PepsiCo's Four Lenses Of Packaging Design

By Sam Lewis

Dennis Furniss, VP of Nutrition & Sport Design at PepsiCo, recently took some time to discuss with me the company’s philosophy on designing food and beverage packaging. In the discussion, Furniss stressed the importance of packaging in establishing brand identity, as well as e-commerce’s influence on packaging design. Furniss will be speaking at the upcoming AmericaPack Summit, being held February 22-23, 2016 in Las Vegas.

Food Online: What role does packaging play in your brand identity?

Furniss: Packaging needs to focus on how to leverage the expression of your brand and tell the story of your brand across your product portfolio. Traditionally, people have thought about a single iconic silhouette. But, that’s somewhat basic because if a brand is going to tell a story to a contemporary consumer, then the brand needs to have more facets; it needs to be more layered.

Packaging plays a really important role because how the consumer experiences the brand through packaging can convey different aspects of the brand’s story. This is more holistic compared to where we were 10 years ago as a creative community. Back then, we all believed in “less is more,” “brand blocking,” “establish your presence and dominate,” as well as “category casting.” But, that’s changed, I think packaging is a little bit behind the times, in terms of conveying a brand’s story; we’re catching up.

Food Online: What do you need to consider, regarding packaging, for a product to tell its own story and give it an identity as soon as it’s launched?

Furniss: It needs to be thought about through four lenses. First is authenticity. That means ensuring the packaging’s attributes are designed properly, determining how the packaging will be used, and then using the packaging to find out if it is functional — that’s called “community authenticity.”

The next point is functionality. “Brand in the hand” and “brand in the heart” are often spoken about, but seldom do we talk about the “brand in action.” But, for most consumers, the packaging has to quantify and/or justify its existence. Functionality is a key characteristic, so having unique functionality gives you a point of difference in a way that you can take ownership of. That’s critical.

Third, which might be the most obvious, is sustainability. This means the shopper has absolute reassurance that there is a strong rationale behind the packaging’s form. So, in essence, it addresses how the product is packaged. Sustainability plays into that in two ways — consumer indulgence and the removal of guilt. There’s a balancing act between those that packaging must perform. I think the idea of sustainability has moved on to the consumer. The consumer now has to appraise the product asking, “Am I buying a product where the packaging is a disposable element or am I buying a product where the packaging is an intrinsic element?” When you’re designing packaging, thinking as a consumer and asking that question is critical.

Finally, we have e-commerce, which might sound off-base when thinking about packaging design, but it truly is not. The brands that are breaking through, the brands that are truly establishing themselves, are finding ways to use common pieces. They are using the same packaging format on their e-commerce lines as they are in retail and shelf, exactly the same forms, including primary pack, separate pack, and shipment.

Food Online: Can you elaborate a bit about the alignment between e-commerce and in-store? Is there a different process for designing something specifically for the web versus specifically for in-store or do they coincide?

Furniss: My philosophy is those processes need to dovetail. I think we spent a lot of time in the industry trying to figure out the variables between the two. While we’ve all been trying to figure it out, the retail environment has overtaken us.

We’re finding that the supply chain is driving the outcome, and not in a bad way; it’s in a very good way. How do you dovetail visible retail and invisible e-commerce? How do you create a proposition that has all the previously mentioned characteristics? In the case of e-commerce, functionality is a key attribute. I think scale is where the variable comes in. That’s the only variable because, in the world of e-commerce, you’re still dealing with the same pack type, small format, and small distribution. In other cases, it’s really about bulk purchase and volume purchase, particularly when you get into the food service environment.

For more information and education about PepsiCo’s packaging efforts, be sure to attend the AmericaPack Summit where Dennis Furniss will be sharing insights on developing a holistic vision of brand identity anchored in packaging and differentiating your packaging and brand in an age of consumer information overload. The AmericaPack Summit is a forum for both buyers and users of packaging. As an invitation-only event, the summit provides an environment for a focused discussion on how to win the battle for market and mind share through packaging. It will take place February 22-23, 2016, at the Red Rock Resort & Spa, Las Vegas. For more information, click here.