Breaking the mould
The power of chaos packaging strategy in shaping brand positioning and product perception
M.A. Boruc (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
H.J. Hultink – Mentor (TU Delft - Design, Organisation and Strategy)
N. Kyriakopoulos – Mentor (TU Delft - Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior)
Christien Zeijlstra – Mentor (Lamb Weston EMEA)
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Abstract
This project focused on exploring atypical packaging as a tool for brand positioning and product differentiation. Breaking the Mould was carried out as a collaboration between the home university (TU Delft) and the client company, Lamb Weston EMEA. The process consisted of three stages. The first stage centred on exploration and secondary research. This included market and brand analyses, as well as an extensive literature review on cues, categorisation, branding, and packaging. During this phase, field research was also conducted. I spoke with experts in manufacturing, supply chains, branding, and other internal departments. Additionally, I visited Lamb Weston’s innovation centre and trial manufacturing line in Bergen op Zoom, as well as the Oerlemansplastic production facility in Giessen. The stage concluded with a small-scale, qualitative preliminary workshop to better understand consumers and their perceptions of the product category. In the second stage, I identified the main business and research opportunity: functional foods, specifically functional fries. The core of this stage was a primary research study in the form of a quantitative experiment, yielding over 310 responses. The data was analysed and conclusions were drawn, confirming most—but not all—of the hypotheses. Key findings included: typical packaging was rated as the most appealing; most comparisons between two bag formats (typical vs. moderately atypical) were non-significant; and the drum, the most atypical format, was harder to categorise correctly and scored significantly lower in appeal. However, atypical packaging performed strongly in attracting attention and transferring associations between product categories. The third stage concluded the project with practical managerial recommendations. Overall, the project delivered: a definition of “chaos packaging,” an assessment of its strategic viability, and actionable recommendations for Lamb Weston. The recommendations were to utilise the most atypical packaging in marketing campaigns, as it conveys to most associations and draws the most attention, but is not functionally viable. However, the second recommendation was about launching a new line extension (functional/healthy fries) and packaging them in a moderately atypical flat-bottom (standing) bag.