Food and beverage packaging design winners and losers of 2024

Big and bold tended to beat small and subtle in food and beverage packaging in 2024, a phenomenon perhaps best expressed by the colorful rebirth of Mountain Dew, one of the year’s biggest rebrands. Products that moved to more clearly communicate their story tended to see benefits in the form of consumer consideration and sales, according to experts. And with family food budgets still at the top of mind, communicating a consistent price—and not appearing indifferent to inflation—also made a difference. One place where subtlety worked was brands borrowing containers from other categories for their products, as with the soap-pump bottled hydration drink Oshun; the coffee brand Happy, with its products packaged in white cubes resembling a consumer electronics box; and Kloo, the coffee in a perfume bottle. Following are some packaging winners and losers for 2024, with commentary from experts on what worked and what did not. Read Ad Age’s Best of 2024 stories here Winners Purely Elizabeth A brand refresh for Purely Elizabeth dressed the granola challenger for a national ad launch and new brand innovations. The new design, from Ptarmak, featured big food photos and a design inspired by recipe cards, meant to illustrate how they came from a real person—Founder and CEO Elizabeth Stein. The new packaging helped sales increase by 28%, according to Designalytics, which measures the effectiveness of packaging changes. Purely Elizabeth was among several brands called out as “winners” in Designalytics’ 2024 review that highlighted brands that saw sales rise following a repackaging. Others in the food and beverage field included Organic Valley, Partake Brewing, Pure Protein, Laird Superfood, Smirnoff Ice and Vermont Creamery. Coconut Cult The probiotic yogurt brand got a makeover from &Walsh that highlighted an odd and playful take on the “cult” in the product’s name. Among those it impressed is Ben Sherwood, creative partner at Design Bridge & Partners. “The Coconut Cult isn’t just a brand; it’s a vibe. And what a vibe it is—strangely captivating and, yes, a bit weird, but in the best possible way,” he said. “The overhaul centers around a visual identity that combines an illustration style and color palette that feels fresh, clean, and playfully nostalgic—think bubblegum sweetness with a tropical twist. But just when you think it’s all sunshine and palm trees, you get a dose of intrigue in the form of occult symbology. Picture all-seeing-eyed coconuts and altar-like compositions that balance out the cheery, flamingo-fueled, Miami-1988-Tarot-deck vibes.” AriZona AriZona, the convenience-store iced tea staple, did not make a significant package design change this year—and hasn’t for several years—bucking every trend in the food and beverage industry. That meant standing resolutely behind the 99-cent price point pre-printed on its 22-ounce cans and resisting the pull of soaring food and beverage inflation—a move that took real guts, said Mark Gallo, senior manager, commercial services for Manna Beverages. “Their ability to hold price should be continually celebrated,” Gallo said. “They’re the only brand to use a pre-priced can and be committed to it.” Also read: The best product launch marketing of 2024 Banza The upstart chickpea pasta brand, fighting a gooey battle for share in the mac-and-cheese arena, rolled out a new package that swapped out a photo of a bowl of mac for a blown-up dripping orange elbow, or white-cheddar-coated shell. “The redesign marks a clear transition for Banza—from a challenger brand to a mass premium icon,” said Mark Christou, principal at CBX. “Previously, the packaging was asking too much of consumers, requiring extra effort to decode and make decisions. The addition of a beautiful, mouthwatering image, prominently sized to grab attention, makes an immediate and compelling case for picking up the pack. While they’ve leaned into category cues, they’ve done so in a way that remains distinctly disruptive, elevating their brand equity and beyond—exactly what you’d expect from a strong challenger brand.” Read about all of the 2024 Marketers of the Year Losers Dasani Coca-Cola Co. in April unveiled a new look for its 25-year-old Dasani water brand (along with a reformulation that removed salt at consumer’s request and its first new marketing campaign in five years). The refreshed label features a lighter “celeste blue” color palette and calls more attention to the flowing design of the “S” in Dasani. The design change was meant in part to better stand out on retail shelves, the company said. But the package didn’t meet the approval of customers surveyed by Designalytics. Its surveys indicated consumers felt the new design didn’t communicate product attributes as effectively as the old package. They also felt the old shade of blue conveyed fresh water better than “celeste” blue. This dropped the brand’s “committed purchase preference” index (or the percentage of consumers who say they would purchase a product over the brand they currently buy) by 18.2 points, the data firm said. Tropicana Only 15 years from what some called “the worst rebrand in history” Tropicana again faced the wrath of customers unhappy with a package change. This time, the juicemaker junked its doorknob-like twist-off lid while slimming and downsizing its bottle (from 52 to 46 ounces). Intended to make the package more sustainable and easier to pour, it instead earned the wrath of “shrinkflation” hawks fed up with rising grocery prices. By October following the switch, Tropicana’s sales fell by 19% compared to the year prior, according to Circana data shared with CNN. Sales trends however are returning to “normal levels,” Tropicana Brands said in a statement provided to Ad Age, citing survey data indicating loyal consumers are responding positively: nearly half say the updated packaging has improved their perception of Tropicana, and among those who have purchased the new bottle more than 70% say it will make them more likely to purchase it again. In 2009, Tropicana, then owned by PepsiCo, did away with its distinguishing straw-in-the-orange design for a juice-in-a-glass photo that to consumers, looked like any store brand. Backlash—and falling sales—forced the brand to restore the straw within weeks. Triscuit Mondelēz’s snack cracker Triscuit introduced a new package design that tweaked its logo and placed it on a vivid blue background where pastoral photography of wheat fields once lived (“Kinda giving me Walmart vibes,” said one Redditor). Consumers thought the old package relayed product benefits better and they missed the wheat-field backdro, according to Designalytics. These factors may have contributed to a sales slump; its committed preference score was down by 18.1 points, the firm said. Horizon Organic Horizon Organic and its mascot Happy the Cow leaped into a fresh look in October meant to reassert the milk brand’s leadership in the $86 billion dairy market. According to the design firm Elmwood, the visual symbol of a “shared horizon” is central to the new design, embodying the brand’s commitment to regenerative agriculture and is meant to be a new design asset that supports the package’s structure and helps it stand out on shelves. Consumers, however, felt the package sacrificed communication of product benefits like Vitamin D, according to Designalytics, citing a 14.9 committed preference disadvantage. Its results contrast with those of a rival milk brand Organic Valley, which saw its sales rise by 10% following its own rebrand in 2023. “In general, drastic efforts to modernize and streamline can interfere with effective communication,” Steve Lamoureux, CEO of Designalytics, said in emailed remarks. “According to our research, only 23% of minimalist redesigns increase purchase conversion.” Read about all of the 2024 Marketers of the Year

Food and beverage packaging design winners and losers of 2024

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