This is one area where most people choose to shout rather than whisper. But forget the volume for a minute: what is your packaging actually saying? (And, crucially, who's it saying it to?) Celebrated product design consultant, Richard Seymour, puts it this way: "If over 70% of all purchase decisions are made at the point of purchase, then why isn't 70% of your marketing budget spent on your packaging?"

Customers are so easily swayed by a label which looks classy or colourful or discreet or young, that packaging is best seen as absolute proof that what you really need, above all, is to understand exactly who your customers and potential customers are otherwise, what's to stop all that well-intentioned shouting just disappearing into thin air?