A new look with added luxury

Food marketers fiddle with packaging in an ongoing effort stand out on the grocery store shelves. The colours they use and the package design are intended to evoke certain emotions and reactions from consumers.

Peek Freens Assorted Creme packaging, 2013

The "beauty shot" of the biscuits and the purple background both make these Assorted Creme biscuits, or cookies if you prefer, look great. But apparently the marketers at Peek Freans were not happy with the existing design and decided that a tweak was in order.

Peek Freans Assorted Creme packaging, 2014

And the result of the tweak? A brighter photograph of the product. A new sans serif typeface for the product name. A change from the plain purple fabric background to the brocade design. Gold trim around the name and at the top of the box.

And the most important change? The contents have been reduced by 50 grams. The box is exactly the same size, but the new plastic liner tray is smaller and holds 50 grams less.

So, fewer biscuits for the same money. This translates into an almost 15% price increase. And, I wonder, who will even notice.