Benefits of Glass

Glass Packaging’s Transformative Power

Marie-Laure Susset
 | Global Integrated Marketing Communications Director, O-I Glass

Glass has an element of magic to it. It is beautiful and iconic. You can turn it into shapes, give it colors, play with its transparency … Glass ignites an array of senses, from sight to sound to touch. No other packaging material has the ability to communicate a brand’s identity so authentically and capture the richness of human emotions.

Glass is the premium packaging material that transforms every occasion, large or small. What would major life moments, from weddings to celebrating a new job, be without the sound of a cork popping from a champagne bottle? Or what would witnessing a touchdown be without the “clink” from two glass beer bottles? Glass has a WOW factor.

Packaging works mainly unconsciously to transform products into containers of meaning, investing them with personalities. Packaging that connects with consumers emotionally creates trial and loyalty. And because of its expressive ability, glass can authentically capture the 12 fundamental human motives, invoking emotions on a neurobiological level to tell a brand story instantly.

The Many Personalities of Glass Packaging

Human emotions are varied and complex. Glass packaging can harness a wide array of those emotions. Let us have a closer look at glass’ multiple faces and its ability capture and express a brand story, no matter which of the 12 is the main human motive for the brand.

Glass is the transformative material

Glass suspends ordinary reality, shifts perspectives. It plays on otherwise contradicting emotions, making us feel strong and delicate, elegant and simple, wise and playful. Glass bottles are the vessels that help us transform moments large and small, from toasting the end of a work week with a great beer to those special bottles of wine you save for the holidays.

Glass is honest and pure

Glass bottles and jars are natural, made of sand, soda ash, limestone and recycled glass. It is so pure you can see through it. Glass radiates joy and innocence. It preserves the original characteristics of the foods and beverages it holds.

Glass is creative

Glass is artful. Each bottle has its own personality. It is the only package that is fully customised to express. Glassblowers create personalization, new shapes, etc. Today glass will drive a renaissance of individualization, recognisability, expression of emotions. Glass has a character.

Glass is sensual

Glass ignites the senses, from sight to sound to touch – and even smell. Glass radiates light. It creates nice lines and shapes. Glass is tactile. It invites us to feel its curves. The surface is smooth. Its clink is iconic.

Glass the protector

Glass is the natural material that cares. Glass is virtually inert and protects the products inside. Glass is the kindest material for the planet and for our health.

Glass the wise

There is balance and harmony in glass: it has endless lives – it can be recycled and made into new bottles over and over again. Glass also invites the mind to contemplate and meditate.

Glass the explorer

Glass is inquisitive and entrepreneurial. It gives us the freedom of expression. Glass is an invitation to journey into the world or into ourselves.

Glass the unifier

Glass connects us. It facilitates relationships between people, information and things. Glass is clear–we see inside. Glass comes from the earth. It is straightforward. Glass has been around forever.

Glass is noble

Glass is classy, structured, polished, stylish, distinctive, complete. Holding a glass bottle gives our gestures more sophistication, elegance and refinement. There is certainly one thing that it communicates that other types of materials do not: value.

Glass the growth enabler

Glass shows us possibilities. Glass is tough, reliable, strong, solid, and functional. Glass increases efficiency, expands durability, extends the life of the food inside. Glass can be refilled, reused, owned.

Glass the defiant material

Glass destabilizes, distorts: it reverses the way we see the world. It defies conventional views. It can be rebellious and insolent.

Glass the mood booster

Glass’s fluid properties are useful biological metaphors. Glass is life giving, as well as form giving. It is vibrant, celebratory, festive. Glass is bright, captures the sun’s glare, the sparkle of life.

wheel of motives brand aviators
THE WHEEL OF MOTIVES™: C. Pantidos, Living Brands: How Biology and Neuroscience Shape Consumer Behaviour and Brand Desirability, Lid Publishing, London, 2018, page 391

Glass Transforms Products Into Containers with Personality

There is no doubt glass connects with deep human emotions. And that connection is the key to long-lasting relationships with consumers.

When you consider how packaging touches consumers unconsciously, and at the most crucial moment in the buying process, you understand why packaging should never be an afterthought. Thanks to its transformative essence, glass is the best packaging material to help brands harness the power of their story at this crucial moment. Glass offers brands consistency and efficiency: it can not only convey the brand story authentically, it will do so with more efficiency as it can utilise more cues than other packaging materials (shapes, colors, textures, artwork, sounds, etc).

Marie-Laure Susset
Marie-Laure Susset
Global Integrated Marketing Communications Director, O-I Glass
Marie-Laure Susset is passionate about the emotions brands can generate in people. She believes that today’s brands must provide rewarding experiences for their consumers and create authentic on-going relationships, where company and consumers build the future of the brand together.
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