The right packaging can make or break a customer's decision to purchase a product. If the packaging is unappealing, a customer will not give the product a second thought. Instead, they will move right on to a competitor product, and a sale, as well as a potential customer relationship is lost.

One area of packaging design that I find very interesting is the re-design of an existing packaging or the packaging design of a new product line for an existing brand. I find both of these situations interesting because of the challenge to meld the new idea or product with the branding which customers have formed a connection.

Ashley K. Edwards recently posted a very insightful analysis of the Starbucks Refreshers packaging design, a new product line for a well-established brand. Starbucks has always been known for their creative marketing ideas, and most of us business school graduates probably read many case studies about those ideas; however, this is an different perspective on their marketing tactics using one of their newest product lines. I highly recommend checking out this article to learn about how Starbucks created a new product in response to trends in drink preferences, while still maintaining their core brand image.