Brand Packaging in Japan!

When it comes to branding it is crucial to reflect the right company image in the marketplace and an integral part of this is product packaging. If it is a tangible product the packaging is the thing the customer can see or feel immediately in the store and as in other aspects of life, a first impression can be made only once. Be it color, shape, or the labeling of the packaging, these are all aspects that have to further enhance and match the strategic message the brand is trying to project. Furthermore, practicality and convenience are other important factors of packaging that are gaining importance as a distinctive feature.

Oi Och Matsch ready to drink green tea, from Japanese tea brand Ito En, shows how innovative packaging can be presented, but in this case the innovative feature is just a tool to provide the consumer with the freshest product possible, which is one of the goals of the brand, stand for freshness and quality. Their PET bottle contains natural water and a cap filled with green tea powder. When ready to consume the beverage the cap is turned, which enables the powder to fall into the bottle and after some shaking a freshly mixed tea is ready to drink. It’s a simple process with a big payoff for the product and brand. Somehow it seems that especially in the Japanese market brand packaging is a crucial aspect of a companies overall strategy. I still remember from my time in Japan that if you bought some random cookies, often each cookie within the box was packed individually to assure freshness every time, and not only with highly priced products, this was quite common in Japan for products from different price segments. Maybe it was not the most environmentally way of doing things, but from a marketing perspective arguably a smart choice, even if packaging costs were high.

Below is a link to a number of interesting pictures about brand packaging that I found in www.businessweek.com. Check it out, and let us know if you have encountered some interesting examples around the world.

Check link here


photo courtesy GNPD, www.gnpd.com