Packaging History: From Wood Crates To High Art.

Until the late 1800s, packaging (containers) was largely an expensive either/or proposition: practical and durable for storage or reserved for luxury goods, such as jewelry or premium foods. These were not disposable items, and some manufacturers recognized an opportunity to promote an “after use.”

The Dixie Queen company began designing its punch-cut tobacco tins to resemble picnic baskets (and later lunch boxes). Its name was stamped on the tin “basket’ and these items remained popular into the early 1900s. The rise of dual-use packaging in the late 19th Century provides some of the earliest examples of branded consumer packaging.

The two-bearded brothers on Smith Brothers Cough Drops packaging are real brothers. Their image first appeared in 1866. The cough drops were popular and competitors began hawking cough drops in the streets under similar names.

The brothers decided to mark products by putting their pictures on product packaging. It was arguably the first use of branding on consumer packaging, in its most simplified form, i.e., placing a name/ image on the product to denote ownership.

A year later, Dr. Lyon’s tooth powder printed its name and simple design elements directly on metal (tin) boxes. It was the first example of this application and brands such as Saltine crackers and Cracker Jack utilized tin well into the middle of the 20th Century. Today, such dry goods are sold almost exclusively in folded paperboard cartons.

One of history’s first, fully-designed, branded and nationally-marketed consumer packaged goods was NABISCO’s Uneeda biscuits’ 1896 launch with the famed little boy in the yellow raincoat. There had likely been regional examples of such efforts, but no manufacturers until then had had the resources and ambition to reach the entire country.

NABISCO was in a fierce snack war with Cracker Jack and believed its waxed paper liner was its unique selling proposition. NABISCO invested $1 million in advertising and branding, and the experts decided the boy in a raincoat would personify the wax paper protection. The marketing campaign and branded packaging were a success, and the Uneeda brand thrived until 2008 when it was discontinued.

The Coca-Cola contour glass bottle is beyond-iconic, it’s epic. Coca-Cola had been a popular soda fountain drink beginning in the 1880s.

Coca-Cola began bottling its soda in 1900 in straight-sided bottles, but competitors soon began imitating its distinctive brand script, and using names like “Koka-Nola.”

In 1914, Coca-Cola went to its bottling suppliers and asked for a distinctive design. Coca-Coca filed the patent for the contour glass bottle in 1915. In the ensuing decades, the contour bottle essentially became the brand.

In 1961, the U.S. Patent Office officially recognized this bottle as a trademark. It was virtually unheard for a commercial package to be given such status.

Many factors make package design memorable, but it’s hard to argue with strong color, imagery, fonts, copy and the right substrate.

Procter&Gamble certainly got it right with Tide detergent in 1946. It was designed by a famed architect and designer and is considered the first national product to use bright colors.

The bold lettering of the word ‘Tide’ was in blue and intended to offset the possible dangers implied in the orange and yellow with a safer, reassuring emotional message.” Good design is always good messaging.

Up until the 1930s, package designers were hamstrung by letterpress printing technology, which limited design capabilities. The invention of flexographic printing made possible to print on plactic, metal and other surfaces.

Printers could print on a variety of substrates, such as metallic films, milk cartons and folded cartons, and designers could ensure sophisticated image/color accuracy.

In 1949, a new, safe ink was created and, to replace dyes made with coal by-products. The safe ink was first used with the food packaging.

In 1962, the pop artist Andy Warhol created 32 silkscreened paintings of all Campbell’s flavors, turning this commercial design into fine art.

Warhol’s early career was as commercial/advertising artist and he understood the power of an iconic brand in a consumer culture. Today, the lines between the art world and marketing/design are often blurred.

Private brands packaging got an undeserved bad rap in the 1970s during a period “stagflation,” high prices and slow growth.

The “generics” with their plain-white packaging and non-branded script with “BEER” or “MILK,” conveyed an impression of low-quality goods and this stuck for years.

Over time, retailers transformed generics into premium store brands. Walmart introduced the Great Value brand in 1993 and Costco introduced Kirkland Signature™ in 1995. Their products utilized the same contemporary scripts, colors, substrates and imagery as national brand products.

The Nutrition Facts panel first began appearing on food packaging in the early 1990s (implementation deadline was 1994).

The label quickly become famous in its own right. It is arguably the most reproduced graphic of the 20th Century, having appeared on more than 6.5 billion packages.