Consumers embrace ‘functionally tactile’ packages, and matte finishes evolve into more potent options that signal product value.

“Show me the value” is a demand many budget-strapped consumers are making today at the store shelf. But some marketers are taking it a step further with the axiom “let them feel the value.”

Designers long have believed that touch is one human sense whose potential is underdeveloped in packaging, but tactile packages are beginning to find their way into more branding programs. Consumers are familiar with these package surfaces through “soft-touch” and other special-effect bottles in personal-care products, where they associate velvety and abrasive surfaces with premium brands. And now, tactile packaging is making its way into other aisles in the store.

It’s easy to see why. Tactile surfaces invite shoppers to pick up a package and inspect it. Once a package is pulled from the shelf, a sale often follows. But besides the soothing effect of a satin-like finish on the consumer’s psyche, designers also are introducing tactile surfaces that improve package functionality, elevating the role of the package as an indicator of product quality. In today’s economy, a tactile package and the product can work together to signal value, a critical purchase driver across categories.

“The value of touch equity, in product or package design, can’t be overstated,” observes Steve Phillips, President of the Phillips Design Group . “Beyond brand, messaging, and color, aesthetic or touch equity is rising to the top in terms of importance in the hierarchy of what is meaningful at capturing consumers’ attention at the point-of-sale, which begets purchase intent.”

Consider the steps that Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. has taken to energize the gum aisle and gain a 4% market share for its new 5 brand of gum at a time when recent overall category sales fell 5% to 7%. Envelope packages of 5 engage consumers 18- to 24-years-old who experience the “club scene.” Adds Erwin Hinteregger, Director of Global Packaging Innovation at Wrigley, “5 is all about that search for the next thrill.”

In tests, young consumers loved the “cool” factor of the Wrigley 5 envelopes in their hands and couldn’t put them down.

The packages showcase style through glow-in-the-dark inks and by using tactility in several ways to create additional sensorial contrast. Graphically on the front panel, a matte-finish, black-colored ink creates a ribbed sensation as a finger slides over the surface. Near the right edge, an embossed brandmark and glossy ink create a stunning visual contrast.

The gloss also highlights an embossed brandmark on the back panel. Nearby, tactility takes on a functional dimension with an embossed/debossed thumb-grip area that enables consumers to open and close the package using one hand. To help facilitate one-handed opening, the overflap features three rows of five embossed dots for extra gripping traction when sliding the carton’s overflap in and out of the die-cut semicircle. In tests, target consumers told Wrigley that one-handed package operation was desirable as an element of style for the 5 brand.

“Just to be able to maneuver and function, it was another little detailed feature on the container,” says Toni Marnul, Director of Design Strategy at Wrigley.

Elsewhere in the store, Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) Oral-B Satin Floss container is almost entirely about touch equity—in stark contrast to the rest of the category’s predominantly opaque white dispensers. Flossing is an important step as part of an oral-hygiene ritual, but many consumers resist it. P&G identified an opportunity to make flossing more experiential.

Working with Phillips Design Group, Gillette engages floss shoppers with a design that holistically evokes water to signal attributes such as “clean” and “refreshing.” The container’s ergonomic shape fits snugly in fingers, and both the wave on the clear label and the translucent package mimic light dancing off water.

Besides a blue, iridescent tint, the plastic container has a satin-like feel to the touch. This surface is created when silver and gold metallic flecks, and iridescent particles, are mixed into the package surface.

Paper and plastic surfaces are naturals for metallic inks, but the consensus view is that marketers interested in working metallics into their design should first confirm that their chosen printer could get good results. Ask to see samples of your printer’s previous work involving metallic finishes.

When executed well, as with the Oral-B package, metallic-ink surfaces can help elevate a product beyond the realm of commodity with engaging package textures that feel welcoming in consumers’ hands.

Among other tactile packaging options are combinations of embossing and foil-stamping. These effects create bright, raised surfaces that can give a package “pass-around factor.” One recent example is the redesigned carton for Balmex diaper-rash cream, marketed by Chattem Inc., Chattanooga, TN. Foil-stamping around the “Patented Active Guard” tagline increases parents’ trust in this well-known brand. But the signature images on the carton are embossed photos of a content, diapered baby. Two different images appear on the front and back panels to give retailers the option of merchandising the carton either vertically or horizontally.

When light hits the images from various angles, the images take on an almost 3-D appearance, a branding plus noted as attendees eagerly passed around the Balmex carton at Shelf Impact!’s recent Package Design Workshop in Atlanta, GA.

“The Balmex brand encapsulates ultimate sensory appeal,” says Terri Goldstein, President of the Goldstein Group , which designed the cartons. “Consumers assume that when touchable assets are included on the outside of a package, what is inside the package also has been paid more attention to.”

Flexible packages also are poised to enter the tactile-packaging game. Consumers associate film pouches and bags with smooth, glossy surfaces, but that is changing as new surface finishes come on the market. An example of these finishes is MatteFX from Alcan Packaging Food Americas . The technology is a matte lacquer system that produces special-finish effects and works well with tactile finishes on flexible packaging for food and other products.

The technology allows brand owners to alternate matte and gloss finishes on the same package, and is compatible with flexographic and rotogravure printing and laser scoring.

The author, Jim George, is the Editor-in-Chief of Shelf Impact! He can be reached at george@packworld.com.