Multisensory Packaging

Designing New Product Experiences

Carlos Velasco, Charles Spence, Carlos Velasco, Charles Spence

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319949772
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

This edited collection presents state-of-the-art reviews of the latest developments in multisensory packaging design. Bringing together leading researchers and practitioners working in the field, the contributions consider how our growing understanding of the human senses, as well as new technologies, will transform the way in which we design, interact with, and experience food and beverage, home and personal care, and fast-moving consumer products packaging. Spanning all of the senses from colour meaning, imagery and font, touch and sonic packaging, a new framework for multisensory packaging analysis is outlined. Including a number of case studies and examples, this book provides both practical application and theoretical discussion to appeal to students, researchers, and practitioners alike.

© The Author(s) 2019

Carlos Velasco and Charles Spence (eds.)Multisensory Packaginghttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94977-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. Multisensory Product Packaging: An Introduction

Carlos Velasco¹ and Charles Spence²

(1)

Department of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway

(2)

Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Carlos Velasco

Email: [email protected]

Keywords

PackagingMultisensoryBrandingMarketingDesignProduct experience

End Abstract

Introduction

The history of packaging¹ can be traced back to the first human hunter-gatherers and traders who used early forms of packaging in order to collect, store, transport, and mark their possessions (e.g., Low & Fullerton, 1994; Twede, 2016). However, it can be argued that the full use of packaging as a marketing tool, or medium, in categories as diverse as food and beverage (F&B), home and personal care (H&PC), and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) only really took off around the start of the twentieth century (see Hine, 1995, for an accessible early history of product packaging; see also Low & Fullerton, 1994). As Hine makes clear, the concern initially was primarily with packaging’s effectiveness in terms of portion control and product preservation. However, once such goals had been met, many of those working in the field soon started to realize that their packaging could also be used as a powerful branding and marketing tool (e.g., see Pilditch, 1973; Stern, 1981, see also Fig. 1.1). Indeed, according to Nickels and Jolson (1976), packaging should be considered as constituting the fifth ‘P’ in the classical marketing mix (in addition, i.e., to product, price, promotion, and place). Such developments took time, of course, and even as recently as the 1980s, one could still find papers being published with titles such as ‘Packaging remains an underdeveloped element in pushing consumers’ buttons’ (Calder, 1983).

Fig. 1.1

Frequency of publications with ‘product packaging’ in their title as captured by Google Scholar between 1980 and 2017. Results obtained through ‘Publish or Perish 5’ software (https://​harzing.​com/​resources/​publish-or-perish/​; Results obtained on May 10, 2018)

The majority of the empirical research on packaging that has been conducted to date has tended to focus on the F&B, H&PC, and FMCG categories. This is presumably because of the especially important role that it plays in delivering the total product experience in these categories where the consumer normally sees not only (or necessarily even) the product but rather the packaging sitting there on the shelf in the supermarket. Furthermore, many of the products in these categories are often consumed in, or else used from, the packaging (i.e., such as deodorant sprays, toothpastes, perfumes, crisps, and yoghurt). This contrasts with other categories such as consumer electronics or white goods, say, where it makes only the briefest of appearances when the product is transported between the warehouse and customer’s home. Just consider, for instance, the last time you bought a laptop knowing in advance what the packaging was going to look/feel like. This, of course, does not mean to say that some of the most innovative brands in this space have not been trying to distinguish themselves by really delivering on packaging that is a pleasure-to-open (e.g., as a case in point, think only of the packaging of Apple computers). That said, the discussion of packaging that one finds in this volume broadens out, on occasion, to discuss insights and approaches that are undoubtedly relevant to some of these other categories (e.g., when considering the growing trend to fragrance the air, or headspace, in the inner packaging of electronics goods, say, see Spence, 2016a).

In the following sections, we present a short overview of the different roles that packaging plays in the fields of marketing and branding. In particular, we highlight the growing interest in multisensory packaging while, at the same time, providing an overview of some of the key material covered in the various chapters that have been gathered together in this volume. As becomes clear, many of the recent developments in packaging design are intimately linked to the explosive growth of interest in sensory, or as we finesse it here, multisensory, marketing.

Packaging: From Brand Element to Multisensory Experience Delivery Device

In recent decades, a growing number of researchers have become interested in assessing the different variables that help product packaging to stand out on the shelf and help convert the consumer to purchase (Masten, 1988; Miller, 1994; Sherwood, 1999). Additionally, there has also been a growing realization that product packaging constitutes a tremendously powerful element for brands when it comes to creating value, communicating product attributes (and/or setting the best product expectations), and ultimately persuading the consumer to select one product over another (Ampuero & Vila, 2006; Nancarrow, Wright, & Brace, 1998).

Importantly, researchers and practitioners have also started to realize that, in certain cases at least, the packaging actually affects people’s experience of the contents as well (see Spence, 2016a; Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012, for reviews). This growing realization obviously makes packaging an especially powerful tool by which to influence the consumer’s multisensory experience (Schifferstein & Spence, 2008). Indeed, there is now a great deal of interest and innovation, not to mention a wider variety of novel packaging formats available than ever before (e.g., Farmer, 2013). This explosion of innovation has also been facilitated by the fact that the design process and rapid prototyping are now much easier/cheaper to execute than ever before. What is more, there are also a range of new methods and techniques out there, all designed to help take some of the uncertainty out of the empirical assessment of the efficacy (whatever the aims/objectives) of new packaging designs (and covered in a number of the chapters in this volume, see also Moskowitz, Reisner, Lawlor, & Deliza, 2009).

A crucial current trend as far as branding, and in this particular case packaging, is concerned regards the consideration of the role of the human senses, and specifically multisensory perception/integration, in designing the ‘right’ experiences for consumers (Hultén, 2011; Krishna, 2012; Spence, 2016a). This idea is closely tied in with the emergence of the field of ‘sensory marketing’ (Hultén, 2011; Spence, 2012), that is, marketing that places the human senses at the centre of the consumer experience, or journey. Note, however, that we refer to such an approach to marketing as multisensory because it should not only focus on the role of the individual human senses but also their interactions (see Velasco & Spence, this volume, where we outline a new framework for multisensory packaging analysis and design). Multisensory marketing is, of course, by no means restricted to the field of packaging design, but thus far it has certainly been one of the major application areas. The field of multisensory marketing developed from our growing understanding of the multisensory nature of human perception (e.g., Calvert, Spence, & Stein, 2004; Haverkamp, 2014; Spence, 2018, for reviews), as well as a result of the emergence of new technologies that enable companies to play (relatively cheaply) with much more than merely just the colour scheme (see Petit, Velasco, & Spence, this volume).

Multisensory marketing has now started to influence packaging research and development (see Spence, 2016a, for a review). Indeed, one only needs to consider the key moments of the consumer’s experience with a typical product (involving shelf navigation, purchase, use/consumer, and the eventual stage of discarding/recycling, see Mumani & Stone 2018; Salgado-Montejo, Velasco, Ariza, Salgado, & Moreno, 2017) to realize the crucial role of the senses when it comes to a product’s packaging. The different sensory properties of product pac...