Shopping the Pasta Set for Lessons in Packaging Design

In this episode of Shopping with Christy, we walk the pasta aisle to break down real-world packaging—from what catches the eye to what gets lost in the noise. You’ll see how smart brands shift from emotional storytelling to consumer-first performance.

Description

A strong product idea can easily get buried when the message hierarchy is wrong. In this case, the product delivers a clear benefit, better sauce adhesion, but that value is difficult to decode at the shelf. Instead of leading with what matters most to shoppers, the communication leans heavily on heritage and production methods, which slows down decision-making in a fast retail environment.

This is where effective pasta packaging design plays a critical role. Shoppers don’t need a history lesson; they need an immediate reason to buy. “Extraordinary sauce grip” is the true selling point, yet it appears too late in the communication flow, forcing consumers to work too hard to understand the benefit.

The disconnect becomes even more apparent at the shelf level. Despite premium material choices and a refined aesthetic, the packaging lacks contrast, readability, and clear brand blocking. It blends into the set rather than standing out, creating missed opportunities for conversion.

For brands operating in competitive categories, aligning packaging with shopper priorities is essential. Whether it’s pasta sauce packaging design or dry pasta, the principle remains the same: lead with the benefit, support with proof, and ensure visibility at a distance.

Video Transcript

00:00:00 This is a problem to be solved for me.
00:00:02 People don't care about how the Italians
00:00:04 eat. And if you're not winning in the
00:00:06 shelf, you don't have a sustainable
00:00:07 business.
00:00:10 Hey everybody, it's Shopping with
00:00:11 Christie. Today I am at Kroger King
00:00:14 Supers here in Colorado and I saw an
00:00:16 item and I had lots of thoughts about
00:00:18 it. So I wanted to share those thoughts
00:00:20 with you and learn from it together. So
00:00:23 here we go. Today we are looking at the
00:00:26 pasta set. And when I was walking down
00:00:28 this aisle, actually the first thing I
00:00:30 noticed, of course, as I'm walking is
00:00:33 this beautiful merchandiser. I will tell
00:00:35 you, I wasn't aware of this product
00:00:38 until I saw it on this beautiful
00:00:39 merchandiser here. It caught my eye, as
00:00:41 all merchandisers do. That's what
00:00:43 they're meant to do. But this one really
00:00:45 did, particularly because of this
00:00:46 beautiful hero shot. And it's got really
00:00:49 saucy noodles almost dragged on a plate
00:00:52 and this beautiful sort of nostalgic
00:00:55 lighting treatment that's very popular
00:00:56 right now in the world of graphic design
00:00:59 and and design in general. Elbronzo
00:01:01 Borilla. And I was like, what is this? I
00:01:04 saw that visual. I will tell you there
00:01:06 was so much copy there. I didn't really
00:01:07 read it. I saw traditional and then I
00:01:09 stopped caring. So I didn't read it. But
00:01:11 then I came around and I saw this header
00:01:14 card and I was like, capture the saucy
00:01:16 Italian way. I I don't care how the
00:01:17 Italians do it. That was my thought. But
00:01:19 then I kind of drifted down and I saw
00:01:21 this line of copy extraordinary sauce
00:01:23 grip. And I was like, "Ooh, now that I
00:01:25 care about this is a problem to be
00:01:27 solved for me. This is a job to be done.
00:01:29 I love a good noodle to sauce ratio when
00:01:32 I eat my pasta." And I love saucy pasta.
00:01:35 So, this is speaking to me. But here's
00:01:37 the thing. Like, I wouldn't have got
00:01:39 that. You had about 1 2 3 4. It took to
00:01:42 the fifth point of communication for me
00:01:44 to really understand that this is
00:01:46 exactly the type of product I would
00:01:48 love. You know, what a shame. So, if you
00:01:50 can get to extraordinary sauce grip much
00:01:52 faster, you kind of do it here with the
00:01:54 visual, but unfortunately, you know,
00:01:56 you've got this beautiful ombre
00:01:58 background, which is very popular.
00:01:59 Emotionally, it does well, but it hid
00:02:01 the sauce drag. If you see here these
00:02:04 noodles, this hero shots, gorgeous, but
00:02:06 what you really understand is this
00:02:08 person's like, it's about the sauce and
00:02:10 gripping the sauce. I missed the sauce
