Study shows lift in brand awareness and purchase intent when using branded secondary packaging

Rehrig Pacific Company, a leading manufacturer of reusable transport packaging systems for grocery, retail, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, agriculture, and recycling and waste industries has released a study in partnership with Clemson University that shows the use of secondary packaging designed with on-message, brand-building color and graphics can lift brand awareness and increase purchase intent when integrated into in-store, point-of-sale displays.

According to the study, product in branded reusable crates received 54% more eye fixations, and was looked at for 46% more time than the same product in non-branded crates. The three-day study was carried out at Clemson University’s CUshop, an immersive shopping environment used to test consumer behavior.

“Brand equity is of the utmost importance to the owners of the world’s best brands,” said Jerry Koefelda, senior director, new product commercialization, Rehrig Pacific Company, and author of the study. “Properly designed reusable packaging drives the brand’s messaging where it is most effective: at the point of purchase where 76% of purchase decisions are made. On-message secondary packaging with branded, visually arresting graphics and technology-enabled promotions have proven to be an effective means of driving brand lift and building brand equity. It can be utilized in multiple locations in all retail formats and can drive growth for all stakeholders throughout the value chain.”

During the testing at Clemson University, 89 participants were equipped with eye-tracking hardware as a means of recording the areas to which their attention was directed during a simple shopping task. In order to gauge attention patterns, the eye-tracking technology capitalizes on the fact that attention coordinates eye movement.

The specific types of secondary packaging used in the study were reusable plastic crates for two-liter bottles of carbonated soft drinks. The reusable crates were designed and manufactured by Rehrig Pacific Company. Specifically for this study, a new proprietary reusable crate was manufactured with the exact label colors and multicolor logo of a major US beverage company. This branded reusable crate was evaluated against a standard crate in the industry. The standard reusable crate was manufactured in a non-specific shade of the same color, blue, and did not feature a logo in offset or company specific colors.

“The study highlights another value point of reusables,” said Jerry Welcome, president, Reusable Packaging Association. “Retailers can apply eye-catching graphics to their reusable secondary packaging to drive increased sales and increase their ROI on reusables.”