Does Your Packaging Need Updating? - Part 2

How not to do it!

Posted on March 28, 2008 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

Recently I wrote about the importance of keeping your packaging current. In the article I mentioned Wrigley's efforts to update their gum packages.

Recently Wrigley's announced a new package with a different shape and reduced the size of the package - but reduced the number of sticks from 17 to 15 and kept the price the same. This might have been okay, if they had explained what amounts to a price increase in terms of increases in cost of production. But instead Paul Chibe, Wrigley's vp North American consumer market-gum, said consumers wouldn't care if they were getting 15 sticks of gum instead of 17 sticks. "To them the value goes up because they're getting a better tasting product in a better package. Price is not the way the consumer is looking at this," he said. Sorry, this looks like a thinly disguised price increase.

The take-away from this is be careful how you handle packaging changes, and more importantly be careful how you explain them.