Writing Packaging Copy vs Building Packaging Narrative

Snack packaging is designed for a three-second decision. But the product lives on the table for the next three hours.

Most packs are built to win the shelf and then stop working. The front sells the flavour. The back becomes compliance. Every variant changes colour, maybe a few ingredients, and that’s enough.

A packaging narrative works differently. It gives the brand a system that can travel, across flavours, products, formats and whatever comes next.

For Herbs & Co.’s range of nachos, we weren’t creating five packs. We were creating one system with five expressions.

Each flavour got a personality, a social occasion and a serving ritual. The back of the pack became part of the experience rather than leftover space.

The structure was simple:

One brand philosophy. Five flavour personalities. Five consumption occasions. Five serving rituals. One consistent voice.

Copy gives the product words. Narrative gives the range a logic that can help you keep generating.

P.S.: One thing that never made it onto the pack was a story about the invention of the nacho.

In a small restaurant in Piedras Negras in 1940, a rushed cook named Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya threw together tortillas, cheese and jalapeños, and accidentally invented a legend.

I loved the story. But it belonged to someone else's brand. The more we explored it, the more we realised Herbs & Co. didn't need to own where nachos came from. It needed to own what they become when they're opened.

Sometimes, the best writing is the line you leave out.