INTRODUCTION

The rapid evolution of both packaging materials and packaging methods in the late 50's has resulted in the emergence of a new branch of industrial design – packaging design. At the same time, Marketing has been widely recognized as a new field of business activities. Consequently, marketers have started to consider packaging as a driving force behind the sales productivity. In the present paper the question of packaging is discussed in terms of utilizing packaging design in driving sales of confectioneries. Among the fundamental goals of the research the following ones can be distinguished:

1. – identification of relations between packaging and the elements of marketing mix;

2. – review of functions performed by packaging;

3. – specification of psychological impact of packaging on purchasing decisions;

4. – review of legal regulations concerning packaging design of food and beverages;

5. – exemplification of packaging's role in the Polish confectionery market including identifying the most attractive elements of packaging design.

1. PACKAGING AND THE MARKETING MIX

According to traditional marketing approach, four basic elements of the marketing mix can be identified. These are: product, price, place and promotion [Kotler 2004, p. 97]. There are two radically different ways of expressing interrelations which occur between packaging and the components of the marketing mix formula.

Philip Kotler and Theodore Levitt consider packaging as an integral part of the product. In order to understand the suggested line of reasoning, the concept of the product is about to be shortly explained.