Branding

Never waste space on pack .

Launching a brand into a supermarket is incredibly difficult process. Once you are in there, you have to do everything in your power to get the consumer to see you and understand you.

It’s an opportunity to tell the consumer a story and explain why your product best matches their needs.

This space is a premium so why waste it? Have a look at this pack from Toilet Duck. Is often difficult to see the area behind a blister pack, it can often be very difficult canvass to work with. That said, bold statements, colour, texture and punchy iconography is perfect for these awkward areas so that the pack visible from a distance.

Leaving that real estate blank makes the pack look unfinished and misses out on a golden opportunity to talk to your consumer.

You’ve paid for the space, never waste it.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

We often have challenges in fitting information on the back of pack. But when there is an abundance of room, there is no reason for text to be so small you can’t read it.

Have a look at this example with my hand as context

Consumers pick packs up in store. They read them. They explore them before purchasing. If you are selling products that require steps and stages for it to be used, your back of pack should always be accessible

Miss out on the legibility and what is bought for convenience will be seen as anything but.

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If you cast the glance at this pack on shelf, you’d be hard-pressed to know Which brand it was and what the product offering was.

The packaging doesn’t use any distinctive brand assets, the logo is executed at a similar size other components and the type and communication is difficult to discern on a busy supermarket shelf.

Is strange to think that the biggest name in energy drinks doesn’t use its distinctive checkboard asset on it multitude of different flavour offerings.

There was a time when it was the only energy drink in the market but there are so many competitors now, that establishing a set of assets that you use consistently across the range is almost a must.

Never be complacent, never assume that consumers are going to seek you out. Consumers are like magpies, we like shiny new things. We like intrigue and we like adventure.

Disappear into the background in the background support you may stay.

#Marketing, #Design, #Sustainability, #Packaging

If you cast the glance at this pack on shelf, you’d be hard-pressed to know Which brand it was and what the product offering was.

The packaging doesn’t use any distinctive brand assets, the logo is executed at a similar size other components and the type and communication is difficult to discern on a busy supermarket shelf.

Is strange to think that the biggest name in energy drinks doesn’t use its distinctive checkboard asset on it multitude of different flavour offerings.

There was a time when it was the only energy drink in the market but there are so many competitors now, that establishing a set of assets that you use consistently across the range is almost a must.

Never be complacent, never assume that consumers are going to seek you out. Consumers are like magpies, we like shiny new things. We like intrigue and we like adventure.

Disappear into the background in the background support you may stay.

#Marketing, #Design, #Sustainability, #Packaging

If you are promising your consumer success then capturing that emotion, that excitement is imperative

If however you present it back as here like a GCSE biology textbook to the consumer that excitement will be swapped out for a general foreboding and feeling of hard work. That feeling you could only get on a Sunday evening when you realise you’ve forgotten to do your homework as the end credits for Antiques Roadshow roll up. 

Too much text or copy can be daunting for consumers. They simply won’t read it. The back of pack should, well, stay on the back of pack not creep around and take over the front.

Always focus on the benefit to the consumer. What will this offer me when I use it? What will it look like, what should I expect? 

The last thing that consumer wants to see is a variety of staged photos of said product empty. 

Show them the magic, the transformation and what success looks like

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It’s not just competitors you have to deal with on shelf. Sometimes it’s the shelves themselves.

Fussy is a great product. But it isn’t the loudest. That combined with small canvases means it’s often overlooked by consumers or hidden by the fixtures and fittings.

It’s always worth looking at your product in its competitive environment and designing with that in mind.

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Here is a section of the supermarket that can always look a bit of a mess.

Transparent labels on 2 L transparent bottles have never really sat well for me. As well as the obvious recyclability issues it tends to cheapen the look of the product.

I can see how on a design visual the brightly coloured liquid coming through the transparent label could provide a strong backdrop for the branding however the real world application of this is anything but.

These transparent labels tend to knock back the coloured liquid and mute the colour giving a very different level of transparency to that the bottle provides.

The various ridges and channels in the bottom itself under this label, then provide another element of business and distortion. The overall effect looks a bit of a mess and as you can see in the image when you take a step back on shelf there is no impact at all.

Given the obvious sustainability issues and the fact that this compromise doesn’t offer a better branding solution, you have to wonder why this method is chosen at all

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We’ve all been there, that state of complete confusion in the hotel where you have no idea if it’s shampoo, or shower gel.

Just when you think you’ve worked out, the following day you forget and start to wash your hair with hand cream!

Have a look at the attached, this is a particularly bad example. The product type is listed on the bottom of the label in very small type. The colours don’t help much either.

Uniformity has its appeal, it’s great for a brand to contain products that immediately work as a family however this can lead to issues when the consumer is trying to navigate within the range as per the example attached.

The Goldilocks zone is somewhere in between, consistency with clear differentiation

Never create another problem for the consumer, they won’t thank you, but they will remember that rather than solve the problem you created another.

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Should the brand colour signal problem or solution?

You’ll be amazed at what consumers take in subconsciously.

Whilst red can provide a great beacon on-shelf, it’s not possibly the best colour to use for a product that aims to soothe and cure an itchy scalp.

Always cue the benefit. When consumers scan packs they decode the emotion before reading the words. Great brands in this space solve the problem rather than remind the consumer of it.

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Brand colours are hugely important, it’s your way of owning a shelf and providing a quick and efficient visual shortcut for consumers to find your brand.

It’s also important that whatever brand colour is chosen is relevant for the brand and supports all the products in the range.

Here’s an interesting example from Chicago Town. Blue is often a good neutral colour. Many other colours work with it, especially when you’re looking at flavour communication but getting the right blue can make all the difference.

In this case the neon bright blue with the vignette into the darker colour tend to look very cold, the opposite of what a pizza should be .

When is paired with other cold colours as per the purple flavour banner here, it can start to cue more Halloween than sizzling pizza oven

Often, it’s not about throwing everything out. It’s just about picking a more appropriate hue.

Get that right, and it can have a significant increase in both sales and consumer perception of the brand.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging