Package Design - November 2013 - 24

DESIGN TECH ECO paCkaGE DESIGN

Using plant-based
resources that can
quickly and naturally be
replenished allows the
Cascadian Farm brand to
take a large step towards
being as closely aligned
as possible with the land.

For the Win

Sustainable packaging can help woo customers from the start.
By Linda Casey

e've all been there. You purchase a product,
and immediately the buyer's guilt sets in.
One way, package designers can help consumers fall and stay in love with a brand is to tap into
the shoppers' desire to be socially and ecologically
responsible. After all, 78% of U.S. consumers are now
buying green products and services, up from 69% in
2012, according to the 5th Annual Tork Sustainability
Survey (www.torkusa.com).
When conducting its 2012 Original Consumer
Roadmap, PTIS, the research and consulting division of
Havi Global Solutions (www.havigs.com), found that
being able to buy products with a built-in sustainability
benefit, such as recycled content or less packaging, that
is clearly communicated, resulted in an immediate feelgood response to the purchasing experience.
"They didn't even have to do anything else [such as
recycle or compost the package]," Jill Ahern, consulting services senior director at PTIS, says. "In a sense,

NOVEMBER 2013

they viewed their contribution to protecting the environment as choosing that particular product.
"The key emotional benefit for consumers is a positive feeling of being responsible citizens," Ahern adds,
"and consumers would frequently describe during the
research that sustainable products and sustainable
packaging made them feel like part of the team or that
they were taking care of future generations and that
they were simply making a difference by choosing
products that were packaged that way."

Do you got the look?
General Mills does this well, with the package design
for its Cascadian Farm Cinnamon Crunch. This year,
the brand introduced a plant-based cereal box liner.
According to Cascadian Farms, this plant-based cereal
box liner is the first-ever cereal box liner made from
renewable plant sources.
The inner bag, made from certified plant-based

Package Design - November 2013

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