Millennials have now overtaken baby boomers as the largest generation and now represents a consumer base with immense buying power, so when designing packaging, it is more important than ever to keep millennials and their values in mind.
Millennials spend up to 18 hours a day consuming media content, whether it is online, TV or radio and their access to information at the touch of a button, while being bombarded with scrolling pictures on social media, streaming videos and digital adverts now means that the average attention span has diminished to just 5 seconds, so gaining their attention is key to promoting your brand.
Because of this constant bombardment, millennials are now very selective in what grabs their attention, meaning that packaging design has had to follow suit by providing relevant information about a product, appeal to the consumer and fit in with their values.
Here we will talk about some of the design features that your brand should be looking at when creating packaging for this modern era of consumerism.
Emotional Connections and Brand Loyalty
According to research conducted by Forbes, over 60% of Millennials state that they are loyal to specific brands because they develop an emotional connection to the brand. Some of the things that millennials look for in a brand or product are; does the brand fit in with my lifestyle, what does this brand say about me as an individual and how easy is it to access the brand.
Once a brand has created that emotional connection, millennials are more likely to become loyal to that brand and become unofficial brand ambassadors, telling their friends and family about them and in turn helping to promote the brand.
Packaging and Technology
In addition to creating products that fit in with millennials lifestyles, the packaging that it comes in also needs to be engaging. Many companies and brands are now utilising technology on their packaging such as QR codes that can be scanned with a smartphone to display additional information about a product, advertise additional products and tell users about special offers.
As stated above, Millennials have shorter attention spans due to being bombarded with content throughout the day and are less likely to be drawn to advertising than previous generations. This means that packaging designers have had to learn to display a products benefits and unique selling points in one glance, making the design, colours and text more important than ever.