According to a study of TNS Dimarso on the importance of packaging in the recognition of trademarks

A new study commissioned by Pro Carton international shows that brands are most recognized in the cartons than other materials. The recognition of a brand is, without doubt, a key factor for the consumer in deciding what product to buy. Taking into account that 75 percent of purchasing decisions are taken in the own store, brand plays a decisive role for manufacturers when designing the packaging of their products.

Today, the number of offers available on the shelves increases continuously. The consumer is faced with a wide range of different products, and as people have increasingly more less time to buy, it is very important for brands to attract potential buyers. For this reason, the visual impact of the container must be immediate persuading the consumer.

The visual impact of the packaging must be immediate to be able to persuade the consumer. (Photo: Aspapel)

Pro Carton international commissioned the company TNS Dimarso, a study to learn about the importance of packaging in the recognition of the brands in six different countries: Belgium, Germany, England, Spain, France and Poland. 200 Participants from different age in each country, taking into account that they were people who were going to the supermarket often were chosen. The study was conducted from the Tachiscope method, i.e., they were photographs of different types of packaging to the participants in six different periods of time. Thus, found the speed with which the participant recognized brand. We included different sectors such as the frozen products, sugar, biscuits and rice and pasta among others.

The main conclusions of this study were:

• The fact that more than 75 percent of purchasing decisions are taken at the store means that brand recognition is vital.

• Consumer, usually knows what product wants to buy but tends to make decisions about what brand purchase in the store.

• The identification of a trade mark is of vital importance at the time of the purchase decision. And cartons help successfully to this fact.

• The transparency of the container helps to recognise the product, but not necessarily the brand.

• In general, brands packaged in cardboard are more quickly recognizable in almost all cases.

• In most cases the participants preferred the products packaged in cartons with other materials.

• Even in the sector of mayonnaise, dominated by the boats of glass, the mark on the packaging of cardboard was quickly recognized.

• Not only luxury products benefit from cartons. The recognition is vital in all sectors of the market.

In the case of cartons, a better quality of colours and printing, a more attractive and eye-catching packaging and ease of use and management, among others, provided the brand recognition.

In Spain, the results of the comparison between two pasta brands showed that the product packaged in cardboard got more points significantly, with 84 per cent of participants identifying the brand after half a second, compared to 35 per cent in the case of plastic packaging. In the UK, the difference in speed of brand recognition was also significant, with 80 percent recognizing the cardboard packaging while only 5 percent could identify the packaging of plastic during the same period of time.

In the case of the frozen food was made a comparison between a cardboard container and one plastic. Belgium explored the McCain potatoes packaged in cardboard and plastic, and was shown the time in which the participants recognized the brand. The result was that, in the case of the cardboard packaging, participants showed his preference for this packaging material, and was recognized again, before the mark to the packaging of plastic.

Cookies, finally, is that more clearly shows the importance of the recognition of the brand. This sector is highly competitive, since there is a wide variety of products and brands. Offers consumers many similar products of different brands and that is why, in this case, it is important that the brand be as quickly as possible.

In this case, the recognition of the product is more or less similar, but the brand is faster for the analyzed cartons in flexible packaging. In this case, 49 per cent of the participants recognized the brand of the cardboard packaging while only 9 per cent recognized brand of the flexible packaging in the same period of time (0.10 seconds).