The package a snack comes in has to do more than keep the pieces from going everywhere. It has to grab a shopper’s eye, share information about the product inside, relate the brand’s story, and more, to convince them to purchase. Hitting all of those marks requires thought and effort. To learn more about what can help a packaging design or makeover click, we connected with Sean Bisceglia, CEO of consulting outfit PV&COHO.

Jenni Spinner: Could you please tell me a bit about you—your career leading up to this point, the work you do for your clients regularly, and what you enjoy most about your work? 

Sean Bisceglia: My dad was an entrepreneur, and growing up, I witnessed how his flexibility allowed him to prioritize what mattered most and achieve a work-life balance — long before it was a common conversation. He often told me, “You don’t make any money working for someone else,” and that advice deeply shaped my approach to business. 

From an early age, I loved creating value and turning ideas into reality. At eight, I launched my first business, selling seashells on the boardwalk in Cape May. By high school, I became more strategic and started a catering company. In college, I noticed the distance separating many students and parents during major holidays, which inspired me to start a care package business. 

Although I was clearly on an entrepreneurial path, I wasn’t sure how it would translate into the professional world. After graduating, I took a job in advertising, immersing myself in every aspect of the business. A few years later, my friends and I had the opportunity to buy the company, TFA Communications, which propelled me into leadership. It was an exciting time — we grew the business into a $200 million revenue-generating entity and eventually sold it to Leo Burnett, making me the youngest executive vice president in the company's history. 

That experience opened new doors. Companies began seeking me out to create value within their businesses. I acquired CPRi with William Blair Capital and drove 200% growth before selling it to Aquent in 2005. I then founded Talent Drive, which became the largest national resume aggregator. In 2011, I co-founded Scout Exchange, scaling it into the largest recruitment marketplace in the country. After its successful acquisition by Aquent in 2018, I became an Operating Partner at Sterling Partners and later served as CEO at Curion. During my tenure at Curion, I transformed the product insights industry, growing revenue from $21 million to $60 million in just three years, achieving an average annual EBITDA growth rate of 80% year over year. 

Over the past 25 years, I’ve led six different companies, including my current role as CEO of PV&COHO. In July 2024, an investor group and I acquired Product Ventures, a leading agency focused on packaging innovation and renovation. This acquisition marked the first step in our goal to develop a full-scale, idea-to-shelf packaging solution. Building on this vision, in March 2025, Product Ventures acquired Coho Creative, a Cincinnati-based agency specializing in brand strategy, design, and innovation. This strategic move united two industry leaders, creating PV&COHO, a powerhouse capable of delivering unparalleled end-to-end solutions for CPG clients, guiding them from inception and ideation to a market-ready product. My passion remains identifying diamonds in the rough and transforming them into powerhouses through innovation and disruption, constantly pushing boundaries in the packaging industry to create more impactful and sustainable solutions for global brands. 

JS: Can you talk about some of the things that make a snack or bakery product package effective? I know that could be a mouthful, but if you could share an overview, that would be great. 

SB: An effective snack or bakery product package needs to capture attention instantly, clearly communicate its brand and benefits, and build trust with the consumer. It's a blend of strong visual appeal, functional design, emotional resonance, and increasingly, transparent communication about sustainability, all tailored to the right audience. 

JS: Then, once a package or prototype has been created, what are some of the ways in which brands typically work to evaluate whether that package has a good chance of resonating with consumers? 

SB: Once a package or prototype has been created, brands absolutely must put it through its paces to see if it truly resonates with consumers. It's not enough to design something we think is great; the ultimate judge is the person standing in the aisle. 

Brands typically start by getting direct consumer feedback. This means showing the package to their target audience and asking specific questions. This can be through qualitative research, like small focus groups, where they can dive deep into why people feel a certain way about the design, the colors, or even the material. Then, they layer on quantitative research, larger surveys that provide statistically significant data on things like purchase intent, overall appeal, and how well the package communicates key messages. 

Crucially, brands need to evaluate how the package performs in context. That means testing it in environments that mimic real-world shopping, whether it's a simulated store shelf or even an in-home usage test where consumers interact with the package in their daily lives. This helps uncover practical issues like ease of opening or resealing, and how it stands out (or doesn't) against competitors. At PV&COHO, our methodologies are specifically designed to provide these comprehensive, data-driven insights across the entire consumer journey, ensuring the packaging optimizes the consumer experience and truly drives competitive advantage. 

JS: Please share the particulars of qualitative testing, and quantitative testing, of a package—what types of insights does each offer, and not offer? 

From my perspective, and as we often discuss at PV&COHO, both qualitative and quantitative testing are absolutely critical, but they each offer distinct types of insights and have their own limitations. You need both to get the full picture. 

Qualitative testing, for us, is all about diving deep into the 'why.' When we bring consumers into, say, a focus group or even one-on-one interviews, we're not just looking for a 'like' or 'dislike.' We're trying to uncover their emotions, their thought process, how they feel about a package. Does it evoke a sense of nostalgia? Does it feel premium? Is it intuitive to open? It’s fantastic for really understanding the nuances of consumer perception and interaction, those subjective insights that tell you the story behind the data. The power here is in observing behavior, body language, and getting rich, descriptive feedback. What it doesn't offer, however, is statistical significance. You can't confidently project the opinions of a small group of people onto the entire market. It's directional, not definitive, and it's costly and time-consuming for large-scale application. 

Now, quantitative testing is where we get our measurable, data-driven outcomes. This is about validating those qualitative insights on a larger scale. We're talking statistically significant sample sizes that allow us to confidently say, 'Yes, 75% of consumers prefer this design for ease of opening,' or 'This new structure drives X% higher purchase intent.' Quantitative data is essential for making those high-stakes business decisions, especially for billion-dollar brands where every percentage point matters. It helps us prove the ROI of a packaging change. What traditional online quantitative tools often don't offer, as I've highlighted before, is the full, real-world, tactile interaction. They might give you great data on visual appeal or label design, but they fall short on evaluating the physical structure, ergonomics, and those crucial 'moments of truth' like holding, opening, and emptying the package in a real-life scenario. You also run into issues with a skills gap if the data isn't presented in an actionable way for designers and engineers. 

This is precisely why we've focused on developing methodologies that address these gaps. It's about combining the rigor and validation from sensory research, which traditionally focuses on the product, and applying it to packaging. This allows us to get robust, quantitative data on the structural and ergonomic aspects of packaging, not just the visual. By integrating online scalability with in-person, hands-on testing in controlled environments like a Central Location Test (CLT) or an In-Home Usage Test (IHUT), we bridge that gap. We ensure the data is actionable, meaning we tell the story with data in a way that designers can directly apply to innovation, ensuring both emotional resonance and functional performance are backed by solid numbers 

JS: Why is it important to achieve the right balance between quant and qual, as you say? 

SB: Although packaging is undoubtedly about creating an emotional connection with consumers, quantitative data is critical for making informed, high-stakes decisions, particularly for billion-dollar brands. 

Management cannot justify significant investments or packaging changes based solely on qualitative insights, such as a small group of consumers saying, “That’s cool.” Instead, decisions require measurable, validated, and robust data to ensure confidence and credibility in the outcomes. Quantitative data also forms the foundation for evaluating the potential return on investment of packaging changes. By providing metrics on consumer interaction with packaging structure and usability, brands can make data-driven choices that balance emotional appeal with financial impact. 

Emotional connections are essential for engaging consumers, but quantitative data ensures the functional and structural elements of packaging support those emotions in a practical, scalable, and profitable way. Qualitative data helps capture emotional resonance, but quantitative data validates those insights, measures their impact, and empowers CPG companies to make confident decisions that drive long-term brand success. 

JS: Can you share some of the reasons for (or maybe the benefits of) in-person testing vs. online? 

SB: In-person testing offers unique benefits that online methods simply can't replicate. It provides rich, real-time feedback and the ability to observe non-verbal cues. When consumers physically interact with a package, we gain nuanced observations about their user experience, understanding things like how intuitively they open it or how it feels in their hand. This is where our rapid prototyping capabilities really shine, allowing us to quickly create and test physical models, making iterative refinements on the spot and getting immediate, tangible feedback. This also helps build rapport with participants and allows us to address any immediate questions or concerns they might have. 

Online testing, by contrast, excels in scalability and cost-efficiency. It provides broader reach and faster data collection, making it suitable for large-scale studies and identifying trends or assessing visual appeal. However, it significantly lacks the tactile insights necessary to truly evaluate packaging usability and functionality, which is a major gap. 

Ultimately, a hybrid approach, combining online scalability with in-person sensory and usability testing, offers the most comprehensive insights for packaging validation. 

JS: Once a brand has received insights from qual and or quan testing, how do they sift through the info and incorporate feedback to optimize? 

SB: To effectively sift through qualitative and quantitative insights and optimize a product, brands should integrate both data types, analyze them in conjunction, and translate findings into actionable steps for product development. This involves prioritizing insights based on their impact and feasibility, creating a feedback loop to continuously improve the product based on user feedback.  

JS: Do you have any last words of advice? 

SB: My best advice for brands in the snack and bakery space, and frankly, across all CPG, is to never stop innovating, and always put the consumer first. The market is moving faster than ever, consumer expectations are constantly evolving, and what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. Don't be afraid to challenge the status quo, even on packaging that seems to be performing well. There’s always an opportunity to optimize for a better consumer experience, greater sustainability, or increased efficiency. 

Also, truly embrace a data-driven approach, but don't lose sight of the human element. The best packaging solutions come from understanding both the hard metrics and the emotional connection. Work with partners who can provide those end-to-end capabilities, from design and engineering to robust consumer learning. It’s about being agile, informed, and relentlessly focused on delivering value to your consumers, because ultimately, their satisfaction is what drives success and growth. 

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