Why Packaging for Potatoes is Weirder Than You Think
I spent twelve minutes staring at a bag of potatoes in a corner dairy in Nelson. Not because I was hungry, but because I was trying to figure out what its packaging was trying to say. It wasn’t saying much. It was brown. It had a photo of... more potatoes. And the most uninspired slogan I’ve seen this year: “Fresh from the ground”. Riveting.
Potatoes don’t need much by way of branding, but that’s where the fun starts. Often, the lack of effort in marketing a product becomes its own kind of statement. The question is whether that’s intentional. In the case of New Zealand-grown produce, I’m starting to think it rarely is. Most local packaging feels like it was designed in a rush to meet a compliance deadline, not win a customer’s eye. There’s huge potential here. If we treated humble produce the same way we treated indie craft beer or organic skincare, we’d see a shift in how people connect to the story of what they’re eating.
Look at what Japan is doing with fruit. They wrap individual melons like small designer handbags. Each apple feels curated. It’s not about luxury, it’s about intention. The design reframes the value. Here, we’re still stuck in the ‘slap a label on a bag and hope they care’ mentality. But potatoes could be a quiet cultural MVP if we gave them a narrative. Grown in volcanic soil under the watchful eye of a sixth-generation family grower? That’s a story. That’s a brand. That’s a reason to choose New Zealand Keas over the imported Russets from a container in Tauranga port.
We don't need to over-design. We need to care. We need more brave designers and marketers to get unnecessarily into potatoes. Turn the humble into the heroic. Because if we make the effort with the basics, every aisle in the country becomes an experience. And yes, maybe I’ll still be standing in front of the spuds too long. But this time, there’ll be something to look at.
Potatoes don’t need much by way of branding, but that’s where the fun starts. Often, the lack of effort in marketing a product becomes its own kind of statement. The question is whether that’s intentional. In the case of New Zealand-grown produce, I’m starting to think it rarely is. Most local packaging feels like it was designed in a rush to meet a compliance deadline, not win a customer’s eye. There’s huge potential here. If we treated humble produce the same way we treated indie craft beer or organic skincare, we’d see a shift in how people connect to the story of what they’re eating.
Look at what Japan is doing with fruit. They wrap individual melons like small designer handbags. Each apple feels curated. It’s not about luxury, it’s about intention. The design reframes the value. Here, we’re still stuck in the ‘slap a label on a bag and hope they care’ mentality. But potatoes could be a quiet cultural MVP if we gave them a narrative. Grown in volcanic soil under the watchful eye of a sixth-generation family grower? That’s a story. That’s a brand. That’s a reason to choose New Zealand Keas over the imported Russets from a container in Tauranga port.
We don't need to over-design. We need to care. We need more brave designers and marketers to get unnecessarily into potatoes. Turn the humble into the heroic. Because if we make the effort with the basics, every aisle in the country becomes an experience. And yes, maybe I’ll still be standing in front of the spuds too long. But this time, there’ll be something to look at.