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The power of packaging: What messages matter and where?
Fresh juice and smoothie brand
Challenge
As consumers are increasingly influenced by ethical and dietary concerns, what messages do they most want to see on packaging–and where?
During a range refresh across the UK, Germany and France, a leading fresh juice and smoothie brand needed help to finetune its packaging to ensure it resonates with its customers. Our challenge was to uncover the sustainability and nutrition messages that have the greatest impact on purchasing decisions and on brand loyalty.
Our analysis delved into crucial factors like recyclable packaging, sustainable ingredients, and sugar content, and explored how these elements intersect to shape consumer perceptions. To develop a strategic approach for front-of-pack messages, we looked into the factors most likely to drive purchase intent as they are chosen most intuitively and quickly by consumers. For back-of-pack messages, we worked to pinpoint the factors which consumers chose most frequently and are therefore most likely to foster brand love.
Research
Using our quantitative implicit testing platform, under time constraints, we:
- Evaluated people’s intuitive responses to different claims, categorising them into environmental, health, and sustainability themes.
- Examined how presenting claims as full sentences influenced purchase intent.
- Measured emotional responses to concise claims and longer, narrative-driven messages.
Findings
- Environmental claims emerged as the most resonant and quickly chosen by shoppers compared to health or sustainability claims.
- Health-related claims were found to have a stronger impact on consumers’ likelihood to purchase products compared to sustainability or environmental claims.
- Concise claims (such as ‘recyclable plastic’) rather than full sentences (such as ‘This pack is made from recyclable plastic to do our bit to help the environment’) were more effective for driving purchase intent, especially for front-of-pack communication.
- Longer, narrative-driven messages were more conducive to inspiring brand love, suitable for back-of-pack communication.
Based on how quickly and intuitively respondents chose factors, we mapped out what mattered most to people buying in this category:
Outcome
By uncovering consistent shopper responses across all markets, our research enabled the brand to confidently redesign its packaging with globally unified on-pack messaging that reinforces brand cohesion while meeting changing customer needs.
