Packaging a punch
How ‘wackaging’ is still shaking up the shelf
Ingredients. Provenance. Taste. Cooking instructions. Not to mention your brand story and mission. When it comes to food and drink packaging, there’s a lot to pack into a small space. In the first of a four-parter of blog posts, we explore the way challenger brands are playing with their packaging copy – and venturing into the metaverse.
The rise of meta-packaging
We all remember the days when Innocent shook up the marketplace with their fun, irreverent copy. Today, the next generation of challenger brands are pushing things further with self-referential ‘meta’ copywriting. Oatly, Tofoo and THIS™ are just a few examples of those breaking down the reader/writer fourth wall, by drawing attention to the fact that their packaging is ‘written’ by a copywriter.
For example, this from Oatly:
Or this from Tofoo:
Of course, this approach isn’t right for every brand. Some people actively hate the rise of so called ‘wackaging’ and don’t want to know what a copywriter thinks. Others love the way it plays with conventions and punctures the ‘marketing bubble’.
Either way, what it does do is forge new frontiers and make conventional packaging copy work even harder. As the boundaries of what’s expected are pushed, the middle ground looks a lot less certain.
From meta-copy to metaverse
For decades, we’ve been used to scanning barcodes. But today’s food packaging is alive with possibilities, using everything simple QR codes right through to VR and AR experiences to catapult brands – and consumers – into the metaverse.
Not just a ‘nice to have’, this kind of tech can be a copywriter’s best friend. Customers can scan to discover everything from recipe ideas to the provenance of ingredients, telling more about the brand story – and leaving more space to play with on the physical packaging.
Take these front-of-pack QR codes for Waitrose’s Cooks’ Ingredients line:
To learn more about the ways in which we help (not just) food and drink brands stand out from the crowd, check out our portfolio.
