Packaging acts as a medium, communicating product benefits and attracting consumers at the point of sale. It makes the final sales pitch, seals the commitment and gets itself placed in the shopping cart. For consumers, the package helps them make decisions quickly in-store. It is instantly recognized either as an old friend or as a new temptation. It communicates the promise of satisfaction that the product will provide.
Consumers participate in packages, to a large degree, on a subconscious level.
They react emotionally to their perceived realities, not facts and figures. If the package communicates high quality, consumers assume that the product is of high quality. The package becomes the symbol that communicates favorable or unfavorable connotations about the product. In other words, the package is the product. First discovered by Dr. Louis Cheskin over 50 years ago, it is the basis of much of the research in package design that is conducted today.