Six great examples of brands using packaging effectively

How important is a product’s packaging? No, it’s not a marketing philosophy question, just a way of introducing how some well-known brands have become identifiable by the way their products are dressed.

Cadbury’s

The brand’s new limited edition chocolate bar wrappers is a classic example of how clever design can generate interaction between a product and its customers in everyday life.

The packaging is divided into everyday scenarios and shared responsibilities based on who performs various tasks and duties.

There are twelve situations such as “who drove” and “who slept, “who updates the shared calendar,” “who goes along to things,” and everyday tasks like cooking and cleaning.

It’s a great example of how effective creative marketing should work.

Oatly

The oat drink alternative to dairy products from Sweden, made from liquid oats, it comes in a series of packs that looks like a kind of down-to-earth antidote (!) to milk products in their boldly utility, no-nonsense cartons.

All the packs are covered in plain bold type, with statements like ‘What kind of cows does oat drink come from?’ and ‘In oats we trust.’

The company also produce non-dairy frozen desserts, oatgurt, oat spreads and various other oat-based products, all with the same style of packaging.

If you’re shopping for a milk substitute, this packaging design practically begs you to try it. 

Pukka Tea 

With Pukka Tea’s packaging, you can practically smell the ingredients just by looking at the packet. 

Even though every one of Pukka Tea’s packages in the range of herbal infusions is different, they all shine out with an identical kind of floral vivacity that is Pukka’s very own.

The three ginger pack is ginger, morning berry is berry coloured, lemon, ginger and honey is lemon, three mint is a pale mint hue. You get the idea. They’re all uniquely Pukka but each is distinctly their own visual flavour, so to speak.

Absolut Vodka

From Sweden, Absolut is one of the most famous vodkas in the world. If vodka’s your tipple, you’ve no doubt tried Absolut, all thanks to the unmistakable, unfussy bottle design and ‘Absolut Vodka’ branding.

There’s almost a medicinal look to the original glass bottle shape, somehow complemented by the handwritten credentials under the plain logotype. The beautiful simplicity of everything about this packaging emphasises the purity of its spirit. Clearly a classic example of great package design.

But Absolut are actually saying, this beautiful, clean aesthetic isn’t worth it, at the cost of more and more glass bottles being manufactured and going into circulation. Which is why they’ve taken their iconic bottle and started trialling a more sustainable paper version that can be recycled with paper at home.

Absolut Future Packaging director Elin Furelid said: “We are exploring packaging that has a completely different value proposition.

“Paper is tactile; it’s beautiful; it’s authentic; it’s light. That was our starting point. But this is not just an idea on paper.

Good Hair Day Pasta

With award-winning, eye-catching packaging (designed by Nikita Konkin), Good Hair Day Pasta’s unique, stylish and quirky packaging is one of those great design light-bulb moments.

The company’s range of different pasta styles just work so perfectly with the packaging’s ‘hairstyle’ variations, and even work when the design incorporates a hat, headscarf, or a guy with a beard. Better yet, the pasta ‘hair’ can be had in a series of shades and colours.

M&S Cereal

The cereal aisle in most supermarkets is awash with bright colours, fun characters and sugar-packed cereals trying to seduce your kids. Which is why we love what M&S has done with their cereal. It’s simple, clean, and just in case there was any doubt, they’ve listed all the ingredients loudly and proudly on the front of the box.

Honourable mentions

Let’s give a passing nod to how the unique or distinctive shape of some product packaging has itself become an iconic brand symbol. The curvaceous Coca-Cola bottle. The Pringles ‘tube’. The triangular Toblerone box. The Heinz ketchup bottle. McDonalds’s Happy Meal box. The minimalist iPhone box. Each one is a tribute to the way great product packaging has become firmly established in our lives.  

Interested in giving your packaging a creative makeover? Find out more about our design and branding services by emailing hello@harrisoncarloss.com