by Indrani Basu

Created on: September 18, 2009   Last Updated: September 22, 2009

Is product packaging really a significant factor in influencing the consumer? The answer to it would be yes. Can we imagine for a while if all the cosmetics and toiletries that we use in our day to day lives come in bland mono colour packets? How does it feel? Well for some of us it may be tough to think of this kind of situation.

The important point to take note here is what is the product all about? If it is a business to consumer product and especially a fast moving consumer good or a snack or a soft drink, packaging has got to do something with the way consumer sees it. There are some seeds of perception that are planted into the consumers mind when the idea of packaging evolves for these kinds of products. Let say for example there is a new lime fresh perfume, what should the bottle or the packaging look like? The tagline is lemony lime fresh and the bottle is a deep purple colour. The very first look of this combination puts a doubt in the consumer's mind that is looking for a fresh scented perfume, that this might not be the one. On the other hand if it were in a lime green colour bottle, people automatically associate it with the freshness.

Marketers do nothing but play around with the five senses of human mind. With touch they have tagged satin, silk, soft, smooth, feather and light and breezy colours. That is why the soaps that claim to give us a satin like skin are mostly packaged in cool light colours. On the other hand there are medicated soaps which mean clear, clean and green and hence the colours of white, green and blue if there is something linked to hydro. Water is colourless but we know most of it is blue or green as in the oceans so wherever there is cool, fresh and clean message to be conveyed these colours work best. Colas are brown and the colour of the tough and adventurous and hence packaged in earthy colours. At the other end orange or lemon drinks have a very different packaging with bright and lively colours. For many of us we look at convenience also. And packaging plays a very significant role in this. The tin cans that come with easy snap openers or the pet jars for soft drinks, what was the need for them? We always had bottle openers and tin cutters. It is the ease of use that attracts us to these products and hence we cannot ignore these subtle elements of packaging.

Bottomline is you may be the most brilliant candidate in a row of interviewees but if you haven't dressed well,you have lost it there.And it may be the day for a lucky well-dressed fool.

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