Good packaging can champion marketing and sales campaigns. It can help connect with consumers on multiple fronts. Over the years, the industry has seen a range of packaging innovations, which set the tone for marketers to entice consumers to buy their product. As many design experts say, packaging is the first point of contact between the brand and the consumers. Thus, it has to convey what the brand is all about.

"Designing the perfect package is more than just putting the logo on the product. It must convey the brand’s story correctly, immediately attract the target audiences and create an instant urge to buy the product,” says Bhavika, founder, Beyondesign. “Apart from making your product stand out among competitors, it must clearly state the Unique Selling Point (USP) of the product and highlight the brand’s story.”

So how does one create a package to out-and-out resonate with the brand message? What are the nuances to be considered for effective communication? Through her recent project for a Mumbai-based FMCG manufacturer Open Secret Snacks’ Nutty Chips, Bhavika explains how a minimalistic and honest approach to packaging can do wonders.

The focus group
Open Secret’s target audience for the Nutty Chips were mothers who wish to provide their children with healthy bites, while also alluring the kids to choose the product themselves.

Besides this, the brand wanted a package that could tap the Gen-Z consumers. According to Zion Market Research, the packaging market is set to reach USD 35.5 million by 2024, with Gen-Z as one of the driving factors behind the growth.

"The post-Covid era is all about conscious choices and honest living. Consumers are ready to shell out a few extra bucks for a worthwhile product, especially when it comes to the younger generations. Hence, targeting the family segment through the children was an interesting strategy," says Bhavika.

The challenge
Nutty Chips features health and nutrition in the chips segment, which enjoys a chunk of a snacking market that has been estimated to cross Rs 1-billion in the coming years, thrived by the changing consumer behaviour caused by the Covid-19 pandemic with focus on hygiene and well-being. As per a survey conducted by Ipsos, today, 91% of Indians wish to explore healthier alternatives while snacking.

"Nutty Chips are essentially very healthy as they contain no added preservatives or wheat flour, and at the same time, are filled with ingredients and flavours that are unlikely to be used while manufacturing chips such as lemon chilli almond butter, spicy peanut butter, and choco almond butter," says Bhavika.

Thus, it became imperative for Beyondesign to break the pre-existing notion that chips are only a bag of deep-fried starchy potatoes, which are unhealthy and addictive. “Even though we have come across healthier options, nothing seems to be a good substitute for these delicious bags of unhealthy snack. However, Open Secret Nutty Chips are everything tasty and nutritious.”

And as the target audience are mothers and children, right colour combinations and truthful illustrations became essential for the ideal package design. More importantly, Open Secret wanted the healthiness quotient of the product to stand out."

One thing about the brands that advocates unjunking is that they are very particular about the ingredients that go into their product and their measured proportions,” says Bhavika. Thus, the crux here was to prioritise the product’s ingredients and design the packaging in a way that the target audience is immediately aware of what’s in the chips.

So the challenges were two-fold: to communicate the healthy aspects of the product and to entice a wide range of audiences.

The design
Beyondesign deployed a transparent approach to convey what the chips are exactly all about – triangle-shaped crisps with a creamy nut filling.

In the initial stages, Beyondesign intuitively tried to design a generous portion of a cream filling on the packaging to entice the children with a creamy visual. However, as the idea didn’t adhere to the product principles of the other focus group - the mothers - it had to be discarded. An illustration of slightly creamy filling and exclusively positioned ingredients sandwiched between the crispy chip layers was finalised. This illustration also ensured that the Nutty Chips brand story was expressed on the package itself to champion marketing campaigns.

Further, the front of the pack design effectively conveys the healthiness quotient of the product by highlighting its nutritional benefits. The team also dedicated a distinct colour for each of the flavours for a striking visual appeal while ensuring they all belong under one umbrella.

"It was very important for us to adopt all these little details into our ideas because ultimately each one of these details paved way for the final design," says Bhavika.

The result
The Nutty Chips packaging elucidates the point that an apt design is one that directly connects with the consumers. "If you want the product to stay relevant let your designs tell the stories customers love," says Bhavika.

Umang Sood, head of creative, Open Secret, says, “Beyondesign is not only a team of incredible designers but also extremely flexible and open to feedback. They went above and beyond while working on our packaging in record time.”

Ahana Gautam, founder, Open Secret feels that it was an absolute pleasure to work with Bhavika and her team on the project. "Loved the collaborative approach throughout the process from ideation to execution, crushing the timelines and speeding up the launch."

According to Bhavika, what helped her company’s endeavour to design the package was the product itself. "Although the placement and showcase of ingredients took quite some time, the result was captivating," she concludes.