Old wine, new packaging?

When it comes to creating a buzz in F&B products, a change of design helps.

The next time you visit your neighbourhood supermart, make sure you pay a visit to the beverage aisle. Increasingly, that section of the store has started resembling more of a fashion ramp than a drinks retail segment. And the same might be said for the ice cream and packaged foods aisles.

Brand dressing and packaging innovation is fast becoming the food and beverage industry's favourite indulgence. But sitting pretty atop the retail showcase is not the sole function of the new, improved products.

Within the last two months, Amul has re-designed the packaging of three of its products "" ice creams, cheese and shrikhand. While making the product more attractive and eye-catching is the primary reason, for Amul the innovation in packaging also carries another message "" widening its target audience and being a crowd puller at the retail outlets.

"We wanted to broaden our target audience to include the youth. So, we decided to change the look of our brands to attract this segment. Plus, in the competitive market and with organised retail coming in, our products need to look attractive in order to stand out from the rest on the shelf," says R S Sodhi, chief general manager, GCMMF (Amul).

When Dabur Foods introduced the tetra pack for its juice range Real, the company made an investment of Rs 3-5 crore. Thereafter, every time the company innovates on its packaging design, it spends a minimum of Rs 15 lakh. Take this time, for instance.

The Real range has been re-designed once again, with more colour, more activity and more appeal at a cost of almost Rs 18 lakh. It's an investment that others like Coca-Cola, Frito Lay, Britannia and Nestle enjoy making.

This April, Coca-Cola launched the new look Limca, curvy and seductive. Called the Limca Splash bottle, the company affirms that the decision behind the new bottle was to give it a better grip, for the consumers... and over the market.

"The curvy bottles in Limca and Fanta have been re-designed so that anyone drinking from them can hold the bottle better," says a Coca-Cola spokesperson and adds, "but it also builds excitement around the brand and any kind of excitement is bound to increase sales of the product."

Good looks always sell, as do unique ones. Probably the mantra for Britannia when the company completely changed the look, design and packaging of its mass market biscuits "" Milk Bikies. Frito Lay too drove its packaging towards a more international look when Lays chips were filled into cardboard containers...armed to fight it out with its close competitor, Pringles.

"Any product in the market, from mobiles to computers is constantly evolving as a design. So, our products also have to evolve from having a functional to an emotional connect with the consumer and this is possible only by design innovation," asserts Sanjay Sharma, general manager, sales and marketing, Dabur Foods.

One of the highlights though is the Nestle yoghurt, which has not only undergone a design makeover but even been re-christened from Nestle Fruit 'n' Dahi to Milkmaid Fruit Yoghurt. Packed into a charming new cup, the yog-hurt has also witnessed a price increase, much like the Real fruit juice from Dabur.

Explains Sharma, "The global commodity prices have witnessed an increase, which is why we had to increase prices too. But we only timed the price increase to coincide with the change in product package design."

He, however, admits that companies may at times use design innovation to disguise price increases. The strategy seems to be helping companies and the consumers in making decisions on what brand suits their design sense best.

Ask Sodhi, who reveals that the demand for Amul's shrikhand has seen a definitive improvement after its package design was changed and you know what you eat "" or drink "" is a function of aesthetics.