Is it true hipsters would buy anything and pay a hefty price for it if is came in a vintage box, or fancy packaging? One artist, Dan Meth, hypothesized as much and thus, for fun, created illustrations of re-imagined packaging for common snack foods like Twinkies, Nerds candy and even Fruit Roll Up.
He shed the bright boxes and different fonts, nutrition information and photos of the food and replaced them with wooden boxes, fancy tins and history books artwork. You know something provincial. When repackaged, junk food looks more upscale and posh. They could fit in the local organic market shop in the gentrified section of a city.
He even renamed some. Fruit by the Foot is Fruit par La Metre (basically the same thing but in French). A 40 ounce can of low grade margarita liquor when offered in a wine bottle looks so much more appealing.
Actually, one of our editors spotted an article highlighting Meth’s work on a Facebook Group page about marketing. The lesson to all: Packaging Matters! Urban Outfitters understands.
The clothiers caught some flak by Twitter users when it was caught selling for one common pony tail holder that s for about $1.00 for a pack of 10 but for $8. It sparked the hashtag, #UrbanOutfittersBeLike with Twitter users posting everyday items, but giving them fancy names and marking up the price.
But all jokes aside, those who sell physical products should consider how the outside can and will influence the price and market. In fact, a journal Psychology & Marketing article published in October 2013 describes how researchers used an MRI machine to measure brain activity while study participants viewed different types of packaging.
The study discovered that viewing attractive packaging caused more intense brain activity than neutral packaging. Attractive packaging also caused activity in brain areas associated with rewards, while unattractive packaging caused activity in areas of the brain connected with negative emotions. Clearly, product packaging has a real influence on how we feel about products, which directly connects to our choices about what to buy, a Hubspot post reports.
Take heed all of you who are creating physical products. The packaging can and will impact your price point and what market it appeals to.
h/t Bored P
