Packaging

JAZZING IT UP

Making something look premium is pretty easy if you know how. Selecting the right colours, typefaces, language, mode of delivery and environment it's delivered in, can all sway a consumer to invest that few pennies more in a product. 

We are all being sold to

Everything we do, every day, in all walks of life, we're being coerced - and for want of a better word... 'tricked' into parting with our money. Some products may be better quality than others but quite often, we find that some items will actually be inferior to other products but appear more valuable by simply having a stronger marketing/advertising appeal.

It really does boil down to the power of the advertising. And with food, it's the packaging that works so well. Take this example from packaging agency Design Group Italia, who have done a great job with Lays Crisps. Look at this product subjectively without packaging around it. Crisps or potato chips, are just slices of potato fried in oil. But put them in a gold foil bag with classy black and gold outer packaging, a signature-esque 'Gourmet' script/font, descriptive terms like 'exquisite' or 'excellence' and some quality photography & layout design to further instil a premium feel. Voila, you now have an expensive fried potato.

It's knowing when the premium products really are what they say they are and not just jazzed up with packaging, that we can make better choices. So, are crisps really as gourmet as this pack of crisps say they are? No. But we are all easily hoodwinked when it comes to a bit of jazzy wrapping - even on a pretty simple (but tasty) product, like a bag of crisps. Once we realise this, we can understand where clever marketing draws on our inner desires, address this addictive behaviour and beat our impulse buys.

Dream Catcher

TAKING THE BAIT

Many moons back, when I travelled around Australia, we took a trip on a boat around the Whitsundays. After almost a year of backpacking, I'd become pretty savvy and a dab hand at sniffing out the best options in terms of how to negotiate lower prices for accommodation or buy a vehicle to drive a thousand miles and sell after at a profit - things like that.

It's basic economics. When the supply outweighs the demand - there's always a bargain to be had. And when there's a thriving market place - in this case, the backpacking one, to get a bit of cut through - there's always going to be a couple of rip-off merchants around selling the dream. The Whitsunday's was the first time I encountered the 'Big Hook'. 

Sailing the Dream

So, we knew the Whitsunday's were amazing. We'd also learned there were quite a few boat companies around and some had more premium offerings that you could get a deal on at the last minute. We only had a limited window for our trip but we were warned not to make a rash decision. The advice was to shop around and get the best value because some of the budget boats were rammed full of drunken teenagers, offered terrible food and were pretty unpleasant (unless you were an 18 year old drunk who knew no better). Thing is, once you're on a boat, that's it for a few days. So it was really important to get this right.

The entrance to the port was teeming with sales people, showing prices/pictures and all competing to fill their boats for the trip the next day. We were caught between a couple of young guys who were trying to convince us to take their premium packages. The prices were over double what the budget ones were. I wanted something premium near the budget price and I figured they would eventually concede to our requests as it got near the end of the day. It was a matter of waiting it out. We were walking closer to the port, playing it cool with these two guys fighting for the prize behind us in tow. That's when we first caught sight of the Dream Catcher. Compared to all the other boats, this one was sleek & sexy and reminded my girlfriend of Duran Duran's Rio video of which she was a big fan.

The game was over for us at that point. We'd already shown our hand. So when another young man who'd been observing stepped up and told us he thought there were a couple of spaces left on this boat - we were hooked in. There was a little resistance, but I managed to negotiate a middle figure between the premium and budget price as it was all mutually agreed that they wouldn't now fill this boat and we were cutting it fine to get a charter at all - it now being so late in the day. The other guys had now either called it a day or made late deals with others who were playing out for a late bargain and we were now alone with the last guy. After paying the money, as I was filling in the form, I noticed a caveat regarding over-booking and boat re-allocation in bold type by the signature space. A small prickle of doubt came over me for a brief moment - then subsided as the clipboard was handed back....surely this deal was as good as it sounded? Almost half the price of the premium cruises and on the best looking boat in the yard...

Too good to be true
The old adage that says 'if it seems too good to be true - then it probably isn't' - turned out right on this occasion. The Dream didn't come good and the Dream Catcher sailing yacht didn't leave port that day with us and 12 others on board. Instead, we were relegated to one of the larger boats loaded with drunken teenagers. I suspect we actually paid more than the 30 or so others to board one of the nightmare boats - and the shrewd sales boy that had found a real life dream catcher to draw in suckers like myself, had not only managed to fill his boat, but also take a considerable chunk of extra commission in the process. The Dream Catcher didn't leave the port that day and I suspect it rarely did for anything less than at the full asking price. But, what it did do, by being moored at an opportune spot for luring in potential customers in all it's shimmering glory, was to sell in the dream.

There are bargains to be found but 'buyer be aware' that if there's a market where fantastic potential gains can be made, chances of finding these dreams can be very slim, as the competition to find the dream will be met by those selling it too. Always read the small print!