00:02:12 drag because you can't see it against
00:02:15 the red. Why would you do that to your
00:02:16 hero shot, right? Pick a different
00:02:18 background color up here. You can see it
00:02:20 a little better because of you see the
00:02:23 whole picture and the plate and the
00:02:24 context because of the the sort of
00:02:26 horizontal flow here. So there you go.
00:02:28 Now I was like, you know, all of this
00:02:30 that's my little bit of a breakdown on
00:02:32 on their merchandiser creative. And
00:02:34 again, I think they could have elevated
00:02:35 extraordinary sauce grip copy and done a
00:02:37 better job with the sauce script key
00:02:39 visual. I missed that sauce drag. They
00:02:41 could have done that better. But let's
00:02:42 talk about their pack. The package
00:02:44 itself is gorgeous in hand. It's this
00:02:47 beautiful golden sheen. It's pillowy in
00:02:49 texture. It's a matte film. I can see
00:02:52 this beautiful product. But without the
00:02:54 merchandiser, I would not have known
00:02:56 what this was for. It's buried. It's
00:02:58 like it's there. Excellent sauce grip.
00:03:00 But like be honest, is that what you're
00:03:02 seeing here? No. I'm seeing Elbronzo.
00:03:04 This made me Google what this product
00:03:07 was. I actually thought it was a new
00:03:08 innovation cuz I'd never seen it before
00:03:10 really. I've never noticed it before,
00:03:12 let's put it that way, even though I am
00:03:13 a Barilla consumer, a big fan of their
00:03:15 protein line. But so I Googled it and
00:03:17 come to find out this item launched in
00:03:20 2022. And the whole idea behind the
00:03:22 launch was celebrating Barilla's 145th
00:03:24 year anniversary and a return to the
00:03:26 traditional way of making things. So
00:03:29 this is what I've deduced probably what
00:03:31 happened is the brand launched this from
00:03:33 this big sort of platform mission of
00:03:35 traditional pasta barilla traditional
00:03:36 pasta and they launched this innovation
00:03:39 probably what they found out is the
00:03:40 American consumer doesn't really care
00:03:43 about the fact that it's bronze cut like
00:03:46 I still don't really know why that
00:03:48 matters I guess they kind of tell you
00:03:49 here on the package it's the bronze cut
00:03:51 that gives you the excellent sauce grip
00:03:53 but they've missed the message hierarchy
00:03:55 in America we want benefit first we
00:03:58 don't care about Italian traditions.
00:03:59 What we care about is what we're eating
00:04:01 and what we're getting. What we care
00:04:02 about probably in this case is
00:04:04 Extraordinary Sauce Grip. They should
00:04:06 have led with that. And then bronze cut
00:04:08 as the RTB. And then actually underneath
00:04:11 bronze cut is because we are traditional
00:04:13 pasta brand that's been around for 145
00:04:16 years. It's actually like a brand trust
00:04:18 statement. It's important long term for
00:04:20 sure, but on packaging and at the moment
00:04:21 of purchase, it's less important. this
00:04:24 launch probably went, hey, it this is
00:04:26 about Barilla's 145th year. We're
00:04:29 launching this bronze cut line because
00:04:31 it's traditional. And now they've
00:04:33 learned 3 years later that probably
00:04:35 that's not the right order. So, they're
00:04:37 trying to fix it a little bit with their
00:04:38 merchandising here. They're highlighting
00:04:40 the sauce grip here. I don't know about
00:04:42 that, but uh that's probably what's
00:04:44 happening is they're optimizing their
00:04:47 message hierarchy with this merchandiser
00:04:50 and probably adjusting the messaging of
00:04:53 this product for the American consumer.
00:04:55 What I would say to them is, you know,
00:04:57 maybe they did, I mean, it's a big
00:04:58 brand. They probably did some market
00:05:00 research, but it was probably pushed out
00:05:02 globally and not totally optimized for
00:05:04 the US market at launch, and now they're
00:05:06 doing that. But I still think they have
00:05:08 opportunities. People don't care about
00:05:10 how the Italians eat. They just want
00:05:12 saucy noodles, delicious noodles. The
00:05:14 visual does a good job. The copy
00:05:15 doesn't. This cop is better. Their
00:05:17 package could be optimized to better
00:05:19 communicate the fact that it's the sauce
00:05:21 grip. That's why you're buying it. Now,
00:05:23 let's walk over here. Here's the other
00:05:25 little issue I see. Although it's
