Branding

Always try to challenge and inspire the consumer.

I saw these in 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 consumers with regards how they can use your product in tasty and adventurous ways.

I think the brand would really benefit from some inspirational destination dish shots or even appetite appeal building into the rather forlorn logotype which would also help increase brand recognition.

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

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Food

What did you say it was again?

I often think a dollop of common sense is beneficial for brands.

Take a look at this example of a Heinz Tomato Ketchup sachet where, in order to comply with regulations, the brand has had to write tomato ketchup in multiple languages. This happens more than you realise!

It is often a common challenge in packaging design, trying to squeeze all of these languages onto the pack but on closer inspection you can see that the translation is exactly the same in 7 of the languages!

Common sense should always win through, after all, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to work out what it is. Regulators sometimes need to ‘ketchup’ and utilise common sense.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

Ask any kid who Mr. Beast is, and they will immediately start spouting stories about his excess and over the top character.

As with Logan Paul and KSI, launching Prime, Mr. Beast has not been late to the party, introducing his own brand of consumer goods Feastables, a range of snacking chocolate bars.

MrBeast is known for his hugely expensive videos, altruism and larger than life personality. On one recent video he asked 100 people of all different ages to see how long they could stay in a cube – the winner getting half a million dollars. On another he filled a house with fireworks and blew it up whilst driving a freight train int a huge hole!

With this launch, there was a perfect opportunity to introduce some of his unique altruistic character and showmanship onto pack, which I feel they missed out on a little.

Social media influencers will always look to release consumer goods as they are a fantastic way to capitalise on their fanbase, but it’s important that the personality of the individual comes across in the storytelling in these products, otherwise they may disappear amongst the competition on shelf.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

It’s that time of the year, when we invest gazillions in protecting ourselves from the summer sun.

Sunscreen (or suntan lotion, as some people refer to it as, I’ve no idea why has it doesn’t actually give you a suntan!) Is top of the shopping list over these first few weeks of the post school summer holiday.

How do you navigate and choose your brand of choice?

I saw this example from Nivia, and it’s a great example of the branding and structure not being designed in harmony.

Clearly the bottle needs to be gripped by oily hands to stop it flying off into the Mediterranean Sea. However, the way this particular structure has been designed, reduces the branding area significantly, rendering it very difficult to see on the shelf.

Packaging is a three-dimensional item, both structure and graphics need to work together in synchronicity in order to communicate to the consumer why you are the best brand.

If these components are designed in isolation your brand will suffer the consequences.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #3D

It’s that time of the year, when we invest gazillions in protecting ourselves from the summer sun.

Sunscreen (or suntan lotion, as some people refer to it as, I’ve no idea why has it doesn’t actually give you a suntan!) Is top of the shopping list over these first few weeks of the post school summer holiday.

How do you navigate and choose your brand of choice?

I saw this example from Nivia, and it’s a great example of the branding and structure not being designed in harmony.

Clearly the bottle needs to be gripped by oily hands to stop it flying off into the Mediterranean Sea. However, the way this particular structure has been designed, reduces the branding area significantly, rendering it very difficult to see on the shelf.

Packaging is a three-dimensional item, both structure and graphics need to work together in synchronicity in order to communicate to the consumer why you are the best brand.

If these components are designed in isolation your brand will suffer the consequences.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #3D

If you ever want to annoy one of your kids, then simply suggest that you’re going to have freezer pizza instead of proper takeaway pizza.

Obviously this convincing that a freezer pizza is “just as good as a takeaway”, takes a lot more work if instead of ‘thin and crispy’ the freezer, pizza looks ‘limp and lazy’!

Take this example from Goodfella’s. The photography is far from inviting! The toppings look artificial and the angle of the shot is too low to show off the toppings.

Food photography is hugely important, as it’s a thing that builds an appetite appeal immediately.

When you’re competing against some of the own brand offerings that now introduce much better quality photography than some of the lead brands, you’ve got quite a challenge on your hands.

With food, great taste and value for money are more important than ever. Make sure your photography projects this .

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Food

Championing environmental credentials is not always simply about not using plastic.

Its about being clever with the packaging.

It’s also about considering the extended use of the packaging beyond solely retailing the product.

Take this fantastic example of a paint roller that uses the paint tray as the blister pack to contain the roller.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Sustainability

Always encourage, inspire and inform the consumer.

Now, I’m not the best baker in the world, so when recently looking for a particular type of pastry, after being inspired by a ‘one-pan-mid-week-wonder’ (Jamie Olivers words not mine!) It was a bit of a mission to try and find the right one.

Little did I know that there are five basic types of pastry dough: shortcrust pastry, filo pastry, choux pastry, flaky pastry, and puff pastry (I really should have listened to Mr Oliver a little more closely!)

So, it was really handy to see these example shots on a Jus Rol pastry pack.

These are a fantastic way of showing the versatility and destination dishes for consumers that may not be familiar with them.

Show consumers that you understand their needs and can ‘be the on hand expert you can trust’ and you will have a customer for life!

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

Big bold claims are fantastic, but not at the expense of your brand.

I saw this washing up liquid from ecover recently and thought it was a quite interesting way to approach making a single-minded claim on pack.

Each bottle has a slight variation on a key claim executed in an informal and lighthearted way.

It’s an interesting approach, varying the hierarchy of brand versus claim and I really love the tone of voice, but this does come at the expense of the brand logo

Also, it doesn’t work particularly well on the shelf where this much reduced brand logo is obscured behind the SRP.

Playing around with the hierarchy can be an interesting way to grab attention and exert a refreshing tone of voice with your storytelling, but the brand should always be accessible or you may come across as a private label fallback rather than a big brand choice.

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Marketing

Use every aspect of the pack to help tell the brand story.

Packaging design is three-dimensional experience. It’s not just the graphics that tell the brand story.

Have a look at this fantastic example from DelicChoc in France where a touch of ceremony is added to the opening experience to help convey the crisp break of the biscuit.

It’s very easy to overlook these simple things, but every consumer touch point can help with the storytelling and strengthen the brand recall.

(Thanks to Flo for sending this over)

#BrandDesign, #PackagingDesign, #Packaging, #Innovation