Branding

Bright and bold may catch the eye but does your consumer know what it is?

I saw this brand in boots recently. It wasn’t in any particular section and was located on an aisle end so there was no immediate giveaway as to what the product was or indeed what particular need it would meet by its in-store positioning.

The same can be said for the actual pack design itself. If the product doesn’t have the benefit of being positioned next to the competition, the pack has a lot of the heavy lifting to do it to explain why you need it.

And that is where this particular colourful example fails.

Getting in close there is a hint to its contents whispered in very small type of the bottom of each of the packs.

Shout for attention by all means, but ensure this noise also contains why you are shouting in the first place

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #Sustainability

It’s possible to have too many layers on a design.

If you have a classic brand such as Carnation Milk, you can focus on the logo and key brand assets, and strip back all the other clutter, allowing its iconic status to lead.

This recent update by Carnation puts more weight on a serving suggestion to the detriment of some of the key brand assets and logo

I imagine the brief here was along the lines of ‘we need to show the consumers the variety of things this can be used for and its versatility as a product’. Now, whilst that may make sense for the back, when it’s incorporated on the front of pack, it tends to add busyness and encourage competing elements.

It’s more the language of what an own brand or a discounter competitor would do rather than a brand leader.

Remember, if you’re the brand leader, you’re the leader for a reason. This could be rooted in your history, your pedigree or the fact you are the brand consumers remember growing up with.

Don’t downplay this, be proud of your ability to stand out on your own merit, don’t feel the need to stuff lots of things on the front of the pack as this ultimately dilute why you are the leader in the first place.

#Marketing, #Design, #Packaging, #business

Great brands have a story. Without a story, you behaving more like a private label product, and that makes it incredibly tricky to engage with your consumer.

It also makes it very tricky to qualify the higher price point than an own labelled product

I stumbled across this product at the weekend which suffers the very same. At first I thought this was a Sainsbury’s own label product.

It behaves very much like an own label product:

All of the elements such as the logo, the descriptor, and the iconography all compete for attention. They are all executed at the same size, equally space down the pack.

The naming felt generic and gimmicky rather than one that transported you somewhere.

The SRP was blank, this is a fantastic canvas that can be used to communicate the brand story, hold the brand message or contain a call to action.

The only taste cues, the coconut image was hidden behind this wall of blankness.

In short, it screamed private label.

When you are competing against the big players in any sector, it’s important that you catch and hold a consumers attention. You need to be intriguing enough to make them pick the pack up and explore all sides.

That’s when you know you’ve got them hooked.

Miss the story and miss this valuable connection.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

Wine in a can is a tricky concept to get your head around.

As I see it you have two possible approaches. You stay true to core wine language but introduce a new format and then explain and convince the consumer that this format meets a particular need.

The second route is that you do something very different, something challenging, something earth shattering, something that is new news and wakes the fixture up.

Now, you could say the example attached falls into that second camp, however it misses out on some fundamentals.

Even though it’s approached things in a challenging way, it’s not addressed some core consumer needs such as taste appeal and importantly for wine, quality.

Great wines are known for exquisite and complex taste profiles. That flavour story needs to come across in a clear and succinct way. Here the colours fall short. For example orange is not a good colour to cue rosé and the dirty brown doesn’t cue a robust red.

This could potentially be where the image picks up some of the slack however it tends to cue student fashion magazine rather than evoke a compelling story, as executed so well on 19 Crimes.

No matter how much you want to force differentiation always ensure core principles aren’t lost otherwise you’ve got a lot of convincing to do

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

You always need to ask why. Why do I need that?

If the packaging design doesn’t successfully communicate, what specific need of the consumer the product is meeting, the chances are you’re not going to convince the consumer to put it in their shopping basket.

Take this example from Dole. There is probably nothing more convenient than a piece of fruit. You can tell when it’s fresh, you can tell what it’s gone off, it’s got its own handy wrapper provided by nature and you know it’s healthy.

Plonk the same item in a plastic pot and you have a bit of challenge on your hand unless you convince the consumer what benefit you’ve added by doing that.

Consumers don’t buy products they buy solutions. Always make sure yours is obvious.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

The packaging provides clues to how the product works.

Strong colours cue dynamism, action, effectiveness and vibrancy whereas muted tones cue the opposite.

That’s never more true than in the laundry detergent aisle.

We are preconditioned to certain colours representing certain actions or certain end uses. if you introduce new colours into this arena, they had better be working for you rather than against you.

