Do you remember paint-by-number kits from your childhood? The new Recipe Inspirations from McCormick remind me of those. It brings the same mindset to cooking and helps my lackluster skills in the kitchen. The kit takes out all of the guess work by combining all of the necessary spices to season some popular recipes. Plus, the back of the packaging tells you the other necessary ingredients and the recipe. For meals like Shrimp & Pasta Primavera, Garlic Lime Fajitas, and Spanish Chicken Skillet to name a few, these products are sure to be picked up by novice chefs and bring some flavor to meal time.

The new McCormick Recipe Inspirations collection puts flavorful twists on traditional recipes that will impress everyone at your dinner table. Recipe Inspirations makes trying McCormick’s best recipes fun and easy. Each packet includes pre-measured McCormick spices and herbs and a collectible recipe card. With just a few of your own fresh ingredients, you’ve got inspiration to make a memorable meal any night of the week.

As one of the most iconic labels in consumer products, even captured in pop art by Warhol, Campbell’s soup had to have some serious research behind their label redesign. That research? “Neuromarketing:” The team clipped small video cameras to the testers at eye level and had them later watch tape of themselves shopping for soup. Special vests captured skin-moisture levels, heart rate, depth and pace of breathing, and posture. Sensors tracked eye movements and pupil width. In layman’s terms, they judged the body’s “emotional” response to packaging (I know my heart skips a beat while shopping for condensed soup).

So what were the conclusions? The bowl was updated, steam was added, the logo was lowered, soup varieties were color-coded, and the spoon was removed. Personally, I appreciate the design, especially the new font for the soup variety text, but I’m quite surprised by the deviation. Many bloggers have contributed their opinions, and I expect that it will make greater headlines as the products hit the shelves… so what do you think?

The latest issue of Brand Packaging analyzed the effects of the recession. It’s a situation that has affected everyone, but rather than simply blaming our troubles on the current economic situation and giving up, we can look at how to learn, move on, and hopefully grow instead. The article compares coping with the recession to coping with loss, and how this influences consumer purchasing patterns:

Anger/Denial: At first consumers indulged in small luxuries that wouldn’t have major short-term consequences. Brands and even private labels that benefited were the ones that proved their value was worth the added cost. Others were ones with traditional/nostalgic value that consumers could take comfort in.

Bargaining/Depression: When consumers really started to feel the economic downturn, they shifted towards more thrifty habits. As a rudimentary example: even though people still dined out at restaurants, they chose less-expensive options (i.e. a pizza for the group rather than individual prime ribs. Trust me, I’ve seen this happen!).

Acceptance: At the end of the day, the major effect of the recession on consumer attitudes is a shift of the paradigm from a mindset of "what I want is what I need" to one of "what I need is what I want."

So here are Brand Packaging’s words of wisdom:

1. Don’t try to sell consumers what they don’t really need;
2. But, at the same time, don’t forget that behind every basic need lies an aspiration.
3. Use playfulness and familiarity to earn the right to engage with consumers.
4. Respect consumers by making clear, believable claims and making your portfolio easy to understand and navigate.
5. Give consumers a sense of control in the way they choose to interact with you.
6. Use packaging to give a fair picture of what is inside the pack, but don’t lose an opportunity to tell a compelling story.  

I’m not a completely ignorant person, but I did recently admit to Stacy that I thought that pomegranates were a newly discovered fruit. It seemed like everywhere I turned I heard something about pomegranates—from news briefs about their health benefits to recipes for Oprah’s favorite pomegranate martinis (which are delicious, by the way). This is just one example of the whirlwind that can be created by the discovery and marketing of the benefits of everyday foods and food components. There is a nation-wide audience more aware than ever about what they are eating—hence the growing organic and natural market.

The latest "discovered" food: fiber. Dietary fiber was the most sought-after beneficial food component according to a poll by the International Food Information Council last year, which means that consumers are reading their nutrition facts. As we all know, adequate consumption of fiber is important to stay, er, regular, but more it has also been said to lower cholesterol, control and prevent diabetes, reduce the risk of some cancers, aid in weight management and promote a healthy digestive system. Unfortunately, with a recommendation of 19 to 38 grams of fiber a day, combined with a metaphorical comparison of eating fibrous foods to eating cardboard, many companies were not able to capitalize on the opportunity… until recently.

Many new products have emerged to address the "cardboard" issue, such as Fiber One and FRITO-LAY’s catchy SMARTFOOD campaign. Others are showing their feathers, so to speak, about their already existing high-fiber content, like Kashi’s GOLEAN Crunch! and Quaker oatmeal. And how do they do this? Right on the packaging, of course. In order to attract consumers to read your nutrition facts, they must first be enticed by what the front of your packaging has to say. So make sure your product’s features stand out, and if you’re doing this with a label, let us help!