Alan Gilbody

Many of the supermarkets are now creating mini brands in order to hold their product portfolio.

They are moving from the traditional own-brand pack format to the mock brand, in order to emulate what many of the discounters are doing.

Whilst this clearly begins to work from a storytelling point of view and adds a bit more ‘value’, it’s interesting to note how some of the multiples are trying to stretch these pastiche brands into multiple sectors.

Last year, Sainsbury’s launched Stamford Street Co. across many of their own brand foods and have since followed this trend by moving into into a personal care sector.

This raises a huge question mark over how this story can flex into other segments. In Sainsbury’s instance, whilst this may work from the food storytelling point of view, and conjures up an idea of artisan street food, it works less well when it moves into areas, such as mouthwash.

This brand stretch works best if the brands are associated or linked in specific categories. Wouldn’t a personal care equivalent of Stamford Street Co. be better?

What are your thoughts?

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

Your brand cannot rely on authenticity alone.

In a supermarket world of ‘own-brand value’ where many of the products borrow heavily from the leading brands its important to find a way to differentiate your offer.

It’s clear that in this area, many of the big brands have a lot of catching up to do if they are trying to own authenticity as a cornerstone of the brand.

That’s the same, whether it’s authentic recipes, authentic ingredients, or relying on provenance.

A quick look at some of the own brand offerings, such as this Sainsbury’s curry highlight at point.

Authenticity was once the go to for the big brands but is now fairly ubiquitous across the category.

Many of the own brands have moved from simplistic packs to put more of a focus on ‘made to an authentic recipe’ or ‘inspired by’ specific regions and use well crafted, appetising food shots.

Trying to be authentic alone to differentiate just doesn’t cut it anymore.

It’s never be more important to have a credible and compelling brand story to help differentiate you from some of these own brand offerings and the ‘expected’ look of the fixture.

Consumers do not buy buy features, they only buy benefits.

#PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #BrandDesign, #Marketing

A memorable brand name is absolute gold dust.

It’s what people use to ask for your product and also what consumers use to recommend your product

Therefore it was quite strange to see this new product on shelf.

Now clearly, it’s a margarine or spread of some type, or that’s the conclusion that I came to based on its location in the fixture (just call me Sherlock). But what is it called?

The name on the lid is different to the name on the side of the pack, or hang on, maybe it’s not a name, it’s a benefit?!

Your brand name can be the most memorable part of your product for a consumer. It’s a fantastic combination of graphical signposting and (verbal) sonic branding.

A successful brand name is part of a wider design ecosystem. Consistency is key. The tone of voice and replication needs to be consistent across the whole of the ecosystem.

If I don’t know what to ask for, how do I know what it is?

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

A client recently wanted to know why they needed a brand guidelines document, so I thought I’d echo that conversation here.

Your brand guidelines are the rulebook for your entire brand. They offer a wealth of information to ensure consistency across all consumer touch points.

Brands that can successfully manage consistency have been proven to perform better and have higher recall from consumers. Consistency and repetition is key.

Brand engagement needs to happen between five and seven times for consumers to remember you.

Brand guidelines should provide both a consistent direction, so that executions borrow from the same set of principles, and also allow flexibility so as not to to constrain further creativity.

Also, always ensure there is only one version of a brand logo and packaging artwork in circulation.
Having one agency as the library and gatekeepers to manage this is always the most efficient way to ensure consistency.

A robust brand guideline document will ensure that your messaging is consistent across all touch, points and across all assets.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

There seems to be a little bit of a buzz around ketones at the moment.

For those that don’t know, this is an alcohol alternative, which promises ‘all the buzz but without the booze’.

Ketones are a type of alcohol that are metabolised in a completely different way in the body. As it lacks ethanol (as you would find in alcoholic drinks), it allegedly breaks down into a less toxic by product, providing the kick from an alcoholic drink, but without the subsequent hangover!

Quite a promise!

With new sectors comes the requirement for a new level of consumer education. If you are creating a whole new category, then there is a great opportunity to create a whole new set of rules.