00:05:27 launched in 2022 globally, I don't know
00:05:30 when it was uh launched in the US
00:05:33 exactly. I'd have to do more research to
00:05:35 know that. But they do have a lot of
00:05:36 facings here. One thing I'll point out
00:05:38 to everybody is take a look at this.
00:05:40 Right? This is a busy set. This is a
00:05:42 huge set, right? Let's see. 4 8 12 16 20
00:05:47 feet. Actually, 24 ft. Wow. America
00:05:50 loves pasta. We all know everybody's got
00:05:52 a pasta night at home. So, that makes
00:05:54 sense. But here's the issue here with I
00:05:55 see this execution of roll out. When you
00:05:57 look at it versus the rest of the pasta
00:06:00 set, this graphic is incredibly
00:06:02 recessive. It's gorgeous in hand for
00:06:04 that. You know, I'd call it 1B 1.B. But
00:06:08 the 1A moment, which is like literally
00:06:10 shelf impact, it sort of loses. I don't
00:06:13 even know it's Borilla. I can't see the
00:06:15 Borilla logo. In fact, this color is so
00:06:18 close to Rouse, I would think it's
00:06:19 Rouse. So, like you've got a brand
00:06:21 misattribution issue here cuz that red
00:06:23 is not the same as red or that Borilla
00:06:25 Red. And they're right by Rouse here on
00:06:27 the premium pasta set. So, that's an
00:06:29 issue. And I can't read the brand. I
00:06:31 can't read that it's Elbronzo. And I
00:06:33 certainly don't see that this is
00:06:34 something new. In fact, it looks old.
00:06:36 Like in a traditional sense, old. And I
00:06:39 can't read the benefit. I would have
00:06:40 just completely lost it. Now I'm
00:06:42 standing about 4t away. Still can't read
00:06:44 it. Compare that with that. I can read
00:06:47 that. Like this looks like traditional
00:06:49 Rumo. Like it looks authentic, crisp,
00:06:51 fresh, right? And then this is even
00:06:53 worse. Check this out. Lay down bags are
00:06:55 always hard. I've worked in layown bags
00:06:57 before in candy, but you got to use the
00:07:00 side, right? So here I can see the brand
00:07:02 name at least and it cooks in 10 minutes
00:07:04 and that is linguini. I can't read a
00:07:06 thing on this item. Literally not one
00:07:08 thing. It just looks like maroon bag.
00:07:10 You know what it looks a little bit like
00:07:11 is those like um wafers like the Dutch
00:07:13 wafers. Obviously it's pasta set cuz
00:07:15 it's pasta but like I wouldn't even know
00:07:17 it's pasta from the side. So you know if
00:07:19 I were here I would really work on shelf
00:07:22 impact and I would really try to get
00:07:24 eyecatching. Now I'm about 2 ft in now.
00:07:27 I can see it's Elbronzo, which I don't
00:07:29 know what that means and I don't care. I
00:07:30 can see it's Borilla, which I love
00:07:32 Borilla, so that's good. But I still
00:07:33 can't really read the benefit or
00:07:35 understand the benefit, which is sauce
00:07:36 grip. Now I'm about 5 in from the pack.
00:07:39 There it is. And now it looks beautiful.
00:07:41 And that's the difference between pack
00:07:43 in hand and pack at the shelf. And if
00:07:45 you're not winning in the shelf, you
00:07:47 don't have a sustainable business
00:07:48 because in order to get that pack in
00:07:50 your hand, especially if you're
00:07:51 recessive, you have to spend a ton of
00:07:53 money on merchandisers and
00:07:54 advertisements. And that's not
00:07:56 sustainable long term. Boy, I could like
00:07:58 talk forever about this product and I
00:08:01 have. I think that's enough. Anyway, I
00:08:03 am gonna buy a bag. I'm so curious now
00:08:05 to see if it truly has sauce grip.
00:08:07 That'll be my second moment of truth at
00:08:09 home. They also gave me a coupon. It's
00:08:11 on deal. And if you can see there,
00:08:13 there's a $1 off coupon on the
00:08:14 merchandiser. So, there you go. That's
00:08:16 it. by everybody.

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A seasoned veteran in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry, Jason Vaught brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience as the director of content and marketing for SmashBrand. His comprehensive role at the forefront of brand communication ensures that CPG brands remain well-informed about the suite of services SmashBrand offers. Furthermore, his insights derived from the company's strategy, design, and testing services are invaluable to brand owners and managers seeking expert guidance.

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