Have a look at this pack from Persil. Now, on first impression the washed out muddy colours cue fading. Not something you want from a wash.

Consumers need reassurance that the clothes they put into the washing machine are still going to look as good as new once they come out.

Faded colours work negatively here for two reasons. Firstly it looks as though colours may bleed or run whilst the muddy tones cue dirt and smudging. Completely the opposite of what you want from a laundry product!

That’s the semiotic part, there is also a practical part in-store to also consider. The white logo on this faded and muddy background tends to make the pack incredibly recessive and somewhat apologetic.

Remember the visual shortcuts provided by the pack are a window to the product benefit.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Some brands are associated with ceremony. The wedge of lime in the top of a bottle of Sol or Orangina’s shaking the bottle. These rituals create a connection with the brand. They dictate how the product is used and become powerful memory anchors.

Another of these iconic ceremonies was the Salt ‘n Shake blue bag. Hours would disappear rooting around the packet to find said blue bag before ripping it open and sprinkling the salt over the crisps. It was an important part of the whole experience. So important was this little blue envelope that Salt ‘n Shake integrated it into their logo on the front of the back.

I still remember once as a kid having a packet of crisps and finding two of these blue envelopes in it. I thought I’d struck Gold!

A couple of times a year thfind their way into the family shopping basket and it is always a nostalgic trip down memory Lane. Or so we we thought.

Upon opening a bag this weekend the iconic little blue bag had disappeared only to be replaced by something more akin to breaking bad than Salt ‘n Shake!

Not only had the blue bag being replaced, but the ability to find its transparent replacement was made even more difficult.

Although it is only a small detail in the whole brand it is so integral and important to the ceremony that if removed or altered, it changes the experience dramatically.

if you have a pack ritual that has reached iconic status never dilute it. Memory triggers warmth and trust.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

What do you see here?

Is it a cleaning product for hi-fi equipment?

Is it lubricant for a bicycle?

When I first saw it, I actually thought it was suncream. The bold graphic on the black background and the prominent 30 which I miss took as 30 SPF!

It is in fact an energy gel for sports.

The truth is we have a habit of decoding things very quickly. It’s in our nature as we want to make sense of the world around us

In order to do this, we base our assumptions on what we’ve seen previously in order to back up these assumptions and draw a conclusion.

We draw these conclusions based on either intuition or reason, what is our gut feel or how do we decode this?

It’s fine to stand out by doing something completely earthshattering and category breaking but you run the risk, especially as here if you borrowed heavily from another category, that neither intuition or reason takes you in the direction of what the product is.

That has two main pitfalls firstly if it doesn’t immediately cue the thing you need you’re going to ignore it and secondly it means you won’t tend to remember the distinctive brand assets associated with that product.

Having a successful pack is a fine line between breaking category rules to be distinct whilst playing other others to back up credibility.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Negative space on pack is powerful if used well, but don’t let its usage be detrimental to your communication

A little moment of calm on packaging can be a great way to own the shelf. It gives somewhere for the eye to rest and can aid in shelf blocking.

However, this should never compromise the rest of the communication on pack. Have a look at this example from Hartleys. All the communication has been squished into a small area on the front of the packaging making it impossible to read at a distance.

The net result is that the whole pack becomes unbalanced and the information inaccessible with the sugar-free communication taking more of a lead than the brand communication part.

Brands should always adapt their communication to fit whatever canvas it’s going on. What may work on a pot doesn’t necessarily work on an outer carton.

Negative space can be an incredibly useful tool but never leave the communication fighting over the remaining space.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging

Always ensure that your packaging matches your brand personality.

I was introduced to this brand by my youngest son. It’s another one of those YouTube influencers bringing a product to market. The difference here from some of its recent counterparts is its complete lack of presence.

This is quite odd considering influencers are all about putting themselves out there and showcasing their talents!

Rodd’s is an iced coffee brand in a small plastic black bottle and as you can see from the image it is incredibly recessive when positioned next to some of its contemporary’s.

There are a couple of reasons for this….

Black is never a good colour as it disappears into the background on shelf.

As the bottle has quite a small canvas much of the on-pack information seems to be spread around the cylindrical surface, so creating no real hierarchy of information.

Small packs like this need a beacon, something to catch the eye and draw you in. It would also help having a recognisable front of pack in order to maintain consistency in both appearance and how it is placed on shelf.

If you’re launching something you see as different, make sure the brand and tone of voice capture that uniqueness, and if you are known for your personality, make sure your product doesn’t lack it.

#Marketing, #Design, #Branding, #Packaging