Packaging and container design and manufacturing performs a twofold function, protecting products from damage, on one hand, and making for immediately recognisable brand personality on the other – a product which stands out from the crowd.
Over the years packaging has evolved into a full blown strategic marketing tool with implications for the whole buying process, which is increasingly frenetic and rapid. In a competitive and crowded market, an active visual communication strategy is essential and packaging is the fullest expression of this.
Shopping bags, boxes and pouches are effective, direct communication products with a covert but striking effect on consumers’ subconscious choices.
Packaging categories
There are three types of packaging:
- Primary packaging: to contain and protect products, the outer casing which separates products from external agents, such as cans, bottles, sachets.
- Secondary packaging: a way of storing and combining multiple retail units such as cardboard boxes with other packaged products in them.
- Tertiary packaging: considered more functional than the other two and not directly seen by consumers as it is the large packages serving to transport goods to retail outlets.
