Branding

The toothpaste aisle is a confusing old fixture.

In order to command more shelf space with what is ostensibly a very small canvas, brands are increasingly introducing lots of new offerings.

This is potentially great news from a consumer point of view, however, it would only be successful if those brands can effectively differentiate their offers and match them to specific needs.

Have a look at this example from OralB. This is a small section of the fixture, there are in fact many more varieties from them that all suffer from a very similar issue.

What is it, and what does it do?

In this particular instance it’s unclear what one variety offers over the other, does it meet a particular need or is it just a different flavour alternative?

In fact, the naming strategy on one could be said to cannibalise the naming strategy on the other, if this one is advanced is the other one basic?

If you’re not clear with the consumer you’re not going to build trust with them. Ultimately, the consumer wants to know what need you are meeting. If you end up with two products potentially meeting the same need you only serve to cannibalise the offer.

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Be the brand that solves the problem rather than accentuates it.

When you have a limited canvas area, in order to get the brand name large and accessible, we often look at running the logo type vertically, as on a book spine.

This works in most instances as long as other elements of the communication work horizontally in order to make them accessible, especially if they are much smaller.

Here’s a great example of were this approach doesn’t work so successfully. Voltarol is a brand aimed at people with back and neck muscle pain, so there is some irony in providing an SKU where you have to tilt your head in order to read the information that’s on the pack!

Should you take this vertical approach, it’s also worth ensuring that the logo is visible above the SRP!

If you are a brand with empathy and therapy at the heart of your offering, you should always endeavour to show this and make it front of stage communication, rather than accentuate the problem they came to you for in the first place.

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Personality is important in branding.

Even more important is picking the correct personality for the type of product you’re trying to sell.

Your consumer will decide emotionally and justify rationally. Therefore ensuring that your story resonates and is relevant means you can create a connection.

Take this brand of bin liners for instance. Bin bags need to convey errrrrrr, well…….. oh yes, durability and convenience.

Anything that detracts from this will dilute this primary message.

‘A beast’ amongst all its traits is arguably scary first, angry second and strong way, way further down the list.

In fact as you can only see his head, the strength part is questionable as he may only be the same dimensions as Tom Cruise.

So, the moral of the story is choose your personality to match the character of your lead benefit, or end up with the B movie that consumers avoid. 

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A Lesson in Hierarchy and Clarity

I recently came across these immunity drinks and it summed up the pitfalls of getting hierarchy and clarity of information wrong on pack.

1. Brand Architecture:
If you are not a well established brand, your logo needs to punch on pack. It’s your opportunity to introduce yourself to the world, make it count and make it memorable.

2. Variant differentiation:
The products differentiation ‘recover’ vs ‘boost’ gets lost. When line extensions aren’t clearly defined, consumer decision-making becomes a guessing game.

2. Visual Hierarchy:
Large, eye-catching graphics are great, but not when they overshadow key information. Here, abstract shapes dominate while crucial details like benefits and functional differences take a back seat. Remember, in packaging design, size equals importance in the consumer’s eye.

3. Legibility of Benefits:
If your audience needs a magnifying glass to read your product’s strengths, you’re doing it wrong. Critical info like vitamin content should be front and centre, not hidden in fine print.

Prioritize information ruthlessly. Not everything can be or should be emphasized.

Never sacrifice legibility and accessibility of information for aesthetics.

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For food brands living in the supermarket freezer, there are two things that are of paramount importance to communicate.

Firstly, and most importantly is that it needs signal the brand and its benefit.

Secondly, it needs to convey taste appeal. The sort of taste appeal that makes you stop and go I want that!

The freezer space is a pretty daunting area, is dimly lit and in the summer months often suffers from products frosting over, therefore ensuring your communication is clear and immediate is incredibly important.

Take a look at this example from Linda McCartney. The use of white tends to look very cold, uninviting and almost clinical. In fact, the white is so recessive that the food shot, which is actually pretty good, is the first thing that jumps out.

