Low involvement, low price and low quality image renegotiated - a case study of staple food package design

The food sector is identified as one of the fastest growing industries introducing package innovations and new package designs. This article is based on a packaging development project of a food company producing eggs. The case presents the company's first-time engagement with package development. The materials generated during development project serve as a starting point for an interpretive single case study. The units of analysis are three perspectives identified by the various research as essential for the packaging development project. These are the food company's, an outsourced branding and packaging consultants' and that of the consumers'. This study is motivated by how the package attributes are perceived as meaningful in the particular context and by how the package attributes are created when a low involvement primary food product package is developed. The exposition of case study findings is organised according to a theory-led literature review outlining the essential package attributes and a project-led case describing how these attributes were created during the project. The results show signs of substantial qualitative differences in contribution of the participants as well as the quality of information they provided for the package development. Moreover, findings on packaging development indicate that the practical interplay between company, external consultancy and information generated by the consumer research provide together a backed up and sharper view on packaging development decisions made during the project.