Consumer Determines Product Value Based on Packaging It is well known how important packaging design is in persuading consumers to purchase a product. But what if a single color used in the design affects the taste perception of the person consuming the product? Tasarist Creative Director Musa Çelik explains the connection between packaging design and taste perception, saying: "A beverage consumed in a plastic bottle or glass cup will certainly have its taste affected by the material. However, research proves that even a color or shape on the packaging influences the consumer's emotional connection to the product, creates taste differences in the consumer's brain, and shapes the product's quality." Food packaging designs demonstrate that sensory stimuli can achieve successful results in marketing strategies. It may be thought that what matters is the taste and texture of the food or beverage. However, numerous studies, including recent research, prove that seeing a product's packaging shapes taste perception in the consumer. [caption id="attachment_144775" align="aligncenter"] Tasarist Creative Director Musa Çelik[/caption] Tasarist Creative Director Musa Çelik, who notes that packaging design can be more important than product taste, continues: "Everyone agrees that the taste of a meal served carelessly on a plastic plate would likely differ from the same meal served with careful preparation and attractive presentation techniques at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Nearly the same applies to packaged foods. Plastic, glass, or metal packaging will certainly affect flavor differently by nature when in contact with the product, but taste perception is also influenced by the emotions the packaging evokes in consumers. For example, it has been proven that there is an expectation that the darker the color of a chocolate's packaging, the more bitter it will be. Strong, happy, energetic, or luxurious. It is quite important to create a positive connection between the product and packaging by supporting the feelings the food will provide with the sense of sight."

Chocolate Consumer Entrusted with Making Them Happy

In a study conducted with 75 participants in 2019, three different tastings were performed: seeing neither the chocolate nor the packaging, seeing only the packaging, and finally seeing both the chocolate and packaging. In the study examining the packaging's effect on taste preference, the emotions aroused by the chocolate and packaging, and the influence of these characteristics on purchasing, it was argued that packaging information could influence customer expectations and change emotional responses, whether tasting experiences matched or conflicted with participants' initial perceptions. As a result, a positive relationship was demonstrated between the emotions participants had toward the packaging and the taste of the chocolate. Musa Çelik commented on the interesting outcome of the study: "Although human senses are classified as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, it is rare for one sensory input to be dominant over the others. However, this study emphasizes that when participants saw the packaging design, the expectations they formed were influenced by the design even though their perceptions differed after tasting. In other words, it is discovered that the sense of sight is dominant over the sense of taste. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the packaging's evocation of happy emotions has a direct impact on the acceptance of the chocolate."

Consumer Determines Product Value Based on Packaging

According to an anecdote told in Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink," in a test conducted on 7-UP beverage brand packaging, 15% of participants reported a more intense lemon taste in the yellow-toned packaging compared to green packaging, even though the contents were completely identical. In another example, Coca-Cola's brilliant idea in 2011 of releasing white boxes to help raise funds for polar bears draws attention. Consumers claim that the white box tastes different from the classic red box, even though there is no difference in the product once their curiosity-driven purchases end. Research has also discovered that round shapes, round fonts, and low-pitched product names reinforce "sweet" perception, while angular packaging and fonts and product names read in high-pitched tones create "sour" perception. On the subject, Çelik comments: "In all these studies and countless examples, we see that our brain determines the value of products based on their packaging."