A packaging redesign is more than just colors, fonts, shapes and graphics; it’s a strategic move to align your packaging with your brand’s evolving identity, consumer preferences, and market trends. Whether you’re refreshing your visuals, shifting materials, or altering messaging, the goal is to ensure your packaging resonates with your target audience and helps your product stand out on the shelf.
At Motiv, we’ve seen how effective packaging design plays a crucial role in not only functionality but also in marketing. Brands who let their packaging go stale risk losing consumer interest, failing to stand out in a competitive market, and missing opportunities for growth.
Could your product packaging using a refresh? For brands considering a packaging redesign, the decision of when to start the redesign process isn’t always clear cut. In this article, we explore six signs that suggest it may be time consider a packaging redesign.
What Is a Packaging Redesign?
A packaging redesign is the process of changing the aesthetics, message, and/or materials of a product’s package to remain competitive in the market. The idea is to make a product’s packaging (and brand) more relatable to your target demographic.
Beyond an update in appearance, a packaging redesign typically includes improved functionality, and better reflection of brand identity, considering the out-of-box-experience.
6 Signs It’s Time for a Packaging Redesign
Common reasons for an updated packaging redesign are if your current design is outdated, ineffective, or no longer reflects your brand’s identity and customer needs. Here are six signs it may be time to start the redesign process:
- Updated Product Positioning
- Evolving Competitor Landscape
- Product Redesign
- Changes in Consumer Preferences
- Improve Sustainability
- Updated Branding
1. Updated Product Positioning
Your packaging should accurately reflect a product’s updating positioning. If your product no longer stands out, then it’s time to update your positioning in the marketplace.
2. The Competitor Landscape is Evolving
CPG categories evolve quickly, with brands adopting new packaging trends and new competitors emerging. An evolving competitor landscape often leads to a loss of competitive edge, and over time, your product can get lost in the shuffle. A packaging redesign helps brands stand out from the growing competition, while keeping up with a rapidly changing market.
3. You’re Undergoing a Product Redesign
A packaging redesign is essential when a product undergoes a redesign to ensure the packaging aligns with the new product’s features, aesthetics, and target audience. It helps reinforce the product’s updated positioning in the market and creates a cohesive brand experience. Without updating the packaging, the new product may fail to communicate its improvements or stand out to consumers in a competitive market.
4. Meet Changes in Consumer Preferences
In a world where first impressions matter, your packaging must resonate with consumers to be effective. Consumer preferences play an important role in successful packaging design, influencing purchase decisions. Over time, audience preferences and trends shift, and updating your packaging design can help your brand stay relevant.
5. Improve Sustainability
As consumers are becoming more informed and conscious of the impact of their purchasing decisions, sustainability has become an increasingly important purchasing consideration. A packaging redesign focused on sustainability is increasingly important as companies seek to reduce their environmental impact and support the fight against climate change. Traditional packaging materials like plastic and Styrofoam contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and landfill waste.
By opting for recyclable or eco-friendly materials in a packaging redesign, brands can help reduce pollution while attracting eco-conscious consumers, particularly millennials, who prefer supporting brands that align with their environmental values.
A few ideas:
- recycle and reuse
- use eco-friendly materials
- reduce package size
6. You’re Updating the Branding
A packaging redesign is essential when your brand undergoes a rebranding to ensure consistency across all touchpoints. It helps reflect the updated logo, color scheme, and messaging, reinforcing the new brand identity to consumers. Without aligning the packaging with the updated branding, you risk confusing customers and losing the impact of your rebranding efforts.
What Brands Need to Know About The Packaging Redesign Process
Brands should understand that the packaging redesign process involves evaluating market trends, consumer preferences, and brand identity to create a more effective and appealing design that boosts engagement and sales.
Brand Research
A successful packaging redesign starts with a clear understanding of your brand. Knowing your brand ensures the updated packaging reflects its core identity, values, and message while aligning design elements like logos, colors, and typography with your brand’s positioning and mission. Brands should know how to leverage and analyze big data to glean the information you need.
Consumer Testing
Consumer testing is essential for a packaging redesign to ensure the new design resonates with your target audience. By gathering feedback through surveys, focus groups, or product testing, brands can assess how well the updated packaging communicates your brand’s message and appeals to consumers. This data helps refine the design, ensuring it meets customer expectations and boosts its effectiveness in the market.
Go-to-Market Plan
A go-to-market strategy for a packaging redesign focuses on effectively introducing the updated packaging to your target audience. It involves crafting a clear message that highlights the changes and benefits of the redesign, whether it’s improved functionality, sustainability, or aesthetics. This strategy should include marketing channels, promotions, and customer engagement tactics to ensure the redesigned packaging captures attention and drives sales.
Final Thoughts on a Packaging Redesign Project
A packaging redesign is a powerful tool for maintaining relevance, standing out in a crowded market, and strengthening your brand’s connection with consumers.
Whether driven by updated product positioning, evolving preferences, sustainability goals, or a rebranding effort, redesigning your packaging can breathe new life into your product and enhance its appeal.
By keeping a pulse on market trends, conducting consumer testing, and developing a strategic go-to-market plan, you can ensure that your packaging not only meets but exceeds customer expectations, driving both engagement and sales.
At Motiv, we are an experienced packaging design agency that helps companies of all sizes and across a wide variety of industries create attractive packaging. We’re happy to answer any other questions you may have about the packaging redesign process and how we can help your brand.
Experience a Packaging Redesign for Your Brand
At Motiv, we are an experienced packaging design agency that helps companies of all sizes and across a wide variety of industries create attractive packaging. We’re happy to answer any other questions you may have about the packaging redesign process and how we can help your brand.