This story is a lot to try and get across on the pack as per the example below, its executed more like a hard seltzer product. Therefore, it’s always going to look ‘alcoholic’.

I wonder if this would’ve been better approached creating a slightly less aggressive tone of voice in order to communicate its apparently less aggressive outcome!

What do you all think?

#PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #BrandDesign, #Innovation

It’s the wrong way round!

We’ve had a few projects recently where we have questioned the orientation of packs with the client.

Often, packs which are better suited to being landscape, are merchandised vertically (as in the examples attached), so they fit into SRP’s at the fixture.

This isn’t always the best orientation however, as by having tall, slim packs, you have very narrow canvas to create large branding areas.

Often, it’s better to flip these round, like on the confectionery fixture to have more of a landscape orientation and get the brand logo, bigger.

What you may lose out on in facings, you will often increase in standout.

#PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #BrandDesign, #Marketing

Escher, was famed for his ‘mindbendingly’, bizarre 3-D puzzle illustrations that made no sense.

Interestingly, that’s who I thought of when I saw the packaging design for this new product launch from Toblerone.

The famous triangle has been morphed into a ‘wonky pyramid’ in order to create the pack, architecture and mimic the product.

Also the brand logo has been cropped and intersected.

It caught my eye, that’s for sure, but I can’t quite work out whether something feels uncomfortable with the layout or if that’s the whole point.

Toblerone chocolate will no longer feature the Matterhorn mountain peak on its packaging due to marketing restrictions relating to the use of Swiss iconography. Therefore, the need to protect the integrity of the triangle should be paramount for the brand.

I wonder whether the triangle can adapt into a ‘wonky pyramid’ and if so if this is recognisable enough to influence the pack architecture at all?

What do you guys think?

#PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #BrandDesign, #Innovation

Brands situated at the impulse fixture, by the tills have a lot of hard work to do.

At this point shoppers, have normally filled the trolleys with everything they need so you’ve got some convincing to do to persuade them that their shop is not yet complete!

The first challenge here is grabbing shoppers attention as they bury their heads in their phones whilst queuing to pay.

I love this example from Graze, which is simplicity personified. The packs feature only a large logotype, a combination of two colours and a simple window through to the product. Punchy and impactful. In fact you can see the difference it makes next to one of their older packs in the shot (which I’ve only just realised was there!)

Introducing taste appeal, and a reason to believe with such a stripped back delivery is always a challenge, but this combination of informality and natural taste appeal (through colour combos and logotype) has been executed perfectly.

It’s not how much you have to say, but often saying a little, well, that makes you more impactful.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

Summer often sees an increase in the amount of on-pack promotions.

One theme I’ve noticed with these this year is a significant increase in overall portion of the pack being used for these promotions

Whilst they clearly work from a consumer engagement point of view (everybody loves a freebie!) they are often detrimental to the brand itself.

Just to expand on this, it vastly reduces the amount of branding area on the pack and creates a scenario where all pack elements have equal weighting as opposed to a clear hierarchy.

Take this example from Home Pride were they are offering tickets for Matilda.

Many of the core brand assets have been squished into half of the pack whilst the promotion takes over the remaining half.

This has a huge impact on the overall pack architecture as we now have many elements competing for attention.

Promotions have always been a part of pack design but they should never overtake or be more impactful than the brand.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Advertising

Summer often sees an increase in the amount of on-pack promotions.

One theme I’ve noticed with these this year is a significant increase in overall portion of the pack being used for these promotions

Whilst they clearly work from a consumer engagement point of view (everybody loves a freebie!) they are often detrimental to the brand itself.

Just to expand on this, it vastly reduces the amount of branding area on the pack and creates a scenario where all pack elements have equal weighting as opposed to a clear hierarchy.

Take this example from Home Pride were they are offering tickets for Matilda.

Many of the core brand assets have been squished into half of the pack whilst the promotion takes over the remaining half.

This has a huge impact on the overall pack architecture as we now have many elements competing for attention.

Promotions have always been a part of pack design but they should never overtake or be more impactful than the brand.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Advertising