Alan Gilbody

As a parent, when you’re buying baby food, you need to be reassured of two things. Firstly, that it’s healthy and secondly that the little bundle of joy is going to enjoy eating the stuff!

In many ways, it’s like buying pet food, the end user doesn’t really have much input in what you choose!

Therefore, it’s solely down to the parent to both find it on shelf and also feel reassured.

Herein lies the problem for the example below. The rather muted colours in the background, the product and the typography mean that at a distance there is very little shelf stand out in what is quite a busy graphical fixture.

Tthe second reason is a result of the first I’ve mentioned above. This washed out feel removes pretty much all of the appetite appeal. A double whammy!

If everyone else is being ‘excitable’, your choice is to either follow suit or better still, do something very different. If you decide to opt for the latter, then make sure it’s not so calm it becomes quiet.

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #BrandDesign

Whilst a monolithic approach to branding may be a great way to own the shelf 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, #Branding

Getting the colour combination just right can be the difference between evoking appetite appeal and putting the consumer off.

There’s sometimes a scenario where you can’t present a food shot on a pack and you have to rely on colour to cue flavour, build appetite appeal and aid navigation across broad ranges.

In these instances the choice of colour or more often the combination of colours on pack can make or break it success.

Have a look at this example from purveyors a fine food Leon. Now, here they have a destination shot so appetite appeal is satisfied, it’s actually a really really lovely shot as well.

The issue here though is that that lovely scrummy food shot isn’t supported by a combination of colourways that help build appetite appeal. In fact, these zingy colours may be more at home on confectionery rather than authentically flavoured meal solutions.

It’s often great to do something a little different and grab attention, but make sure that if you’re trying to convey Taste, all of your assets are finely tuned to support this

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

Stripping back the clutter on pack is a great way to focus on a core benefit, but can this go too far?

Have a look at this pack from HG that could never be accused of bombarding the consumer with too much information.

The question is, is it too stripped back? Would a consumer know exactly what the main benefit of the product is? Is it clear to a consumer why this is better than the competition?

Arguably all of the relevant information is on the front face of the pack but because it is so small becomes inaccessible.

This is accentuated somewhat through the illustration. If the illustration can take up so much of a pack, then it’s much better to show a bit more detail so that your core messages is less ambiguous.

The simplistic style utilised here is more often seen in iconography were lots of information has to be conveyed in a very small area.

It also renders the style a little bit cartoon like which can undermine professionalism and efficacy of the product.

Stripping back the amount of visual clutter on a pack always helps, but this should never be at the expense of the products core message. 

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Branding, #Design

If you are launching something new, always make sure that consumers know what it is, and what it’s for.

Have a look at this new product launched from Fairy. Quite a pretty looking design in a snazzy bespoke spray trigger. The question is, what is it?

It proudly proclaims, “skip the soak“, then shows icons of a pan and a dishwasher and a hob surface. Now, I consider myself fairly intelligent but I was bamboozled by this one!

Do I spray it in the dishwasher or on the products that are in the dishwasher? Also I don’t understand the relevance to ‘skip the soak’ when it comes to surface cleaning? Surely that’s a different thing?

Confusion ruled based on the naming strategy and choice of supporting icons.

For me it ‘skips’ two key fundamental points. What need is it meeting and how do I use it?

If you are launching a new product, you have to be clear to the consumer why this has been missing from their lives for so long, if you add to the confusion rather than solving a problem you’re actually creating a new one

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

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

I saw this brand in boots yesterday. 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, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

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, #Branding, #Packaging

Here is an unusual pack that two has two specific challenges.

Whilst it arguably grabs attention, it’s not immediately clear what it is. On flow wrap bags it’s always tricky to put the brand logo on the top part of the pack near the crimp as this is the area of maximum distortion.

The net result is that it gets squished and as you can see here, becomes unrecognisable

Most flow wrap bags utilise the centre part the pack as that has much less distortion so maintains the integrity of whatever logo is positioned there.

And that brings me neatly onto the second key problem here, Malibu?! It’s very much the first thing you see or can at least recognise which then makes you think why are Malibu doing a popcorn based snack brand!?

This strange hierarchy on the flow wrap bag then creates quite a bit of confusion. Sure, some people may be intrigued enough to pick it up but it should always lead with the main brand first and the collaboration as a support.

Being loud and brave may grab attention but you have to do more than catch the eye, you have to break through confusion, encourage the consumer to trust you, that builds credibility, then they will pick it up.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

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

The first questions any consumer would ask is what is it, what does it do and why do I need it?

If those things aren’t clear, the consumer will quickly move onto a brand that they do understand.

Have a look at this example from Curél, it professes to be Japanese skincare, but the overall look and feel is probably more French or Swiss.

This means that it misses out on a great opportunity to introduce something new and innovative to the sector.

It’s also not immediately evident what benefit the product offers and what it’s used for.

Is it for hair? Is it for skin? Or is it for feeding Koi carp in a fish tank?

These are clearly really important things to get across and should be front and centre of every pack.

Your communication should be as clear and unblemished as the skin it treats.

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Branding, #Design