A consumer goods manufacturer in Accra came to us with a problem that is more common than most brands admit: their product was good (measurably better than the category leader on blind taste tests), but their packaging was losing at the shelf. Sales had been declining for two quarters. A new distributor was reconsidering their listing. The brief was not "redesign our packaging." It was "save this product."
The Problem: What the Shelf Was Telling Us
Our research process began not in a studio but in four supermarkets across Accra. We observed shoppers in the aisle for a combined total of six hours without intervening. The original packaging had three problems that were immediately visible: it was dark in a bright category (competitors were using high-contrast, light backgrounds), the brand name was set in a script font that read illegibly at 1.5 metres, and the flavour variant system used colour coding that was too subtle to work at a glance. Shoppers physically picked up the competitor product first, every time.
Our Research and Strategy Process
We followed the observational research with structured focus groups drawn from the client's target demographic, primarily women aged 28-45 in middle-income households. Participants were shown the original packaging alongside four competitor products and asked to narrate their decision process aloud. The findings confirmed our observational data and added a critical insight: the existing packaging communicated "economy brand" to shoppers who were willing to pay a premium for quality. The product's actual quality story was invisible on the packaging.
The Design Solution
The redesign established a white primary background for maximum shelf brightness and contrast. The brand name was redrawn in a custom semi-bold sans-serif that was legible at 3 metres. Flavour variants were differentiated by a bold, full-bleed colour band occupying 30% of the pack face, immediately scannable across a shelf run. Product photography was commissioned specifically to show the product in a premium light. The result was a pack that communicated quality before a single word was read.
The Results
- 35% increase in purchase rate within 8 weeks of the relaunch, measured across the same retail sample as the original research
- 23% increase in brand recall in follow-up consumer surveys, up from 34% to 57% unprompted recall
- Listed in two new regional supermarket chains within 3 months of relaunch, following buyer reviews that cited the new packaging as a key factor
- The client's original distributor retained the listing and subsequently increased their order volume by 40%
We didn't change the product. We changed how people saw the product before they touched it. That's the entire job of packaging design.
Kofi Amoah, Creative Director
