You’re walking into your local supermarket on Sunday night for your weekly grocery run that you’ve done so many times before. You know exactly what you need, because it’s exactly what you get every time. The muzak is playing. The overhead lights are yellow and humming. Shoppers on their own mission pass you with their carts.
As you head down the coffee aisle, making a beeline straight towards your usual bag – What? What the…are those…VHS tapes??? What year is it???
Nope, it’s coffee. It’s 2024 – and you’re living in world of “Chaos Packaging” (and yes that’s a real example, by Process).
In short, chaos packaging is a marketing strategy in which products are stored in a container that is unexpected or foreign compared to what you’d typically find the product in.
New brands are taking this creative approach, and it’s grabbing the attention of consumers – which is exactly what they want (along with sales to follow, of course).
Thirsty? How about some water called Liquid Death that comes in a can with dark, gothic font and a flaming skull. After all, you can “murder your thirst” (the company’s tagline).
Going to the beach? How about sunscreen in a whipped cream spray container, called Vacation Classic Whip.
On your period? You can get your tampons in an ice cream container, by Flo.
The packaging for these products is undeniably memorable – no doubt you’re now curious and will look up what they look like – and that’s the point.
Not only will it be eye-catching for a shopper in a store, but in this digital-viral-trendy era we’re living in, this occasionally-outlandish-but-undeniably-fun approach to packaging everyday products allows for further exposure, which is crucial for brand awareness.
The fact of the matter is this: you can have the greatest product in the world, but if it looks exactly like everyone elses on the shelf, how will anyone notice it? And how will they remember it?
Break the unspoken trends. Dare to be different. You might hit big. Think about it.