How Branded Packaging Has Changed in the Last Decade

As consumer habits have evolved over the last decade, the world of branded packaging has adapted with new innovations and possibilities.

What seemed bold and fresh in one decade can go completely unnoticed or appear old fashioned just a few years later. Since branding is all about appealing to a specific target audience, it’s only logical that with every new generation consumers make purchases that reflect their own specific taste, style, and social outlook. Today, brands are utilizing packaging to foster a closer, more personal connection with consumers. Innovation in the world of packaging printing services have made these exciting new opportunities in branded packaging available to new businesses with all types of budgets. Here are some of the new branded packaging trends in the last decade that have proven to be effective and engaging.

Branded Packaging Gets Personal

Social media and inbound marketing strategies made it possible to give consumers a more personalized buying experience. Instead of facing a passive, monolithic website, prospective buyers began receiving individual messages and product suggestions to make their visit both more fun and more efficient. Major brands have responded to fulfill this new expectation in the physical world as well as the digital world. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign relies on packaging printing services to create individually personalized bottles. Many smaller companies are even now using packaging that incorporates graphics and imagery to highlight local sports team partnerships.

Saying More With Less

In the past, it often seemed as if brands were engaged in the visual equivalent of a shouting match, battling it out on store shelves with riots of bright colors and eye-grabbing fonts. Over the past decade, however, brands have started to see the beauty in simplicity. Rather than fatiguing customers’ brains and eyeballs, they began opting for quiet, soothing, simple designs that stand out from the crowd to communicate a single message instantly and eloquently.

Thinking Outside the Branded Box

Digital printing has been around for a couple of decades now, but over the last ten years companies have really started to push the envelope on what’s possible with packaging printing services. Even the most elaborate font, logo and label designs can be conceived, rendered, and printed effortlessly using modern digital printing technologies. This enables businesses to get more specific than ever in creating branded packaging that hits all the right “buttons” of a specific buyer persona or target demographic. The past decade has even seen printing make its way off the label and onto the package itself, with screen-printed designs and color schemes on gourmet coffee, teas, and confections.

Environmental Friendliness

Sustainability has become a major buzzword for businesses, governments, and consumers over the past decade – and this shift in mindset has impacted how brands utilize certain packaging materials. Space-saving bags are replacing bulky tin cans on shelves. Recycled materials have become an extra selling point, proudly promoted on the label as part of a brand’s identity. Environmentally friendly packaging is one trend that may have legs for many decades to come as buyers become more educated on the value of such practices – and the values of the brands that uphold them.
If your business is ready to make a lasting impression with branded packaging, contact Arkansas Graphics today at 501-263-2649 to get an estimate for your project.
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