell story-all of that is an element of design effectiveness. You will see a lot out there about award-winning packaging design. At the end of the day, though, what you care about. Does your packaging increase sales, create higher conversion, create greater trial, increase retailers' belief that you will sell in market, and all of that happens through taking these principles that we've all just talked about, ensuring that you have a strong brand strategy, that you know what you believe in, what you stand for, the brand pillars that you stand upon. Having a brand name that properly articulates that, that does not put you in a box. Creating packaging that is distinctive and ownable, that has something recognizable about it, that figures out how to challenge a category norm or stereotype in a constructive way, and that ultimately is seen in retail. That creates contrast at shelf or online in digital thumbnails. And if you do all of those things, you will ultimately create design effectiveness. But again, the other thing is not saying too many things on your pack. Designing for the audience in mind rather than oneself, using communication to really benefit the consumer as they're looking for how does this product fit the needs of my lifestyle or aspirations. Effectiveness is always more important than esthetic early on, but the best outcome is design effectiveness with craft. If a brand feels like it's been considered well designed, put together, it will inherently feel more confident, more premium, worth paying more for, and the design effectiveness elements will make it easier for a brand to ultimately win over consumers in crowded categories where there are lots of other players that don't have these principles in place.

What does a useful brand strategy actually include?

When you get into brand building, oftentimes what you're intuitively doing is you're building your own brand strategy. Sometimes that's through positioning frameworks. There's lots of different tools and expressions of brand strategy. But at the heart of it, a brand strategy is not a deck, a manifesto, or a set of vibes. It is a decision-making system, and good strategy helps you make decisions faster, avoid internal debates, and stay consistent, as well as help articulate the vision of the company to other people outside.

bringing in creatives to help with things like brand identity or packaging or social, even having a brand strategy that you can easily share with these individuals is going to be critical and important. I think a good brand strategy understands what a company believes in. That is so much bigger than anything that has to do with their product. Like, why are they doing what they're doing? What is the overall mission or endpoint of what they hope to accomplish in culture in the world, then there is what does the product, what does the company actually do? What do we make? What do we sell? Then there's things we call brand pillars. Typically, you have three or four of these. These brand pillars are the sort of functional and emotional benefits that the brand creates that it always stands on. These are non-negotiables. So, for instance, if you're a baby food company, clean ingredients may be one of your brand pillars, or always organic ingredients, or a promise to be positive in a category filled with negativity. Maybe that works really well if you're in the energy drink space. Whatever it is, you want to decide on what are your functional brand pillars and your emotional brand pillars that connect to real truths behind why you started the company, why consumers are looking for other options or tensions within a category that are going unnoticed and serve as an opportunity for you to be different. When you have these parts and pieces, along with a sense of what is your brand's personality and how does it talk, sometimes using the muse of a celebrity can be helpful as an exercise. Once you have all of these things, you have the starting place strategically to give something to a creative partner and have them bring it to life in a way that isn't just beautiful now, but actually works to perform a job.

When and how should founders test branding and packaging with consumers?

For a lot of creatives, you'll find that they have an adverse relationship with consumer testing, they oftentimes find that it muddies their creative vision, or waters things down, or is too constrictive in terms of what to do next. But I find that's often because testing is done in the validation stage. That is, you get to a singular design creative solution, you test it at the end, and. Hope that everything goes well before you go to lunch. Now, I'm a big believer in testing to learn in order to win, and if you're going to test to learn, it's better to test early in the creative development process. In part because you want to be able to test while things are still very malleable to gain consumer insights about what's working and what isn't working, and integrate that back into the workflow. As someone leading a brand, whether you're a brand manager or a brand founder, that's going to be critical for you to have increased confidence that you're making the right changes and adjustments because you've brought the audience in to the creative development. Now there are lots of different platforms that you can use some very expensive, some sort of scrappy. You can also do things on your own, with you know things like monkey survey or Instagram polls or even just going and doing store intercepts with people. What you have to be focused on is talking to the right audience and making sure that you don't get signals that are distraction. Talking to your mother or your husband or your brother or sister, if they are not the intended audience, is not going to be a helpful endeavor. And so, testing to learn is all about taking early creative elements, getting feedback on them, and figuring out what's working and what doesn't-that will help you continue to proliferate your creative development in a way that is iterative and improves the end result. So that by the time you show up in market, you're not learning once it's launched; you're learning pre-launch.