Because of what I do for a living, I am hyper aware of different package designs. I am most intrigued if a package catches my eye when I'm not shopping to do research. This was the case the other day in the toothpaste section of the grocery store. There, in a sea of blue, green, and red boxes, sat a white box for Rembrandt toothpaste. It popped off of the shelf because of its simplicity. There were no bursts or "new and improved statements". Just a clean package that offered two different flavors. I can remember when Crest and Colgate were pretty much the only choices of toothpaste and Crest came in a white box and Colgate was in red. (These pictures don't illustrate my point as well as observing this in the store.)
I decided to pay more attention to other areas of the store and I didn't have to look far---the mouthwash area had two white bottles and they hit my eye as I scanned the shelves. It only makes sense--blue and green may represent the minty flavors these products offer, but what we really want is white teeth. Ingenious. (I think Crest had that idea a long time ago.)
I didn't have to leave the aisle for the next example. As I stood back from the shelf on the opposite side of the aisle, the white Kotex boxes made a diagonal stripe. Kotex made a big statement next to the predominately blue and pink boxes. (The red flower helped too.)
I saw several more examples, but the best one was in the oatmeal section of the cereal aisle. It had a simple design, a white box and a clear window to show off the product. I bought it because I liked the design. I ate it the next morning but it was too sweet. So I guess that getting a customer to take the product home is only half the battle. A great package design can only do so much if the customer doesn't want to buy the product again.
I decided to pay more attention to other areas of the store and I didn't have to look far---the mouthwash area had two white bottles and they hit my eye as I scanned the shelves. It only makes sense--blue and green may represent the minty flavors these products offer, but what we really want is white teeth. Ingenious. (I think Crest had that idea a long time ago.)
I didn't have to leave the aisle for the next example. As I stood back from the shelf on the opposite side of the aisle, the white Kotex boxes made a diagonal stripe. Kotex made a big statement next to the predominately blue and pink boxes. (The red flower helped too.)
I saw several more examples, but the best one was in the oatmeal section of the cereal aisle. It had a simple design, a white box and a clear window to show off the product. I bought it because I liked the design. I ate it the next morning but it was too sweet. So I guess that getting a customer to take the product home is only half the battle. A great package design can only do so much if the customer doesn't want to buy the product again.
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