Now you might think this is an advantage but it’s sort of got the hierarchy in completely the wrong order. The reason you need to cue brand first is because of all the inherent values that come with that brand.

Lead with the product shot first and you are straight into supermarket own brand territory.

I think that there is space for a bit of warmth adding to this pack design, something more inviting, more enticing and something that would ensure it doesn’t disappear into the barren wasteland that is the supermarket freezer! 

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We humans are quite simple things. We love to create patterns and draw comparisons to help us make sense of the world around us.

Show us something new and it will immediately evoke memories of something similar.

Take these new Nutella packs featuring characters. I saw this one and was immediately transported back to Mister Matey bubble bath from the 1980s!

Is that just me?

It creates quite an interesting challenge though. When trying to create something new, it’s inevitable that we will draw inspiration on things from the past. However, we need to be mindful that it’s the current brand that is front and foremost in the mind of the consumer, rather than what it was inspired by.

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I couldn’t resit the urge to open up one of those paper wine bottles. I thought I’d post it on here in case anybody was as interested as me as to what secrets lie within!

So, the pack consist of four separate components, a foil lined bag which is connected to a different plastic lug, a carton outer and a metal lid. Whilst the card rapper is recyclable, the foil liner isn’t. On top of that the plastic lug that is adhered to the foil liner will take some doing to separate and recycle as a separate component.

I read with interest on the pack itself about the reduced carbon footprint, but I have to say I’m not sure that I’m fully convinced because of the smorgasbord of multi-material gizmos!

Is this really better than glass environmentally and from a waste point of view when you factor in the full life cycle from creation to disposal? Would reusing packaging materials in a circular economy not be much more efficient?

#PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Sustainability, #Innovation

Absolut Vodka and Sprite have teamed up to make a ready drink cocktail.

Always great to see a partnership between brands, but I thought it worth pointing out this potential issue when printing on aluminium cans.

The print method used here doesn’t allow for a smooth vignette or transitions from one colour through to another.

This blend technique is something you see a lot in lithographic printing and works really well on carton or paper, its much less effective however on aluminium cans.

From a distance these vignettes work really well but when you look at them close-up, you can see the dot gain created by the print technique which tends to cheapen the overall feel.

Traditionally on carbonates, many brands have got round this by making the dots much larger and emphasising the fizz or by using large areas of solid colour so as to avoid this issue altogether.

Always ensure the pack works as well close up as it does from a distance, especially if quality is a core value.

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Always try to inspire the consumer.

I saw these in a local store recently and its fair to say, steamed brown lentils are never going to be an easy sell-in!

Therefore, it’s really important to try and find ways to inspire the consumer with regards how they can use your product in tasty and adventurous ways.

Normally this is the role of a meal shot but budgets often don’t stretch that far so its important to look at other pack components in order to drive taste.

Take this pack for example. On here there are 3 areas that could be used better, to solve this problem of ‘taste appeal’.

1. Colour combinations
Interesting colour combinations are a great way to cue flavour, in particular origins, without the need for a meal shot.

2. Narrative
If you can’t introduce imagery, then using the language of the restaurant menu is a great way to excite and drive taste.

3. Brand logo
Building food cues into logos, not only solves the problem of appetite appeal, but enhances consumer recognition.

Remember, the consumer is looking to a brand for guidance expertise and inspiration.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

The world of plant-based foods has taken a bit of a pounding over the last couple of months.

Sales and consumer interest have both waned in the face of increase prices and market saturation of products.

Has the time come to take a slightly different approach with plant-based offerings?

I saw this example, from GU in a store the other day. Now, GU is underpinned by unrivalled, throw caution to the wind, indulgence. This indulgence doesn’t seem to translate that well when plant based becomes the hero of the pack.

It also means that important brand cues are sacrificed making it look like a product from another brand, in this case, Activia.

Introducing sub ranges is a great way of building excitement in a portfolio but it should not be at the expense of your core brand values, especially when your product is so yummy!

There an argument here that plant based may work better as more of an endorsement, rather than a hierarchal lead on pack.

#Plantbased, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #BrandDesign