Branding

When your brand aims to communicate ‘goodness,’ striking the right balance between projecting health credentials and driving taste appeal is crucial.

If the packaging leans too heavily towards functional attributes, the product may come across as artificial and lacking in taste appeal. Conversely, an excessive emphasis on taste can undermine the perceived healthiness.

The packaging example from For Goodness Shakes below, illustrates this challenge. The simple shapes and primary colours give a basic, unsophisticated impression, while the small brand logo lacks authority. Although promoting ‘great taste’ helps counter the notion of compromising on flavour, the overall feel suggests that choosing a high-protein, zero-sugar option necessitates sacrificing taste.

Successful branding in this space requires harmonising health and taste messaging. The packaging should exude quality and indulgence, conveying that consumers can enjoy a delicious, guilt-free treat without compromising on nutrition or flavor.

To stand out, be the brand that offers both.

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Branding, #Design

Always be confident with the branding, even with more premium offerings.

Confidence communicates to the consumer that you know what you’re doing and that they are going to be happywith their choice.

Be recessive and the overall look tends to feel somewhat apologetic

Have a look at this example from ‘oop norf’ purveyors of fabulous food, Booths. There is no denying these are quality products but to a new consumer the design says anything but.

The logo is incredibly recessive with the background almost taking over the full pack. Interestingly, the dishes are tilted so that you see them from the side hiding much of the yummy produce.

Also, and this is a bit of a psychological trick for consumer, you should always make the food look like it’s been placed in front of them on a table rather than the side profile. Otherwise it’s going to appear like you sat at the table on a very small chair looking longingly at the side of the plate!

If your product is great then present it confidently and your consumer will be reassured.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

Woah woah! Slow down! One thing at a time

Some packs bombard you with messaging and it can be too muck to take in.

Packs become arduous and challenging to decode with important information getting lost.

Have a look at this from the tinned powerhouse, Princes. It is quite literally information overload.

So much so that the brand gets lost and multiple claims and benefits jostle for the consumers attention.

What should be an easy to decode canvas turns into a pound shop window!

Consumers only have about 5-7 seconds to scan the shelf and make a decision. Overload them with information and they’ll look elsewhere.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

Pet food is a curious area.

Clearly, as humans we are not intended to be the end consumer so making it look appetising can be quite a strange thing to get your head around.

That said your pet is like one of the family, so you want them to enjoy what they are eating. So what is important, is to make it look, feel and appear as though it is food. Good food. Nom nom type of food!

Most of the brands in the space do this well, but there are the odd ones, such as the brand below, that seem to not follow any of the necessary rules.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes challenging rules can be a great way to stand, out but it’s important you still play some sector rules in order to encourage purchase.

Forthglade appears more like a product from the gardening sector. The stripped back industrial feel seems more at home with products that promise, healthy lawn or a clean patio rather than a healthy pet!

Break the rules by all means, but remember to follow category cues as well, otherwise you risk not convincing the consumer to make a switch from their usual brand.

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Branding, #Design

One of the first and most obvious things a brand needs to communicate to a consumer, is ‘what am I’?.

In the case of infant milk, it also needs to build reassurance and trust with the, probably very anxious new parent!

At first sight, these may look more like something in a paint aisle. Believe it or not, it’s infant milk.

Getting the balance between function and emotion is incredibly important on these types of product, one step, too far in either direction tends to dilute the other direction.

Always remember your audience and their needs. If these needs aren’t met, the consumer will quickly find a replacement.

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Design, #Branding

A question for you. What is it that first stands out on this SRP?

Is it the brand logo? Is it plant based? Is it the colour or possibly the product descriptor?

Possibly none of the above, in fact it’s safe to say that it’s incredibly confusing as to what lies within!

The pack design and the SRP should work in synergy. They should work as a coherent design system that allows immediate recognition and instant decoding by the consumer.

Cover over the brand logo on the pack and the system is clearly not optimised.

Care should always be taken to ensure that a robust design system is created that allows all of these components to work together. That’s what builds recognition and stronger brand recall.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

One thing that functional snacks often forget is taste appeal.

Taste is often compromised in favour of dialling up the functional benefit and when the competition in this sector in increasing exponentially, taste credentials can be your best friend and key differentiator.

Take a look at this example from Grenade. From memory, Grenade was one of the first functional protein snack launches, but whilst the competition have moved in favour of increased health benefits, Grenade has been firmly stuck in its energy laden past.

It simply doesn’t scream yummy. The product shot is far too small to make out any of the textured detail and looks incredibly flat and ‘manufactured’

This has always tended to make it feel like the most artificial option when in fact it’s actually a high-quality product.

But it’s not just the taste appeal that it lacks. If the main benefit is high protein and lower sugar, it’s incredibly important to convey to the consumer exactly how much protein you’re giving them in a clear and succinct way.

#Design, #food, #Marketing, #Packaging

All that glitters isn’t necessarily gold!

Managing print on shimmering holographic substrates can be tricky. It needs to be approached in a different way as the background can tend to take over from the foreground.

Have a look at this option from Colgate. Whilst the holographic foil may add quality credentials, it can overpower the most important bits of messaging.

This isn’t helped if the comms on the pack is all the same size and competing for attention!

Treat every canvas individually. What may work on white cartonboard may need to be approached very differently on surfaces that shimmer in the supermarket lighting.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

New Year, a new start and it’s time for brands to take a common sense approach with lots of their packaging solutions.

It’s especially important to put an end to greenwashing with the packaging as consumers to be frank, are rightly getting fed up of it!

Those of you familiar with my posts will know my opinion on bottled water so it’s no surprise the example below is a bit of a red rag to a bull!

Bottling or canning water in my opinion is possibly the biggest con to a consumer. This tends to get amplified when this prepackaged naturalness is encased in plastic film lined card boxes with a plastic closure to boot!

Hopefully 2025 is the year that consumers finally push back and say no more to this sort of greenwashing! Bring on the common sense!

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #Sustainability

Trigger spray packaging is known for it’s really awkward canvas. There’s a lot of important info to try on in an awkward and tiny area.

Many brands look to extend this canvas by using tags or pop over covers on the top of the trigger spray itself.

This example below, however, used a sticker directly onto the top of the tray. Yes, a sticker! This meant that many of the packs on the shelf were crinkled and stuck back on themselves.

For a household fragrance product, looking tatty is the last thing you want to do!

It’s always much better to put the most salient pieces of information on the pack itself as otherwise it may appear less an integral part and more and afterthought.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging