One of food packaging’s most important jobs is to tempt the taste buds, but that doesn’t always mean showing us a saliva-inducing portrait of lunch. In fact the food shot means giving up a large amount of packaging real estate, so established brands rightly avoid it in favour of iconising the promise.
For Philadelphia this means defining fresh, smooth creaminess by association, with ovalness, silver and a burst of intense white – some might say heavenly – light. Newcomer Yum has to try a bit harder, and it certainly stands out in this company by adopting a highly contrasting black pack. The brightly coloured branding and flavour name adds a touch of fun, but in the end it remains a product – flavoured cream cheese. GÜ played this game in desserts and reinvented the category, so something is missing. To compete, I’d add more mystery and temptation.