Have you ever judged a book by its cover? Actually I guess a better way to ask that question is, have you ever not judged a book by its cover? Of course not, how things look are important to us and as consumers we’re always looking for more than the product inside the container, we’re also looking for the packaging … it’s a little like wrapping paper at Christmas, we want to feel spoiled when we buy it.

Packaging isn’t limited to a grocery store (although it is a perfect example of packaging), we also judge the quality of a product based on its packaging at trade shows and industrial equipment, taking the time to put a little bit of trim work and paint on an old house almost always increases its value in the marketplace so why then, do so many people forget to properly package their own products?

Tropicana’s branding gamble
Packaging is such a funny thing that  we often don’t even notice how powerful it is but take the below example of what happened when Tropicana Orange Juice changed the packaging for its iconic orange juice from the traditional design on the left (with a great big orange) to a more upscale, generic style on the right.

The result (beyond a ton of media attention) was a consumer rebellion at the cash register, designers seem to like the new design but consumers hated it. The result? The company switched back to their original design. More importantly it helps designers and marketing people remember that packaging, whether it be retail or commercial is critical to the success of a product.