Is a Revolutionary Packaging Redesign Worth the Risk?

Our Creative Director, Jeff Sugarman, spotted this redesign a few months ago and shares his observations here.

In 2021, Bahlsen gave their Choco Leibniz line of milk chocolate biscuits a rebrand that was clean, bold, and modern—radically different from the previous design. The design community loved it! But two years later, sales had dropped by 11.8%. So, what went wrong? Did customers reject the new design, or was it just unfortunate timing? The redesign coincided with a sharp rise in inflation, which might have led customers to seek cheaper alternatives. It's been a tough time for many premium brands. While there isn't clear data to prove one theory over the other, it's a cautionary reminder that brands shouldn't get too far ahead of their customers.

I was reminded of the Bahlsen "failure" when I stumbled upon Bionaturae's redesign last April. We have a couple of gluten-sensitive people in our family, and I regularly buy Bionaturae pasta. My first impression? Where did Bionaturae go? Wait, is that it in the green box? That looks sharp!

Personally, I like the new design. It feels more appetizing, more in line with my expectations for a premium Italian food brand. The script logotype is easy to read and elevates the brand. The callouts are organized and streamlined, featuring a few key messages. "Gluten Free" is now consistently highlighted, underscoring an important brand trait. The window showing the product inside the box stands out more, helping customers identify it easily. The farm illustration on some of the larger boxes adds to the impression of a natural, high-quality product.

However, it's those first seconds of confusion that got me thinking about Bahlsen. I nearly missed the new Bionaturae on the shelf. In my case, we're very particular about our pasta, and the fear of disappointing my child outweighed my annoyance at needing to spend a few more minutes searching for our favorite noodle. I wonder how other customers reacted. Did they adopt the new design? Or was the change too radical, alienating loyal customers?

It's unusual for established brands to make huge changes to their packaging. Managers are understandably cautious about anything that might confuse their customers. That said, sometimes a big change is exactly what's called for. So how do you know when your design strategy should be evolutionary versus revolutionary?

Evolutionary change: optimizing what's working

Evolutionary redesigns are iterative improvements—adjustments to hierarchy, typography, color balance, callout placement, or imagery that sharpen the package without disrupting recognition. Think of them as packaging's equivalent of A/B testing. They're lower risk precisely because loyal customers can still find you on shelf, and the brand equity you've built stays intact.

Evolutionary changes make sense when your core positioning is sound, your customers know you, and the goal is to improve shelf impact or bring the design up to date without repositioning the brand. A good rule of thumb: if your best customers would still recognize the package from across the aisle, you're in evolutionary territory.

Revolutionary change: when you need a new conversation

A revolutionary redesign signals something more fundamental has changed—and it should. If your product has evolved significantly (new formulation, new price tier, new category), if you're struggling to connect with your target audience, or if competitors have started copying your look until you've gotten lost in the category, small tweaks won't move the needle.

Bionaturae's redesign reads as revolutionary to me. The degree of change—new logotype style, new color approach, restructured information hierarchy—suggests they weren't just refreshing. They were repositioning, probably to broaden appeal beyond the gluten-free niche to a mainstream premium pasta customer. Whether or not that was the explicit brief, the design communicates it.

Five questions to ask before you decide

Before committing to either direction, I'd encourage any CPG founder to work through these:

1. How well do your loyal customers find you on shelf? If your best customers navigate directly to you without hunting, you have meaningful brand equity worth protecting. Evolutionary change preserves it. If even loyal customers occasionally lose you in the category, that's a signal the current design isn't doing its job.

2. Has your product, positioning, or target audience fundamentally shifted? Incremental packaging changes rarely support a fundamental repositioning. If the brand story has changed, the packaging needs to reflect it—even if that means leaving some of the old equity behind.

3. What are your retail partners telling you? When buyers suggest packaging changes, they're not being casual. They're giving you market intelligence based on what they see moving on shelf every day. Repeated feedback from multiple retail partners is a strong signal that evolutionary change won't be enough.

4. Are competitors copying your visual language? Imitation is flattering until it makes you invisible. When look-alike brands crowd your space on shelf, a bold change may be the only way to reestablish distinctiveness. Staying the same when everyone looks like you is its own form of risk.

5. What's the external timing context? The Bahlsen case is a useful reminder here. A revolutionary redesign during a period of economic stress puts loyal customers at extra risk—when budgets are tight, familiarity is a purchase driver. Timing matters as much as the design itself.

Most successful redesigns aren't purely evolutionary or purely revolutionary—they live somewhere on the spectrum. The best ones preserve enough familiar cues to retain loyal customers while introducing enough new energy to attract new ones. That's a difficult balance, and it's one of the reasons packaging strategy deserves as much care as the design itself.

Ora wasn't involved in the Bionaturae redesign, so I can only speculate about the creative brief. Based on the degree of change, I assume they asked for a revolutionary new look. In that regard, they succeeded. I have a hunch the updated design appeals to new customers outside the gluten-free niche—and maybe that was part of the strategy all along.

If you're weighing a packaging change and aren't sure which direction is right for your brand, let's talk. It's one of the most consequential decisions a CPG founder can make—and one worth getting right.