Stop, hold, close is dead. Long live stop, stop, stop.
The old adage of “Stop, hold, close,” is dead. While the traditional shelf might still leave room for “Hold,” which is often about navigating within a brand and “Close,” which often highlights the one killer RTB, the digital shelf teaches us that “Hold and Close,” the obsession of too many marketers, is not relevant when depending on impulse and “in-the-moment” persuasion. As decision-making has become more of a chore and when consumers are overwhelmed with information, they retreat rather than rally.
Associated with shelf appeal and purchase intent, the “Stop, hold, close” philosophy focused on the ability of a pack to stop consumers at shelf, so they could ingest large chunks of information and compare their purchase against the on-shelf competition. The time-compressed consumer of today doesn’t have the patience for lingering or browsing. In the current world of soundbites, social media saturation and product wars fought on TikTok, the most important thing a pack needs to do to make the sale is STOP a consumer – get their attention long enough to whet their appetite or tickle their fancy to inspire purchase and trial. We live in a grab and go society, where a swipe finds your paramour and a tap indicates your preferences. The boldest brands acknowledge these behaviors and consumers’ abbreviated attention spans and translate them to the most tangible and visible element of any product – the package.
Think DTC. DTC marketers recognized early on that the pack had the power to differentiate their product and stop consumers in their tracks. They seduced consumers with simplicity, bold graphics, big logos and moveable iconography which communicated and disrupted their categories. Think Apple iPhone, Harry’s razors or Quip toothbrushes. They busted the existing paradigm and demanded attention. They screamed difference with a simplified aesthetic and amplified quality with an understated sophistication. They looked so good they took up residence in our homes.
Many marketers have taken the lessons of the DTC revolution to heart and have revised their packaging and packaging design accordingly. Some have gone the extra step and made it a pivotal element of their media mix, recognizing that packaging is part of amplification, not just a production expense. These folks know that packaging is the most intimate and personally impactful media because it lives on our shelves and sees us naked in the shower.
So the next time you are confronted with a packaging project, ask yourself the following:
Will my product have the stopping power to make the sale?
Is my design elevated enough to communicate quality and to reserve a place on my consumer’s mantle?
Can I get more funding for this project by positioning it as a media expense vs a production cost?
Now GO!
Interested to hear more? Contact us at hello@sterlingbrands.com