It still looks generic and the name needs to be switched around. You know - to the same way it is done on book spines? You tilt your head to the right to read the spines. Years of conditioning are hard to ignore, but maybe Arnell has some research that rejects that?
As an aside, my wife bought a carton of the regular Tropicana OJ, which was in the new (now discontinued) package. I was excited I would get to actually touch the "little squeezable orange" closure, but it had the original orange plastic screw cap from the old package! I guess Louisiana didn't rate the new closure. May have to seek out some Trop50 to get to feel the new closure.
Pepsi has announced the new Pepsi Natural is hitting the shelves in selected markets.
Here is what they have to say about it. "An all-new premium cola, Pepsi Natural is made with all-natural ingredients, including lightly sparkling water, natural sugar, natural caramel and kola nut extract. The amber-hued cola gets its color from natural caramel and natural apple extract. From the amount of bubbles to the foam that rises to the top of beverage when it's poured, Pepsi Natural offers a brand-new cola experience. "
Interesting concept, but does this mean regular Pepsi is unnatural?
Really nice package! Better grab a bottle soon. False starts with new packaging from Pepsi have resulted in some being withdrawn and could happen here also - instant collectible!
Vodka? Or is it something else? This package design for DQ Vodka is, according to several writers, based on the design of a nuclear reactor. Ohhh-kaaay! Why?
I don't get the nuclear reactor connection, and frankly, it looks more like a column still used in making vodka to me.
The package is very unusual and visually appealing. It pours from a central shaft, which aerates the vodka, allowing it to breathe (not sure why that is good for vodka?). One of SPAR's art directors said it looked like a man's cologne package. Maybe that was their intention?
I am not an expert - yet - but I am learning about this tool called Twitter. And you should also. It is a wonderful tool to promote your business. It is all about exchanging information in abbreviated form (140 characters of less) and is a great way to get to know others in the business and your customers. Get started learning here. You will have to sign up to see the vids but it is worth it for the information. And then go open a Twitter account and start Tweeting.
General Mills is reintroducing some of their brands in retro packages. As a package designer the idea of retro packages, or perhaps pseudo-retro packages, appeals to me in certain situations. As pointed out here, where you can see the packages, these cereals are mostly consumed by kids. Is the concept lost on them? Perhaps, but parents buy the cereals.
This is not good. Tropicana takes yet another hit seemingly related to the recently abandoned package redesign for their orange juice line. Sales down 20%!
A spokes person for the company denies we should be connecting dots to the packaging, but their sales decline is way below the market. Tropicana has resorted to discounting from their premium pricing to encourage sales.
That is what customers of the Oregon company that markets Peace Cereal hear when they call the company 800 number! Of course that really isn't the company help line being really helpful. It is a phone number error on the packaging. They are now scrambling to get out of the phone sex business.
Further evidence has come out of a study that companies who reduced promotional spending in recessionary economies lost more business to private label brands and most of that business was never regained when the economy recovered. By contrast businesses that maintained promotional spends through recessionary economies lost less business and were better positioned to grow on the up side of the recession.
As the title suggests social media can be confusing. How can you understand it and take advantage of it for your brand? Try this little presentation for starters.
Interruption marketing works on the premise that publishers attract an audience with engaging news stories or entertainment and then interrupts the delivery with advertising messages. We have lived with this model for as long as publishing and advertising have been around.
The times are changing. While interruption marketing may not disappear, it is losing ground rapidly and becoming less relevant and less effective. For example, newspaper circulations are down and many large papers are on the verge of collapse because of the loss of revenue from advertisers abandoning the system.
What is taking ever larger bites out of interruption marketing is new media and the concept of content marketing that delivers commercial messages in the form of engaging news, information, and entertainment. The content is the ad!
Content marketing manifests itself as custom magazines, email newsletters, blogs, forums, and even things like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter posts. The idea is to produce content that is of value to those who are your customers or potentially your customers. Give them information they both need and want and do it in a form that is not only informative but even entertaining. Make their need to know as easy for them as possible and most importantly, interact with them on a personal level. Listen to what they have to say, both good and bad and respond to their concerns.
This may require the services of an agency that does this sort of marketing or the addition of dedicated personnel inside your organization who have the responsibility to handle this, and it can be a full time position.
The options for content marketing programs are many and varied. You can simply present a company presence as a designated spokesperson who monitors conversations about your products and responds when appropriate. Or it can become a complex campaign, where a company or product personality (fictional) represents the product online and creates an online following on sites like Twitter and Facebook, responds to consumers directly in discussion forums, and even publishes their own blog about the product.
This is the time to get really creative. There are lots of new promotional ideas out there. Call us if you want to talk about it.
I know I am not the only one saying this, and this is not the first time I have said it, nor will it be the last, but the key to marketing your product is to touch them inside - feelings!
You can say all you want about all the wonderful brand attributes, distilled 30 times, lasts longer, costs less, whatever, but unless you can get them to think in terms of how they will be personally affected by the brand. "I feeeel good!" (James Brown) "...Because it makes me look good, important, smart, pretty, handsome, intelligent, savvy, or (name-your-emotion here)", then you won't sell them.
In packaging for sales, the first order of business is shelf presence. If they can't see your product on the shelf they likely won't buy it. This is especially true for brands trying to break into the category and steal sales from the more established competition.
You must get notice, and the best way to do that is not just slap a bright florescent color on the label, which may get initial notice but can be harmful to brand image, depending on the brand, category, and price point, of course.
When considering the design concept, look for the pattern everyone else is using and don't copy it but find a way to break that pattern yet still maintain some harmony with the established category packaging standards. At least this is true with beverage/alcohol packaging. In some cases it may be necessary and even safe to completely depart from all established norms and standards, but those cases and opportunities are generally quite rare.
A good example of maintaining continuity to the category yet breaking the pattern is Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Bourbon labels are often rectangular. The designers at SPAR broke that pattern on the Buffalo Trace package by introducing a "torn" label with an irregular shape positioned off-square. The result is immediate visibility on the shelf in the sea of rectangular sameness of other bourbon packages.
It is also important to consider the overall appearance of the package and not just the labeling. The custom designed Buffalo Trace bottle also contributes to its strong shelf presence. Most bourbon bottles are taller and, in the case of those with shorter bottles, they are usually squared off. The organic flowing lines of Buffalo Trace were purposefully chosen to break the traditional pattern of bourbon bottles, yet at the same time remain true to traditional bourbon bottle design as seen in the Oscar Getz Museum in Bardstown, KY. The design team spent many hours in that museum studying antique bourbon packaging. Another consideration for the Buffalo Trace bottle design was to represent the hulking shape and power of a buffalo in glass without being literal. Thus the overall package design is compatible with the brand, remains true to the category, yet breaks the pattern for strong shelf presence.
The Rain Organic Vodka package was also designed for strong shelf presence but with the focus less on the labeling and more on the package shape. Vodka bottles tend to be tall and elegant but straight and cylindrical. The Rain bottle of course mimics the organic shape of a rain drop, but that shape was also chosen to differentiate it on the shelf from its high end competition. It isn't just the labeling, but it is also what the lawyers call "trade dress", the overall appearance of the package.
If you are not dominating the competition with advertising and promotions, then your package had better dominate the shelf set and sell the product at the point-of-sale, where most purchase decisions are made anyway. Better yet do both, good strong packaging and advertising.
Sometimes the Japanese are so over the top with their commercials. They get away with stuff that would never be tolerated in America. I admire their sense of humor because it is a bit warped like mine.
This commercial for a tea that is supposed to help high blood pressure has more blood than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and is funnier than It's a Mad Mad Mad World. Yes, I know most of you have no idea what I am talking about. Enjoy the vid anyway.
Traditional media continues to suffer declines, but digital is experiencing growth, even in this down economy. While the growth rate of digital is not as high as recent periods it is still up a healthy amount; try 8%.
Richard Stacy’s article, Three Lessons from #LRNY, was very interesting because it gave a good summary of how to use blogs/social networks to your advantage. Stacy explains the three key elements to being successful on Twitter – Control, Credibility and Transparency.
An example of good online analysis of brand blogging and how to use it to your advantage is that of Mini Cooper/MotiveQuest. MotiveQuest is a Chicago-based company that analyzes online conversations for Fortune 500 companies. The company is paid to listen to their clients’ consumers in online blogs/social networks and study it for their clients. While I couldn’t find a client list at the MotiveQuest web site, they do list a very brief case study page about the industries they do follow.
A few years back, Mini Cooper hired MotiveQuest to analyze online conversations about the brand and its competitors. MotiveQuest started by monitoring posts on blogs and social networks. They even went as far as specialized sites…Yahoo Auto.
MotiveQuest’s CEO, David Rabjohns, found that “Mini owners were not only talking about things like performance and handlings but community-type things like picture sharing, getting together for social events and personal etiquette, the Mini Way.” Mini Cooper used these findings to get more involved with their consumers and rebuild their buzz via the same social networks/blogs that MotiveQuest helped them create. They did just that by inviting bloggers to test drive new models and even has a blogger who podcasts from special events like the cross-country ‘Mini Takes The States’ festivals that bring thousands of brand fans together for rallies, music and more.
Mini Cooper has customized their website to feature build-your-own car configuration page, virtual factory tour and my personal favorite, games, like “Ski Jump a Mini” which lets you customize a video by adding your own picture and then emailing the video to friends. Very funny!
The point I am trying to make is that Mini Cooper lets you in on the fun and it makes you feel like you are a part of this community of Mini Cooper fans. The company reinforced its message of being hip and non-mainstream through its consumers. By rebuilding the brand through the social networks and blogs, it gave the consumers the chance to voice their own opinions and find others that have similar interests. This is how you build your brand and gain popularity today. Create something interesting to talk about and then let the audience take control of it.
