TOEFL TPO -1 Speaking Task 1 Sample: A product’s packaging, the container it’s stored and sold in, is actually a very important part of the product and its marketing, so companies spend a lot of time deciding what kind of packaging to use. Sometimes, after a company has been selling a product for awhile, it may decide to change the product’s packaging, offer the same product in a new, redesigned container. Why would a company do this? Well, lets talk about two reasons. One reason a company might change their products packaging is in response to new technology, like the invention of better materials. As technology improves, new materials are invented and better ways of packaging products may emerge.
For instance, when milk was first being marketed in the United States, it was mostly sold in glass bottles, but this was expensive since glass costs a lot and is fragile. If you accidentally drop the glass bottle, it would break and make a mess. With the invention of plastic however, a new material became available that was cheaper and more durable because plastic didn’t break as easily as glass, so to take advantage of this new technology, some companies started selling milk in plastic containers. Ok, another reason a company might change a products packaging is to better compete with other companies; to make the packaging more competitive with the packaging of other products. Sometimes this is done by changing the size of the package. So, back to our milk example.
The bottles that milk were originally sold in were large. They were large containers, but now you also see milk being sold in small, portable containers that hold only single servings. Why this change to a smaller container? Well, because other competing companies producing beverages like juices, teas, or soft drinks were selling them in smaller, more portable containers that people could take to work with them or drink in the car. So to compete, milk companies also started selling milk in smaller, portable containers
Using points and examples from the lecture. Explain two reasons why a company might change a product's packaging. • LingoLeap