Jonny Aldrich, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Deuce Studio, a brand and packaging design agency based in London, has laid out his top 5 packaging design predictions for food and drink brands to look out for in 2021 to help increase your brand awareness and stand out on shelf.
1. Sustainability
With brands like Tesco taking a firm stance on recyclable packaging in 2020 there’s no better time to attract retailers than with sustainable packaging. Following on from Tesco’s 4 R’s campaign Remove. Reduce. Re-use. Recycle, they have now pledged to remove one billion pieces of plastic by next year. Therefore more agile food and drink brands are perfectly placed to help them achieve this goal, by costing in sustainable packaging before approaching retailers, meaning you will be in a stronger position than more established brands having to cost it in later.
2. Simplicity
In recent years we’ve seen a rise in food and drink brands simplifying their packaging, no bigger than Kelloggs, putting their logo front and centre and creating more cohesion across their many different brands. Will you follow suit and simplify your offering and pack design to cut through the noise, there are more and more brands entering the market every year and a key to standing out in retail will be communicating your brand in quickest and most effective way possible to your consumers.
3. Heritage
If you’ve got it, flaunt it. So many brands in a bid to stay modern and relevant forget about their heritage, a great example of turning back the clocks is Cadbury, who in 2020 decided to find their routes again by digging up an old classic hand drawn logo and refreshing their packaging as a whole, for a simpler more traditional look, therefore attracting younger audiences looking for more authentic experiences without alienating the older audiences already familiar with the brand, having grown up with it too.
4. Illustration
One new method of adding further interest and uniqueness to your packaging design in recent years was to add illustration, with more brands ditching photography driven flavour or ingredient cues, instead opting for deliciously drawn illustrations to add character and represent a wonderful world of flavour through colour. A great example of a brand building on this style is Deliciously Ella, who’s use of line illustrations, textures and colours jump off the packaging and invite you in, with more and more brands trying similar techniques ever since.
5. Purpose
With more and more brands boasting sustainable production methods and supporting ethical farming initiatives, using purpose in branding has never been more relevant. Consumers want brands to stand for something and commit to it, whether thats a better future for our kids or supporting developing countries to thrive. No one has achieved this better than independent craft brewery BrewDog, this year they rebranded with maximum impact and put their new purpose driven mission at the core of everything they do which was reflected across their whole brand from packaging to advertising, a great example of standing up for something you believe in.
Get in Touch
If you’re looking to review your brand and packaging for 2021 and need some help to do it, then get in touch with Jonny or the team to discuss your project.