Alan Gilbody

Confectionery brands are never seen as being something that’s good for your teeth.

They come preloaded with the acceptance that these sweet treats are full of sugar and a bit of a once every so often indulgence.

Therefore, it would be pretty ridiculous to think of a confectionery brand moving into the toothpaste arena.

Toothpaste is already an incredibly confusing fixture with multiple variants, claims and formulations so introducing a confectionery brand into this mix would be a completely bonkers thing to do wouldn’t it?

That’s exactly what I thought when I saw this Chupa Chups brand extension into oral care. I imagine this is to get reluctant kids on board with scrubbing their teeth, however it feels more in line with that famous Colgate lasagna that was circulating a little while ago.

It’s a bold move indeed but brands seen as potentially causing one problem are not best placed to offer solutions to remedy this, especially if the overall architecture and asset usage is exactly the same.

The net result is a fairly unbelievable product line extension that misses out on important efficacy cues. Not to mention the potential damage this extension does to the product that inspired it.

Know your place and do that well or risk cannibalising your offer

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

The Ineos packs have had an update to the back design.

Regular readers of my posts may remember my thoughts on the previous iteration being to utilitarian and monolithic design across all sectors making it very confusing to navigate between different product ranges. Whilst the latest iteration has moved away from some of the functionality of it predecessor in both graphics and copy, it’s created new problems in an attempt to remedy the old.

The most important aspect to look at here is the logo. The black logo type on the red texture completely disappears in the supermarket environment. Taking a couple of steps back at the fixture renters it almost impossible to make out.

One of the things they struggled to communicate last time was the plant powered aspect. A functional and very utilitarian design tends to work against this more natural proposition.

The plant powered communication has now been relegated to a much smaller area on the base of the label. This makes it hard for not only this element of the back to stand out but with its look and feel still rooted in science and utilitarianism, for it also be believed by the consumer.

So whilst the new design may be a step in the right direction in softening the industrial and scientific approach, it still misses on a few of the aspects that the redesign desperately needed to win over new consumers.

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #Sustainability

Monolithic approaches to branding may be a great way to own the shelf, but it can make navigation across the portfolio tricky.

A Masterbrand solution is a great way to create a consistent uniform across all your product line. Successful branding is all about creating a relevant story and doing this in a consistent way.

That said, Being too rigid and too consistent can cause issues when consumers are trying to navigate different offers within your product portfolio.

Take a look at this example from Pasquier. On the brioche rolls packaging the architecture is consistent but the differentiation between different product types, with chocolate chips or without, is very minimal

The pack relies on quite a large window and because the product types are very similar at a glance when squished up against one another on a shelf a consumer could be confused Into picking up the wrong one.

In these situations, a better solution is often to introduce an element of flexibility into the brand architecture that allows for greater differentiation between variants without diluting the overall brand presence.

Own the shelf by all means, but never at the expense of navigation

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #Sustainability

Bright and bold may catch the eye but does your consumer know what it is?

I saw this brand in boots recently. It wasn’t in any particular section and was located on an aisle end so there was no immediate giveaway as to what the product was or indeed what particular need it would meet by its in-store positioning.

The same can be said for the actual pack design itself. If the product doesn’t have the benefit of being positioned next to the competition, the pack has a lot of the heavy lifting to do it to explain why you need it.

And that is where this particular colourful example fails.

Getting in close there is a hint to its contents whispered in very small type of the bottom of each of the packs.

Shout for attention by all means, but ensure this noise also contains why you are shouting in the first place

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #Sustainability

It’s possible to have too many layers on a design.

If you have a classic brand such as Carnation Milk, you can focus on the logo and key brand assets, and strip back all the other clutter, allowing its iconic status to lead.

This recent update by Carnation puts more weight on a serving suggestion to the detriment of some of the key brand assets and logo

I imagine the brief here was along the lines of ‘we need to show the consumers the variety of things this can be used for and its versatility as a product’. Now, whilst that may make sense for the back, when it’s incorporated on the front of pack, it tends to add busyness and encourage competing elements.

It’s more the language of what an own brand or a discounter competitor would do rather than a brand leader.

Remember, if you’re the brand leader, you’re the leader for a reason. This could be rooted in your history, your pedigree or the fact you are the brand consumers remember growing up with.

Don’t downplay this, be proud of your ability to stand out on your own merit, don’t feel the need to stuff lots of things on the front of the pack as this ultimately dilute why you are the leader in the first place.

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #business

Great brands have a story. Without a story, you behaving more like a private label product, and that makes it incredibly tricky to engage with your consumer.

