A number of studies have indicated the influence of good product design on competitiveness and commercial success (e.g., Gemser & Leenders, 2001; Hine, 1997). In line with these studies, we showed that atypical packaging might be used to serve as a way to facilitate increased processing of product information in the consumer environment. More importantly, the present study demonstrates the importance of taking into account the interaction between different types of packaging cues when assessing the effects of these cues (e.g., product claims, packaging atypicality) on product evaluation (see also, Van Rompay & Veltkamp, 2014). We demonstrated that atypicality of packaging design affects the
way in which other packaging information is perceived by consumers. Atypicality decreases reliance on often used low quality persuasive cues, and increases reliance on high quality cues in a persuasive setting. In contrast to typical packaging, atypical packaging increased product evaluation when claims were strong, but decreased evaluation when claims were weak. This means that brands that are not able to make strong claims, might be better off with typical packaging designs. Atypical packaging might be a beneficial strategy, but might only result in positive outcomes for brands with strong, substantive product claims. Marketers should be aware of this possible interaction when considering atypical packaging.