Communicating Sustainability Through Brand and Package Design

Brand and package design are essential to sharing sustainability messages with consumers. Our guide and case study will help you establish or improve your brand’s sustainability communications.

How does your brand’s sustainability effort show up in your brand and package design? What messages are shared, in what order, and what priority? What imagery? What words are used, and where? How does it look? What color is it? What typeface? And above all, are these true to the brand essence?

Here are some ways to improve how your brand and package design communicate about sustainability.

How to communicate your brand’s sustainability initiatives

Remember that brand and package design are part of the conversation with the consumer. People have varying levels of knowledge about sustainability. If you are using any sustainable materials in your packaging, highlight and even explain it. Sometimes consumers might think you’ve moved away from sustainable practices, not towards.
Your package starts a conversation in a judgment-free zone, so explain in plain language, or using icons, badges, or symbols, how your product or its package, is sustainable.
Add something to show the brand or business is mindful of and even address what it can do to be more sustainable—for example, informational copy or a call to action. Perhaps a QR code or link to social media could help further educate the consumer.
Understand how your brand essence would embrace sustainability practices. Think about how your brand would talk about sustainability.
Ask your agency to offer ideas around packaging formats, inks, etc., that may contribute to less waste or reduce the chemicals used in production.

An award-winning case study for sustainability communications

Campbell's is, and always has been, a company committed to sustainability. In the spring and summer of 2021, the company ran a limited-time offer of Garden Vegetable Minestrone and Creamy Tomato Soup to educate the consumer about their farming practices. This offering included a can-topping coaster of tomato seeds for the consumer to plant. They asked us to design the new label and can-topping coaster to highlight this campaign.

The red and white Campbell's label is world-famous, and we don't often have the chance to work with such a design. So, how did we imagine it for this limited time offer yet keep it unmistakably Campbell's? Could it be Campbell's and not red and white? What could we do with the logo? How could we support the flavor message and celebrate sustainability?

Very few specific details harken back to the iconic label soup can in the final design. Yet, our limited-edition offering can design is clearly Campbell's while also communicating the message of sustainability. Here is how we did it.

We combined layout, iconography, typeface, contrast, and photography to reinforce the sustainability message. The Campbell's logo is center stage, with colors chosen to communicate flavor rather than brand. The giving-hands icon, offering a seed, shares the message of sustainability in an approachable, Zen, and nurturing feel. The linear elements that separate the type are intentionally natural. The green background has a texture of handcrafted paper. The photography brings visual identification and rich flavor to the picture. Overall, the design is approachable, natural, and informal.

In February 2022, Invok Brands was awarded Best in Class, Brand Marketing, Limited Edition for our work on this Campbell’s LTO.

A worksheet to keep brand and package design sustainability top of mind

Consumers are more educated about sustainability than ever before, and they expect brands to support and share their values and beliefs. So, when a CPG brand communicates its sustainability commitment and initiatives, the messaging needs to be authentic and meaningful.

Download Your Brand’s Sustainability Communication Cues worksheet to consider improvements for your brand’s next package design effort.