It also makes it very tricky to qualify the higher price point than an own labelled product

I stumbled across this product at the weekend which suffers the very same. At first I thought this was a Sainsbury’s own label product.

It behaves very much like an own label product:

All of the elements such as the logo, the descriptor, and the iconography all compete for attention. They are all executed at the same size, equally space down the pack.

The naming felt generic and gimmicky rather than one that transported you somewhere.

The SRP was blank, this is a fantastic canvas that can be used to communicate the brand story, hold the brand message or contain a call to action.

The only taste cues, the coconut image was hidden behind this wall of blankness.

In short, it screamed private label.

When you are competing against the big players in any sector, it’s important that you catch and hold a consumers attention. You need to be intriguing enough to make them pick the pack up and explore all sides.

That’s when you know you’ve got them hooked.

Miss the story and miss this valuable connection.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

Wine in a can is a tricky concept to get your head around.

As I see it you have two possible approaches. You stay true to core wine language but introduce a new format and then explain and convince the consumer that this format meets a particular need.

The second route is that you do something very different, something challenging, something earth shattering, something that is new news and wakes the fixture up.

Now, you could say the example attached falls into that second camp, however it misses out on some fundamentals.

Even though it’s approached things in a challenging way, it’s not addressed some core consumer needs such as taste appeal and importantly for wine, quality.

Great wines are known for exquisite and complex taste profiles. That flavour story needs to come across in a clear and succinct way. Here the colours fall short. For example orange is not a good colour to cue rosé and the dirty brown doesn’t cue a robust red.

This could potentially be where the image picks up some of the slack however it tends to cue student fashion magazine rather than evoke a compelling story, as executed so well on 19 Crimes.

No matter how much you want to force differentiation always ensure core principles aren’t lost otherwise you’ve got a lot of convincing to do

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

You always need to ask why. Why do I need that?

If the packaging design doesn’t successfully communicate, what specific need of the consumer the product is meeting, the chances are you’re not going to convince the consumer to put it in their shopping basket.

Take this example from Dole. There is probably nothing more convenient than a piece of fruit. You can tell when it’s fresh, you can tell what it’s gone off, it’s got its own handy wrapper provided by nature and you know it’s healthy.

Plonk the same item in a plastic pot and you have a bit of challenge on your hand unless you convince the consumer what benefit you’ve added by doing that.

Consumers don’t buy products they buy solutions. Always make sure yours is obvious.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

The packaging provides clues to how the product works.

Strong colours cue dynamism, action, effectiveness and vibrancy whereas muted tones cue the opposite.

That’s never more true than in the laundry detergent aisle.

We are preconditioned to certain colours representing certain actions or certain end uses. if you introduce new colours into this arena, they had better be working for you rather than against you.

Have a look at this pack from Persil. Now, on first impression the washed out muddy colours cue fading. Not something you want from a wash.

Consumers need reassurance that the clothes they put into the washing machine are still going to look as good as new once they come out.

Faded colours work negatively here for two reasons. Firstly it looks as though colours may bleed or run whilst the muddy tones cue dirt and smudging. Completely the opposite of what you want from a laundry product!

That’s the semiotic part, there is also a practical part in-store to also consider. The white logo on this faded and muddy background tends to make the pack incredibly recessive and somewhat apologetic.

Remember the visual shortcuts provided by the pack are a window to the product benefit.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Some brands are associated with ceremony. The wedge of lime in the top of a bottle of Sol or Orangina’s shaking the bottle. These rituals create a connection with the brand. They dictate how the product is used and become powerful memory anchors.

Another of these iconic ceremonies was the Salt ‘n Shake blue bag. Hours would disappear rooting around the packet to find said blue bag before ripping it open and sprinkling the salt over the crisps. It was an important part of the whole experience. So important was this little blue envelope that Salt ‘n Shake integrated it into their logo on the front of the back.

I still remember once as a kid having a packet of crisps and finding two of these blue envelopes in it. I thought I’d struck Gold!

A couple of times a year thfind their way into the family shopping basket and it is always a nostalgic trip down memory Lane. Or so we we thought.

Upon opening a bag this weekend the iconic little blue bag had disappeared only to be replaced by something more akin to breaking bad than Salt ‘n Shake!

Not only had the blue bag being replaced, but the ability to find its transparent replacement was made even more difficult.

Although it is only a small detail in the whole brand it is so integral and important to the ceremony that if removed or altered, it changes the experience dramatically.

if you have a pack ritual that has reached iconic status never dilute it. Memory triggers warmth and trust.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging