Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(May 2011) posted on Thu Jun 02, 2011

By Patrick Henry

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Why do people put round pegs into square holes? Objectively speaking, there’s an obvious contradiction between the circular outline of a frozen pizza and the square cartons that so many of them are packaged in.
That question occurred to Schwan Food Company, maker of the Freschetta family of frozen pizzas and many other types of frozen foods. Schwan asked Brandimation, a Princeton, NJ, brand innovation agency specializing in structural package design, to help it identify the right combination of structure and materials that could help reinvent the frozen pizza experience. Schwan broadened the norms of the category in a literal example of thinking outside the box—the launch of Freschetta Simply...Inspired frozen pizzas in the rounded-top, Fresch-Taste Seal package.
The journey from concept to packaged product began with a highly specific vision of its intended end-user. Behind the launch are nearly two years of intensive research and testing by Schwan and Brandimation, the initial phase of which was dedicated to pinpointing the characteristics of the target consumer and matching Simply...Inspired frozen pizzas to the tastes and preferences that this sophisticated shopper could be expected to have.
The marketing initiative for the Simply...Inspired line and its boxless packaging stems from Schwan’s belief that enthusiasm for ordinary frozen pizza has been waning. Many shoppers, says Mary Brown, senior director of brand marketing at Schwan, are opting out of the category. “Consumers don’t need 42 varieties of pepperoni pizza,” says Brown. This is especially true of high-quality/high-value consumers fitting the persona that Simply...Inspired was conceived to attract.