By: Sam Becker, Executive Creative Director, Brand Union

The supermarket aisle has become a bit more precious than it used to be. The dominance of e-commerce, digital advertising and social media has lessened the pressure on physical packagings to give the hard sell. As a result, brands have embraced more and more beautiful, uncluttered designs that strive hard to communicate a brand’s highest purpose. This newfound purity of purpose has strong echoes of an earlier, simpler time.

In some ways, packaging is the ultimate vessel for nostalgia. As we move toward a world where more and more things are virtual, there’s an undeniable draw to the tangible. It only makes sense that the young millennial audiences, natives of our ephemeral, limitless, digital culture, would enthusiastically embrace the ideals of care-free nostalgia and a counter-culture sense of rebellion.