Branding

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

You can almost hear the thud as peoples jaws drop in supermarkets at the price of cooking oil at the moment.

Why are we paying so much for what is a hum-drum utilitarian product?

It makes little sense for most products in this sector, but if you have a very unique proposition, it makes sense to differentiate yourselves and position the product in a more premium way to justify the price point.

Have a look at this example that I came across in a South Korean supermarket. This is a probiotic cooking oil that borrows more from the premium spirit category than it does from its more utilitarian counterparts.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

You can almost hear the thud as peoples jaws drop in supermarkets at the price of cooking oil at the moment.

Why are we paying so much for what is a hum-drum utilitarian product?

It makes little sense for most products in this sector, but if you have a very unique proposition, it makes sense to differentiate yourselves and position the product in a more premium way to justify the price point.

Have a look at this example that I came across in a South Korean supermarket. This is a probiotic cooking oil that borrows more from the premium spirit category than it does from its more utilitarian counterparts.

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

Quickly extend your canvas.

Another great example from South Korea. This was a fantastic way to extend the canvas on a shrink wrap around a bottle.

The example below uses a foil sticker here on the top of the shrink wrap which seems to serve two purposes.

Firstly, it extends the communication area significantly by utilising the widest and broadest area of the bottle.

Secondly, it acts as a fantastic visual disruptor against the competition when lined up on the shelf.

Obviously it doesn’t tick the box on sustainability points but where creating noise at fixture and standing out for the competitors is paramount is a great way to catch the eye!

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

The devil is in the detail.

There aren’t many brands that can boast 150 year history. This is something any brand should be incredibly proud of.

Pedigree, speaks of trust, tradition, craftsmanship, and a timeless quality and needs to be handled in a way that celebrates that tradition. So it’s important that this is communicated with a suitable visual shortcut on-pack.

I stumbled across these drinks from Ben Shaws recently, a brand which is proud to boast this sort of tradition. I have to say the front of pack, rather than be a celebration of rich history, was constructively speaking, a jumbled mess.

The logo is far too fussy and busy with excessive ornamentation that only serves to remove legibility. Supermarket brands need to work successfully from a couple of metres away so that you can immediately decode their USP. This ornamentation could have easily been reduced and handled in a more subtle way.

It doesn’t help that much of the front of pack is taken up by the dog illustration which when doing a bit of a deep dive into the brand, has no relationship to the story.

Successfully communicating tradition on pack is not about piling, multiple ornamental details onto something which only serves overpower the brand logo.

In many cases, less is more. The devil as they say, is in the detail.

#Packaging, #Marketing, #Branding, #Design

I’ve seen quite a few drinks brands, especially in the Beer sector moving from direct print on cans to paper labels.

It’s an interesting move because there are both pros and cons for doing this:

On the plus side, it opens up new substrates and printing techniques to differentiate cans from the competition. This includes different papers, varnishes print methods and colour options.

On the down side, it tends to look cheap, and you can’t print right up to the top of the can due to the constraints of wrapping the label round a compound curve. They tend to appear like a mock up rather than a final finished can.

The paper label is then burnt off during the recycling and I suppose the big question is does this add to the carbon footprint or ultimately reduce it?

Paper labels are generally seen as less environmentally friendly than direct printing on aluminum cans.

The production of paper labels involves significant resource use, including water, energy, and raw materials like paper and ink.

Additionally, paper labels often use petroleum-based inks that emit volatile organic compounds. In contrast, direct printing eliminates label waste entirely and reduces the need for additional materials, making it a more sustainable option overall.

They clearly work for short production runs but bearing in mind the environmental impact and the overall reduction in quality credentials, is it worth it in the long run?

#Branding, #Design, #Marketing, #Packaging

Always be clear with the consumer what you are.

If you are offering something unusual and something unique, it’s important to be clear with the consumer what their reward will be and to communicate clearly and efficiently exactly what you are offering.

For food brands this means building appetite appeal and a desire for the end dish, particularly where meal kits were involved.

This example, whilst very unique and clearly Japanese, misses out on both appetite appeal and a clear explanation of what it is.

That then creates quite a challenge in shifting products off shelves

Often budgets aren’t available to do glossy food photography, it can be quite expensive but ultimately will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

In this example the food shot has been replaced by a simple line drawing. I’m not sure if that is down to lack of budget or from trying to make the pack design suitable for a restricted print requirement

Either way, it’s important to make sure that the design fits the limitations of the end print method but doesn’t compromise on the fundamentals of communication.

If the consumer doesn’t know what you are, or what you offer, why would they want to invest?

#Packaging, #Branding, #Design, #Marketing