Author: Anne Quito / Source: Quartz A curious thing happened when high-end ice cream brand Van Leeuwen redesigned their packaging: People
A curious thing happened when high-end ice cream brand Van Leeuwen redesigned their packaging: People began snapping pictures of supermarket freezers.
“Didn’t even crave for ice cream but just because of the cute packaging,” wrote a customer who shelled out almost $20 for a pink pint of strawberry and an amber-colored container of salted caramel. Such transactions driven by eye-candy, coupled with a new distribution and merchandising scheme, saw the nine-year old Brooklyn business boost sales by 50% since last fall.
Redesigning packaging so it “looks good on social media,” is a deliberate strategy. Van Leeuwen co-founder Laura O’Neill and partners Pete and Ben Van Leeuwen worked closely with storied design firm Pentagram to make their pints and trucks “very Instagrammable,” says O’Neill.
Investing in beautiful and distinctive food wrappers, cups and containers has proven to be a boon for small businesses and mom and pop coffee shops. Even with no advertising budgets, their products reach a wider audience through foodie Instagram feeds. The classic example is Mast Brothers, the Brooklyn-based chocolate shop who wrap their subpar chocolate bars in beautiful patterned papers. When the French bakeshop Maman first opened, they gained renown not for their delicious nutty chocolate chip cookies, but for the patterned blue-and-white coffee cups. Co-owner Elisa Marshall says they attract 80% of new customers from Instagram.
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