Consumer & Luxury
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3 real-world examples of how packaging can boost brand appeal

The signs are clear: the era of single-use plastics¹ and excessive packaging is slowly but surely coming to an end. In its place, a new paradigm in the form of sustainable packaging is emerging. And now, smart brands are taking action to stay ahead of the curve.

New preferences create new opportunities

There are more and more signs that consumers think twice about buying from companies that don’t take sustainable packaging seriously. This trend is underlined by the findings in a recent report by Shorr, where 64% of the respondents would be open to switching from a brand that they’re typically loyal to in order to purchase another brand because they offer sustainable packaging.² While this might sound threatening for brand owners, the flip side is that these new preferences offer interesting opportunities to attract new customers by switching to packaging materials that are recyclable, biodegradable or made from renewable resources. This article touches on how Billerud has helped three forward-leaning brands to do just that – and boosted their brand appeal in the process.

Case #1: Ridestore

In a 2022 fashion industry survey by Drapers, 64% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from a fashion brand or retailer if its packaging is sustainable. And nearly a third overall say they have stopped shopping with a brand as a result of unsustainable packaging.³ Insights like this were not lost on online retailer Ridestore, creator of the snow brands Dope and Montec. Realising that the packaging is a key component of its customer journey, Ridestore set out to remove the plastic packaging sent to the customer, while at the same time improving the unboxing experience and achieving an overall reduction in packaging material and CO2-emssions. A lofty goal, but one that was achieved through a switch to Billerud E-commerce bags made from unbleached virgin fiber paper. Feedback from customers was very positive and before long, people started to share their plastics-free unboxing experiences on social media.

Case #2: Moonvalley

Sports nutrition brand Moonvalley had a problem. The plastic flow-wrap packaging for its organic energy bars didn’t gel with its company ethos of sustainability and being in tune with nature. A prolonged search for an alternative had come to a dead end since Moonvalley couldn’t find a sustainable material with the barrier properties needed to give its bars the shelf life that their distributors demanded. That’s when Billerud and Moonvalley got together. By substituting plastic flow wrap for Billerud’s new Recyclable Flow Wrap – a barrier-coated paper for high-speed conversion – Moonvalley became the first brand in its category to adopt a packaging material that can easily be recycled in the regular paper-stream. In the process, Moonvalley has not only halved its CO2-footprint for their flow wrap packaging, but the brand also sends a powerful message that it is as serious about sustainability as its customers are.

Case #3: Oatly

It’s important to realize that sustainable packaging practices extend beyond the end product, it involves optimizing the entire supply chain. Swedish oat drink company Oatly has always had high aspirations when it comes to sustainability and when it wanted to reduce the carbon footprint of its secondary packaging for its Asian markets, the engineers at Billerud BoxLab were happy to help. The result of the cooperation was high-performance corrugated transport boxes that were optimized in terms design, composition and material selection. By relying on the strength of virgin fibers the new boxes achieved an estimated 35% saving in packaging material compared to local alternatives and an astonishing 50% reduction in CO2 emissions. When you serve a customer base as environmentally conscious as Oatly’s, these are the things that strengthen your brand and help build customer loyalty.

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