Opening the Oreos.

Nabisco and other big brands are biting the bullet and investing in consumer-friendly packaging. After years of using packages that generate gripes, how much should new, consumer-friendly packaging toot its own horn? There is no one answer, but based on what consumers are now seeing and hearing, the general answer is More Than Is Being Done Now. The timid, tepid, type explanation of how easy the new Oreos package is to open and close may work with new customers but is often not enough to do more than confuse old ones. If purchase decisions can be measured in milliseconds, so, too, can decisions about how a package opens. Typefaces that get lost on a busy label don't communicate in milliseconds.

While it's true that most shoppers don't base purchase decisions on ease-of-opening or other ease-of-use factors, some shoppers really do. In the cookie category, a lot of consumers say they have passed up or switched cookie brands because the package was too much trouble to open. That probably means there are a lot of would-be consumers who probably aren't going to notice that an improvement was made.

We asked shoppers if they had noticed Oreo's package improvement on the shelf. The only shopper who said she had, had a compelling reason to do so:

* "What timing! I was looking at Oreos and saying 'Never again' when I saw it. We had gone away for a week in May and picked up a package of Oreos. I had no scissors (kept them at home due to flying), so we tugged and tugged at the package. It reminded me of those cartoons where someone tries to rip open a bag of chips only to have the bag explode and the chips fly all over. That almost happened by the time we got the stupid package open."

For the most part, the sell-the-new-package news from Nabisco and other big brands is of the "let-the-improvement-speak-for-itself" variety. The Oreo packages work like a dream ONCE YOU SEE HOW. The new way is obvious to kids but confusing to adults, who don't always "get if at first glance, partly because of the variations in the product line happening at the same time as new packaging. Nabisco is using floor advertising to support its new package introduction, but observation suggests that the floor ads for cookie packages work best with the little kids, whose eyes are closest to the floor and don't need the help. They are one group that knows how to open any cookie package without instructions.

* "Having 6 grandchildren, I buy a LOT of Oreos! Always hated opening them because the Oreo bag would tear upon opening and I couldn't keep them fresh. The graphics are horrid. It takes a long time to figure out just what Oreo you're buying. Drives me nuts. Didn't even know they had changed to the reclosable flap. Just bought the cookies as usual, after standing there for 10 minutes trying to find which ones were just "double stuff' and not all these new combinations.

When it was time to open the package, my grandson pointed out to me that there was a new way to open and close. Duh! An Oreo is a chocolate cookie with white cream. Leave it alone! It's against the Law of Oreos to make all these other combos."