Packaging copy: clear and playful

Packaging copy has two jobs, and they do not fight each other. The first is to be clear: what is in the pack, how to eat it, how to keep it. The second is to speak in the brand's voice, which for Let's PLAY means being playful. At Color of Vietnam the clear part is identical across all four brands and never gives up its space. The playful part only lives on the lines that are not mandatory. This piece explains how we write, and what we check before print.

Three seconds on the front, everything on the back

The front of a pack gets about three seconds on a shelf. In those seconds the shopper needs to know what this is, which flavour and which brand. Every other word is noise.

The back is where everything is said, and said honestly. Ingredients in descending order, the allergen line, net weight, storage, best-before date, the responsible company and its address, contact details. These lines come from the specification sheet and the product registration, and nobody gets to rewrite them for style.

Write short and write honestly

A few rules we keep when writing for a pack:

• Each line says exactly one thing. The flavour line does not also talk about the eating occasion.
• Verbs over adjectives. Snap it in half, share one half, shake the jar, close the lid. A reader can picture an action. An adjective has to be believed.
• Every number carries a unit, and the unit matches the specification sheet.
• No stacked adjectives. Crispy tasty delicious irresistible is four words and none of them is accountable for anything.
• Read it aloud. If a line trips or needs a breath in the middle, cut it.

Short is not about saving space. Short is what makes each line checkable.

A description says what the product is. A promise says what the product will do for the person eating it. We only write the first kind. Roasted cashew pressed with oats is a description. Energy for the whole day is a promise, and in many markets a promise that has to be backed by a file. Phrases about health, about weight, about there being little or much of something all carry thresholds that differ by market, so they do not go on a pack until we hold both the number and the rule.

The simple test: take the line to the R&D desk and ask which line of the specification sheet it points to. If it points to nothing, it is a feeling rather than a description, and it goes back for another look.

Voice per brand, mandatory panel the same

Our four brands speak in four voices. Let's PLAY is short, playful and invites sharing. Natural & Healthy lets the ingredients speak first and uses very few words. PLAY Nutrition talks plainly about the moment: before training, on the road. PLAY Protein Bar speaks in numbers and ingredient names. Turn any pack over, though, and you find the same mandatory frame, in the same order, at the same minimum type size. A shopper who has read one of our packs can read all four.

Whoever writes packaging copy therefore needs two skills: writing four voices, and knowing where the voice is not allowed to change.

An example: the front line on a Let's PLAY rice cracker bag

Recently we chose the front line for a bag of Let's PLAY seaweed rice crackers. Three proof prints lay side by side. Version one: crispy all day long. Version two: a pun on the brand name that you had to think about before it made sense. Version three: snap in half, share one half.

Version one went first, because it is a promise, and a false one: the crackers are crisp when the bag is opened, and whether they stay crisp all day depends on whether someone folds the bag shut. Version two went when we handed it to a child in a colleague's family and the child did not get it. Version three was chosen. It is an action, it sounds like Let's PLAY, and a child can read it. In the same session the storage line on the back kept its ordinary wording: store in a cool dry place, fold the bag closed after opening. Nobody felt that line needed to be fun.

What we check before print

Before a file goes to print, the copy passes a short list that the writer and the R&D specialist both sign off:

• Ingredients match the recipe version going into production, not the version still in trials.
• The allergen line is complete and in the right place.
• Net weight, units and date format match the specification sheet.
• Contact details are correct: support@colorvietnam.com and hotline 0907 055 455.
• Any sentence that could be read as a promise has been removed or has a file behind it.

If you can write a line that a child understands and an inspector cannot fault, our Marketing Leader role in Hanoi is open on the Careers page. If you are a distributor or importer who needs our packaging copy to check against the rules in your market, get in touch through the Contact page.