soulsight®

Frito-Lay has decided to discontinue the biodegradable bag they developed for their Sun Chips brand (only 18 months into the program) because consumers didn't appreciate the noise it made when handled and complained en mass – further proving that the double edged sword of social media cuts deep.

Quite sad, but I think an important lesson can be learned from this.

Innovation for innovation's sake is never the best way to go, but it really cements how important employing consumer research and insights are to the success of any brand innovation. Consumers may say they want green products, but brands may need to look deeper into the psychographics to uncover whether they are willing to pay for it, understand it, or sacrifice for it. In this case, consumers were happy to make the initial purchase (which is half the battle, yeah!) but were not willing to sacrifice the solitude of their snack time for the environmental gain. So they didn't return (the other half, darn!).

The introduction of this groundbreaking innovation was, I thought, a great stride forward in the era of responsible packaging. I admit, my thinking style is usually in the clouds, but I felt so optimistic about a major, mainstream brand going to such great lengths to ensure that their ethos was clearly communicated by as many touch-points as possible.

I am still optimistic about continuing the conversation about developing sustainable and eco-friendly packaging, that is, if anyone can hear me over the bag.