Packaging has been an essential complement to the products. Some say that whoever has creative packaging has half the job done. Experts say that if a product doesn’t catch the consumer’s attention in 7 seconds on the shelf, it never will. According to Nielsen, it must be visible that quickly and capture attention and then convince the consumer of the benefits of the brand in more detail.
The packaging sells, makes the product more attractive, but now it is also a communication channel with consumers. Brands are creating increasingly smart, innovative, practical and creative packaging to attract consumers and now also to guide and bond with them, on the basis that the emotional aspect is increasingly important for decision-making from potential buyers.
Packages with freshness sensors, self-heating, etc., are already present in the market, but now some of them are being developed with the possibility of connecting with the production company via the Internet.
Smart packaging, also known as smart packaging, active packaging or intelligent packaging, are a new form of packaging that, in addition to being attractive and satisfying the needs to preserve, protect and transport, serve to make life easier and more practical for the consumer. . However, it is necessary to differentiate between intelligent packaging and interactive packaging.
Smart packaging or active packaging monitors what is inside the container. Interactive packaging adds information to the shopping experience (for example, through QR codes, augmented reality, through a smartphone and an app.
Smart packaging seeks to save any effort for the consumer, so smart solutions affect ease of use. The consumer can, at a glance at the packaging, know in what condition their product is. Here the Japanese are one step ahead. For example, the smart carton, designed by Ko Yang for dairy products, changes color simulating the appearance of bacteria, to indicate to the consumer that its expiration date is approaching.
Soon it will also be possible, thanks to the internet of things, to put food in contact with the refrigerator, to remind consumers that these steaks have been there for four days, that the milk is running out, that a food is in good condition, that a drink is at the right temperature, that a medicine is expired or that an anti-wrinkle cream has lost its properties.
This is especially important now that the world is moving towards a circular economy, with many recycling and reuse policies for packaging, flexible packaging, lighter packaging, biodegradable materials and standard packaging.
But now the packaging also invites to interact with the products, making consumers take part in activities such as coloring, listening, reading, etc. They connect with the brand and the product. This is because a consumer is much more likely to remember the brand if they did some kind of unique and memorable action. That is, it generates engagement. In this way, interactive packaging does something that traditional packaging does not. An interactive package is a type of package that contains instructions or forms of entertainment along with a specific design made for the consumer to interact with. It is one of the ways that brands have to make consumers interact not only with the product, but also with the packaging. It can come in any form of packaging: simple or complex. There are examples of interactive packaging as simple and effective as wine bottles that invite you to draw on them. Another example of interactive packaging is a box used to send T-shirts that contains instructions for turning the box into a shelf. This, in addition, is an example of ecodesign.
With the advancement of technology and the advent of QR Codes, interactive packaging has also been digitized. What has made it change from an interactive material design to the simple implementation of a code on the packaging that makes the consumer, through the use of a smartphone, interact digitally with it. Because of this, the limits on interactive packaging have been removed. With interactive packaging 2.0, an experience can be given in any form: from video games to videos, software, music, etc.
Today there are companies that are fully dedicated to the development of experiences based on augmented reality applications. This has reached such a point that an app can recognize the container without the need to implement a QR code and offer the digital experience.
Interactive packaging has a lot to offer to brands that want to connect with their consumers at a higher level. This type of packaging offers many opportunities to turn the relationship with the consumer into a much more dynamic one. Both the analog version of interactive packaging and the 2.0, will help products reach consumers in a unique and personalized way.