If there is one defining feature of today’s retail environment, it’s choice.
Consider something as simple as ketchup. What was once a single option is now a crowded shelf of competing brands, each offering its own variation. For consumers, that abundance is an advantage. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, it makes standing out increasingly difficult.
To break through the noise, brands invest heavily. CPG firms spend more than $16.3 billion annually on in-store displays such as freestanding stands, end of aisle displays, and large bulk pallet setups. Yet much of that investment goes unnoticed, with products blending into a sea of similar offerings.
Beyond in-store displays, packaging often becomes the next lever. Brands will meticulously refine colour, logos, and design to help individual products stand out on their own.
But new research by Zhe Zhang, Ivey Assistant Professor of Marketing, and his colleagues Xiaoyan Deng (The Ohio State University), Matthew Thomson (University of Massachusetts Amherst), and Ning Ye (Stockton University), suggests a different approach. The real opportunity, they argue, may not lie in the individual package, but in how packages work together.
To describe this concept, the team introduces the term package billboarding, a strategy in which product packaging, when arranged together, forms a larger, cohesive image across the shelf. A familiar sight in grocery stores, the approach has been used by brands for years. Yet its impact has remained largely untested, leaving open a critical question: does it shape how consumers perceive products, or simply make displays more visually appealing?
Across eight studies, the researchers find that it does both. Billboarding not only draws attention, but also elevates these product displays into unexpected works of art – something shoppers don’t typically encounter in a routine grocery trip. That sense of surprise creates a positive emotional response, driving stronger engagement, choice, and purchase intention.
What’s more, the advantage holds even under less than ideal conditions. Billboarding remains effective when displays are incomplete or shelves are messy, either matching or outperforming more traditional packaging approaches.
But the advantage is not universal. In categories that don’t lend themselves to artistic or visually expressive displays – such as medicine – billboarding is less effective.
Still, the broader implication for marketers is clear: differentiation may not come from redesigning a single package, but from rethinking how products come together on the shelf. Because sometimes, the most powerful package isn’t one – it’s many.
To explore the full research behind package billboarding and how it influences consumer choice, read E Pluribus Unum: Exploring the Effects of Billboarding on Consumer Brand Responses in the Journal of Marketing.
